Marshall University Athletics
Herd Drops Miami to Claim East Crown
11/11/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Herd Drops Miami to Claim East Crown
11/11/2001
OXFORD, Ohio (AP) ? Marshall used some trickery to capture its fifth consecutive Mid-American Conference East Division title.
Running back Brandon Carey threw two touchdown passes to lead the Herd past Miami of Ohio 27-21 Saturday.
Marshall (8-1, 5-0 MAC East) will play for the conference championship on the home field of the West Division winner on Nov. 30. The Herd have won eight straight since losing their season opener at Florida.
Marshall coach Bob Pruett found it necessary to use Carey as a passer.
``Their safeties were playing great all day long. They were rushing and putting a good amount of pressure on Byron (Leftwich)," Pruett said. ``We used Carey on those two passes to keep them honest and try to stop the constant rush."
Leftwich completed 28-of-41 passes for 285 yards, putting him over 3,000 yards for the season.
He didn't throw any touchdowns for the first time all year and was held under 300 yards for the third time. But Leftwich did catch an 11-yard TD pass from Carey to give Marshall a 24-14 lead with 8:51 left in the third quarter.
``I've been asking for that play for a year and a half now," Leftwich said.
Carey also threw a 37-yard TD pass to Denero Marriott in the second quarter.
Marriott had seven catches for 132 yards, and Josh Davis had nine catches for 102 yards. Franklin Wallace rushed 26 times for 91 yards, including a 6-yard TD in the first quarter.
Miami's Steve Little rushed 13 times for 65 yards. He scored on a 15-yard run in the first quarter and added a 17-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 17-13.
Miami's Ben Roethlisberger was 16-of-29 for 210 yards.
Roethlisberger took a hard hit from two Marshall players with 9:17 remaining in the game. He left for one play but showed no signs of slowing down, taking Miami down the field on an 18-play, 95-yard drive.
On fourth-and-8, Roethlisberger found Jason Branch at the Marshall 1-yard line. Luke Clemens scored from there to cut the deficit to 27-21 with 5:02 left.
``We were just trying to get down the field as fast as we could," Roethlisberger said. ``We were trying to get some points on the board. I thought if we could get the ball back one last time, we could score.
``You've got to give Marshall credit. They made the big play when they had to."
Marshall got the ball back on its 20. On third-and-11, Denero Marriott dropped a pass as he was hit, but Miami was called for holding to give the Herd a first down at the 42 with 2:47 left.
On third-and-5, Leftwich hit tight end Greg Kellett for a first down at the Miami 39 and Marshall ran out the clock.
``It came down to us not making the big play when we had to," said Miami defensive lineman Gino DiGiandomenico.
The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for Miami (7-3, 4-1).
