2018 CHERIBUNDI BOCA RATON BOWL
Northern Illinois (8-5, 6-2 MAC) vs. UAB (10-3, 7-1 C-USA)
Tuesday, December 18, 2018 • 7:00 pm ET/6:00 pm CT • Boca Raton, Fla. • FAU Stadium (30,000)
ESPN Announcers: Dave Lamont (play-by-play), Desmond Howard, Jonathan Vilma (analyst), Alyssa Lang (sideline)
Northern Illinois Notes: MAC Notes
Northern Illinois won the 2018 Marathon MAC Football Championship Game with a 30-29 win over Buffalo on Nov. 30. The Huskies are bowl eligible for the 10th time in the last 11 years. NIU had an eight-year consecutive bowl streak from 2008-15 and had the streak snapped in 2016 with a 5-7 record. Last year NIU suffered a 36-14 loss to Duke in the 2017 Quick Lane Bowl. Six-year head coach Rod Carey and the Huskies will be making its 13th bowl appearance as a member of the MAC (4-8 record in bowl games).
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Huskie Notes:
• MAC Champion NIU Huskies take on Conference USA champs UAB in the Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl in the first meeting between the two schools.
• The Huskies become the first team to make two appearances in Boca Raton’s bowl game as NIU fell to Marshall in the inaugural contest in 2014.
• NIU is making its 10th bowl appearance in the last 11 seasons, a record of consistency matched by just one other current non-autonomous team (Boise State).
• The Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl is one of just three bowl games - and the only game outside of the College Football Playoff - that matches two conference champions.
• NIU won its fifth MAC Championship with a 30-29 comeback victory over Buffalo on November 30 in Detroit. The Huskies trailed 22-10 at halftime and 29-10 at the 11:25 mark of the third quarter. Quarterback Marcus Childers threw his fourth and final touchdown pass to D.J. Brown with 1:09 to play to secure NIU’s win.
• With a 52-29 record and .642 winning percentage (all at NIU), six-year head coach Rod Carey ranks fourth all-time among Huskie head coaches and is in the Top 20 in the MAC, in wins and winning percentage.
• Left tackle Max Scharping, who will start his 53rd game in the Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl, was selected as one of 13 National Football Foundation Scholar-Athletes and was honored in New York on Dec. 4 as a finalist for the 2018 William V. Campbell Trophy.
• 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.
• Sutton 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.
• Behind Smith, senior defensive end Josh Corcoran (10.0 sacks) and sophomore defensive tackle Jack Heflin (6.0), who earned first, second and third team All-MAC honors, respectively, the Huskies lead the nation in sacks with 50, breaking the NIU single season record.
• Quarterback Marcus Childers threw for a career-high 300 yards with four touchdown passes - two each to wide receivers Spencer Tears and D.J. Brown - to earn Offensive MVP honors in the MAC Championship game; the sophomore with 21 career starts is already climbing the NIU career passing charts.
• Sophomore tailback Tre Harbison needs 15 rushing yards to become the Huskies’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Joel Bouagnon in 2015; the North Carolina native has five 100-yard games this year.
• With its trip to the Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl, NIU looks for its first bowl win since the 2011 season when the Huskies defeated Arkansas State in the 2012 GoDaddy.com Bowl.
• Six Huskies will return to their south Florida roots with the trip to Boca Raton, including starting linebackers Antonio Jones-Davis (Vero Beach), a first team All-MAC choice, and Lance Deveaux Jr. (Fort Lauderdale).
• Nine of NIU’s 13 opponents this year were bowl eligible and eight, including non-conference foes Iowa, Utah and BYU as well as Eastern Michigan, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan and Buffalo, will play in bowls this year.
