NIU seeks first bowl win under Carey
BOCA RATON, Fla. - Rod Carey has a long list of accomplishments at Northern Illinois University - two Mid-American Conference championships as head coach, a 25-2 record against MAC East opponents in the regular season and a bowl game appearance in four of his five full seasons.
But a high-profile unchecked box remains - the Huskies are 0-4 under the sixth-year coach.
The Huskies (8-5) have a chance to remedy that Tuesday in the Boca Raton Bowl against Conference USA champion University of Alabama-Birmingham (10-3).
"There have been a lot of good football coaches with really bad bowl records and I know a lot gets made out of that," Carey said.
The fifth-year Huskie seniors are making a return trip to Boca Raton. NIU senior offensive tackle Max Scharping was on the sidelines for the 52-23 loss to Marshall in the 2014 game.
"This is a celebration of the full season we've had," Scharping said. "That's why we're going to a bowl game. You get to celebrate with your teammates one last time against a good opponent and a great place to play down in Florida."
While NIU lost the Quick Lane Bowl 36-14 to Duke last year, UAB was dismantled 41-6 by Ohio in the Bahamas Bowl. It was the Blazers' first season back as an FBS program after missing the 2016 season following the shutdown of the program.
"We were literally happy to be there," UAB coach Bill Clark said. "I think we were just so proud to have made a bowl and I think that process to get those eight wins seemed like it was just a constant struggle and a fight. But I think we went into that game just more excited about the experience."
Clark, winner of the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2018, said his team is in a different state of mind in the aftermath of a 27-25 Conference USA championship win over a Middle Tennessee squad UAB had fallen to the week prior.
Carey called the Blazers "a mirror image of us."
"They're long and they're fast off the edge," Scharping said. "I think those are the two biggest things that I've seen out of their main guys. Obviously we see a lot of good pass rushers every single day (in practice)."
"They're a physical team. They're a tough team. They want to run the football," junior defensive tackle Ben LeRoy said. "That's a pretty close image to our offense. We want to impose our will. We want to run the ball all over people. That's the big (noticeable) similarity. Just have to be ready for a fight."
As much as NIU's offensive success has been predicated on the run game, the Huskies benefited from a career day from Marcus Childers at the MAC Championship. The sophomore quarterback tossed four touchdown passes and one interception and was 21 of 33 passing for 300 yards.
UAB boasts Conference USA all-conference first-team running back Spencer Brown. Senior quarterback A.J. Erdely is listed atop the depth chart, but Tyler Johnson II has been the starter in four of the Blazers' last five games.
The Huskie defense has held an opponent to less than 100 yards rushing in seven games this season and NIU opponents are averaging just 2.7 yards per rush and 109.7 rushing yards per game in 2018.
Huskie junior defensive end Sutton Smith leads the nation in sacks with 15 and ranks second in the FBS in tackles for loss with 24.5 after recording two sacks and 3.5 TFLs in the MAC title game to earn Defensive MVP honors.
Behind Smith, senior defensive end Josh Corcoran (10 sacks) and sophomore defensive tackle Jack Heflin (6 sacks) help the Huskies lead the
nation in sacks with 50.
Boca Raton Bowl
<b>Northern Illinois vs. Alabama-Birmingham</b>When: 6 p.m. Tuesday
Where: FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, Fla.
TV: ESPN
Radio: WIND 560-AM, WLBK 1360-AM
All-time series: First meeting
Fast fact: NIU's Sutton Smith would break Larry English's school record for sacks (31.5) with two more sacks. ... Smith became the first NIU player to be named a first team All-American in back-to-back seasons when he was selected to the AP, SI.com and ESPN first teams for 2018. Smith was a consensus All-American a year ago.
Prediction: NIU 17, UAB 13