One of the very best stories in all of college football this year was the return of the UAB program after it had been abolished in 2015-16. The Blazers’ season win total was only 2.5 at South Point and UAB had that topped by the first week of October as they pulled 4 outright upsets this year. They are led by QB AJ Erdely who threw for 2,077 yards (16-to-4 ratio) while also running for 13 TD’s. Head coach Bill Clark would have gotten our vote as national coach of the year. On the other side, Ohio was sitting at 8-2 to start the season and looked like a lock to get to the MAC title game for the 2nd year in a row but the Bobcats were outright upset in each of their final two games. While the offense thrived averaging 38.9 ppg, their pass defense struggled allowing 262 ypg, the most here since 2005. We feel there is a strong motivational edge here for UAB who should be sky-high in only their 2nd bowl game in school history. Meanwhile, Ohio head coach Frank Solich is just 4-9 SU in bowl games and who steps up for the Bobcats at RB? Their leading rusher A.J. Ouelette was injured in the finale and is doubtful here. We like the Blazers in a lower scoring game.