BOCA RATON, Fla. – Conference champions? Check. Bowl champions? Check.
Just two seasons into its rebirth as a football program, UAB set a school record for victories and earned its first-ever bowl win Tuesday night after beating Northern Illinois 37-13 in the Boca Raton Bowl.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Tyler Johnston III, making just the fifth start of his college career, connected with senior receiver Xavier Ubosi on three long scores to lead the rout.
In a game that pitted the Conference USA champions of Birmingham against the Mid-American Conference champions from the "Land of Lincoln," it wasn't much of a contest.
UAB (11-3) didn't waste any time scoring. Johnston found Ubosi on a 70-yard touchdown pass on the first play after the opening kickoff.
"Everybody wants to score on the first play of the game," Johnston said.
Nick Vogel added to the score on a 25-yard field goal on UAB's second possession to give the Blazers a 10-0 lead.
Northern Illinois running back Tre Harbison trimmed UAB's lead just before the second half, scoring on a 1-yard run with 30 seconds left in the first quarter.
Leading by seven midway through the second quarter, UAB's Johnston threw his third touchdown of the night -- a 46-yard strike to Ubosi to put UAB ahead 24-10.
Facing third-and-10, Northern Illinois quarterback Marcus Childers was sacked and lost the football, giving UAB the ball on the Huskies' 32-yard line. UAB cushioned its lead with Vogel's 35-yard field goal -- his third of the night -- at the end of the first half.
The Blazers led 27-10 at halftime.
Northern Illinois (8-6) managed a 21-yard field goal by Andrew Gantz to open the scoring in the third quarter, but it was all UAB after that.
UAB sealed the win with Ubosi's 66-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.
Ubosi was the offensive MVP with seven catches for 227 yards, which set a Boca Raton Bowl record. Johnston also set a Boca Raton Bowl record with 373 passing yards.
The Blazers had a bit of a scare when senior cornerback D.A. Williams, who played high school football a few hours north in St. Augustine, was injured breaking up a pass in the first quarter. He was carted off the field in a stretcher, but head coach Bill Clark said after the game that he was with the team in the locker room.
Northern Illinois head coach Rod Carey fell to 0-6 in bowl games. The Huskies are also 0-5 in the state of Florida since Carey took over prior to the Orange Bowl to cap the 2012 season. They lost to Marshall 52-23 in the inaugural Boca Raton Bowl in 2014.
"Obviously it's a beautiful place and a beautiful venue to play, you know, so when the sting of this wears off, I'll probably be a little more happy about it, but not really happy about it right now," Carey said.
Carey said he knows the focus will be on his winless bowl record, but he believes the narrative should be on the resiliency of the seniors to go from conference championship to no bowl to being champions again.
"If you want to write that I'm 0-6 in bowl games or whatever it is now, that's fine. I can take that. I'm a big boy," Carey said after the game. "But, you know, that's really not what it's about."