Boca Raton Bowl 2018, Northern Illinois vs. UAB: Where, when, and team info
The game in Boca Raton now has its matchup.
Who’s playing in the 2018 Boca Raton Bowl?
Northern Illinois (8-5, 6-2 in MAC)
The MAC champions aren’t the 10-win guarantee they were at the start of the 2010s. But they are pretty good under head coach Rod Carey, who’s now running a program with exclusively his own recruits. (That’s as opposed to having a bunch of Dave Doeren’s old players in 2013 and ‘14, when NIU won 23 games.) NIU’s offense is not good at all, but the defense is tremendous and slots in the top 15 in S&P+. This team has a solid record, but imagine if its D didn’t get saddled with losses in games that had scores of 17-6 and 13-7.
UAB (10-3, 7-1 in Conference USA)
The Blazers are an amazing story. After their school system’s board of trustees shut down the program at the end of the 2014 season, a lot of people who loved the team spent a half-year fighting to get it revived. That finally happened in the summer of 2015, and by 2017, the Blazers were back on the field.
Here’s coach Bill Clark explaining to us how they’ve managed such a quick turnaround after missing two recruiting classes and having the majority of the roster transfer out. They’re now two-for-two in reaching bowls since coming back last year.
Where is the Boca Raton Bowl?
FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Fla.
When is the Boca Raton Bowl, and how can I watch it?
7:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Dec. 18 on ESPN, WatchESPN
