Northern Illinois comes into this game with a win over Buffalo, but the win was only by a single point.



The Huskies defense has given up 238.2 yards a game when the opponent passes the ball. The Huskies have given up 109.7 yards a game on the rushing defense. The Huskies have allowed a total of 21.5 points a game on the season.

UAB lost their bowl game 41-6 to Ohio U last season and I look for more of the same here in this one. The NIU defense has done some impressive things this season, holding Utah to 17 points and BYU to 6 points. And against Buffalo in the title game, after being leaky early, they tightened up with some clutch play late and got the job done.

Northern Illinois played a much tougher schedule and hung tight with some very good teams throughout the season and I think that will play a role here as they get up to face UAB who is the favorite in this matchup. I love the Northern Illinois defense as they'll put a lot of pressure on the UAB QB who was nothing special this year with 7 TD's and 7 INT's. The strength of UAB is their running game with Spencer Brown and as long as the Huskies contain him they should roll to a Bowl win here.