Actually Pat Forde of Yahoo is picking NIU

https://sports.yahoo.com/forde-yard-dash...09965.html

Dash pick: Northern Illinois 17, UAB 16. Offensively punchless Huskies might have found something in their comeback upset victory over Buffalo in the MAC title game, with quarterback Marcus Childers having a career-best passing day (300 yards passing, four touchdowns). Both defenses rank in the top-25 nationally in yards allowed per play, so expect low scoring.

(12-12-2018 08:27 PM)NIUpride Wrote:  

(12-11-2018 01:42 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  Boca Raton Bowl presser is today and one week out from the game.

Opponent Record: UAB 10 - 3
Best Wins: 9 - 3 North Texas, 8 - 5 Middle Tenn., 7 - 5 La. Tech, 6 - 6 Tulane
Total Offense Rank: UAB #66 NIU #122
Total Defense Rank: UAB #11 NIU #31

UAB coach has won a few national coaching awards and just signed a sizeable contract extension. Should be challenging game.

Rushing Defense: NIU #14 UAB #20

Number of Big Dudes on Roster: (>= 320LBs) UAB 13, NIU 1 (Scharping)

Coaching Extension: UAB (+6 years @+500,000 per year), NIU (+4 years @175,000 per year)

UAB has almost 40 seniors on their roster with a lot of guys brought in from juniors colleges to fill the roster when the program restarted.

UAB was also briefly ranked in the Top 25 this season before losing at Texas A&M.

(12-12-2018 10:10 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  

(12-12-2018 08:27 PM)NIUpride Wrote:  

(12-11-2018 01:42 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  Boca Raton Bowl presser is today and one week out from the game.

Opponent Record: UAB 10 - 3
Best Wins: 9 - 3 North Texas, 8 - 5 Middle Tenn., 7 - 5 La. Tech, 6 - 6 Tulane
Total Offense Rank: UAB #66 NIU #122
Total Defense Rank: UAB #11 NIU #31

UAB coach has won a few national coaching awards and just signed a sizeable contract extension. Should be challenging game.

Rushing Defense: NIU #14 UAB #20

Number of Big Dudes on Roster: (>= 320LBs) UAB 13, NIU 1 (Scharping)

Coaching Extension: UAB (+6 years @+500,000 per year), NIU (+4 years @175,000 per year)

UAB has almost 40 seniors on their roster with a lot of guys brought in from juniors colleges to fill the roster when the program restarted.

UAB was also briefly ranked in the Top 25 this season before losing at Texas A&M.

I’ll take our o and d line all day.they all held up well against FSU, Utah and mostly Iowa. They will be able to handle UAB without an issue

A couple sports gambling websites are picking NIU as well.

(12-12-2018 08:57 PM)Max Power Wrote:  Actually Pat Forde of Yahoo is picking NIU

https://sports.yahoo.com/forde-yard-dash...09965.html

Dash pick: Northern Illinois 17, UAB 16. Offensively punchless Huskies might have found something in their comeback upset victory over Buffalo in the MAC title game, with quarterback Marcus Childers having a career-best passing day (300 yards passing, four touchdowns). Both defenses rank in the top-25 nationally in yards allowed per play, so expect low scoring.

We all hope pat Forde is right and not the others...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc...225599002/

2 of the 6 USA Today college football writers pick NIU: Paul Myerberg and Erick Smith.

(12-13-2018 02:36 PM)Max Power Wrote:  https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc...225599002/

2 of the 6 USA Today college football writers pick NIU: Paul Myerberg and Erick Smith.

The Huskies owe Myerberg, the one and only national NIU defender

(12-13-2018 02:50 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(12-13-2018 02:36 PM)Max Power Wrote:  https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc...225599002/

2 of the 6 USA Today college football writers pick NIU: Paul Myerberg and Erick Smith.

The Huskies owe Myerberg, the one and only national NIU defender

Exactly..... love me some Paul Myerberg!!

The UAB defense pitched 3 shutouts... I don't care who you play that pretty awesome.

Then they gave up only 3 and two 7 's in other games. But damn that gave up 47 to Coastal Carolina lol...and a few severe cupcakes on that schedule.

This should be fun..not sure what to expect.

Prediction:

UAB - 35
NIU - 13

(12-13-2018 09:06 PM)prairiedawg Wrote:  The UAB defense pitched 3 shutouts... I don't care who you play that pretty awesome.

Then they gave up only 3 and two 7 's in other games. But damn that gave up 47 to Coastal Carolina lol...and a few severe cupcakes on that schedule.

This should be fun..not sure what to expect.

Yea, I agree that's pretty good on D no matter who you play. Fortunately the offense doesn't look great so we should make a game of it at least.

Myerberg ranks the Boca Bowl 15th in terms of "watchability and intrigue"

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc...269393002/

15. Boca Raton Bowl (Dec. 18, 7 p.m., ESPN): Alabama-Birmingham (10-3) vs. Northern Illinois (8-5)

One of bowl season's rare games between conference champions: UAB from Conference USA and NIU from the MAC. The Blazers and coach Bill Clark have been one of the great success stories in college football.

Someone said it on another thread but our defensive numbers would be better if we played a bunch of bums in ooc. Take their defensive performance with a grain of salt.

Whatever you guys do -- DON'T READ THIS!

https://collegefootballnews.com/2018/12/...me-preview

(12-14-2018 06:22 PM)toddjnsn Wrote:  Whatever you guys do -- DON'T READ THIS!

https://collegefootballnews.com/2018/12/...me-preview

I think most NIU fans would take a close game at this point. Yes a win would be better but there would be such a sense of relief if NIU kept a bowl game close. Pretty sad standard for a team that was in the Orange Bowl only 6 years ago, but that's where we are at

Cheribundi > Potato

So is it red or black for the game?

Your Florida Huskies will have a Tailgate going on in Boca! Lots open at 2:00 PM. In 2014, we set up in the Silver Lot. We’ll plan on the same place for Tuesday. http://www.fau.edu/parking/gameday.php

We want to welcome all Huskie fans. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

They are rotating qbs this season looking for the answer. Glad we didn't do that this year. Hope it pays off this game.

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(12-15-2018 10:04 AM)Teamduh Wrote:  They are rotating qbs this season looking for the answer. Glad we didn't do that this year. Hope it pays off this game.

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Let's see if MACC second-half CHilders is the new norm or if that was an aberration.

In fairness to Childers, the receivers had dropped a lot of passes this year.

Everyone showed up to play in the MACC. The receivers made some highlight reel catches, let's hope that continues.