Boca Raton Bowl 2018: 3 takeaways from UAB win over Northern Illinois

2. This was a battle of the in-game adjustments

Heading into this one, everyone was talking about the run game. Both teams function heavily with it and have used it as a key to their ability to find the win column game after game this season. However, both teams played extremely sound defense on the front line and as a result each had to shift from the run game to the passing attack.

For one team, that worked out well. For the other, well, not so much.

UAB has leaned heavily on the feet of Spencer Brown this season. He has been the workhorse from the start and has absolutely earned any and all recognition he has earned. However, it wasn’t his game this time. This time, quarterback Tyler Johnston took to the air and it paid off in a big way — he accounted for four touchdowns through the air

On the other side, NIU had just one touchdown and it was on the ground. The Huskies were never able to establish a down-field threat in terms of the passing game and as a result couldn’t stay on pace with what the Blazers were putting up.

Even when they were able to put together long drives, sometimes assisted by Blazer penalties, they couldn’t punch the ball in and that is mostly due to their inability to adjust to what the UAB defense was showing them.