Marshall University Athletics
Much-Anticipated Tilt With Toledo To Settle MAC Championship
11/26/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Much-Anticipated Tilt With Toledo To Settle MAC Championship
11/26/2001
At Marshall, it is more than a goal, it is expected -- playing for championships.
Since Coach Bob Pruett arrived in Huntington as head coach in 1996 the Thundering Herd has played for 15 championships. The results have been incredible -- five MAC East Division titles, four MAC championships, one Southern Conference title, one Division I-AA national crown, and three bowl titles. Only once in Pruett?s tenure has the Herd gone into a game with a championship on the line and not come away with the trophy.
The theme for the entire 2001 season at Marshall has been ?One For The Thumb in 2001.? From the very start, the Marshall players knew that winning a fifth straight MAC title would likely take them back to Toledo to face the Rockets. They knew it and, in reality, that is what they wanted.
Despite winning the MAC crown in 2000, the Herd players always felt the sting of the beating they took at the hands of the Rockets on Oct. 14. That game was the turning point in the 2000 season, but it was also the reason Marshall?s players wanted to face Toledo for the 2001 title.
It will give them a chance to settle things with the Rockets, once and for all.
Neither team comes into the MAC title game on anything close to a role. Toledo got whipped by rival Bowling Green 56-21 last Friday night. The Rockets played the game without star quarterback Tavares Bolden, who was out with what was described as back spasms. The 35-point margin in the game was the most against the Rockets in the MAC game since a 36-point loss to Northern Illinois in 1987.
Marshall fared better, surviving a scare from old rival Youngstown State to take a 38-24 victory. The game was much closer than the 14-point final margin, with Marshall stopping the Penguins on fourth and goal from the one with 2:35 to play to preserve a seven-point lead. Marshall then closed the deal with a 76 yard interceptions return for a touchdown with 53 second left by redshirt freshman Roberto Terrell.
This will be the third time in five years that Marshall and Toledo have met to decide the league title. Marshall won the first two games (in 1997 and 1998) to secure trips to the Motor City Bowl. There will be two huge differences between those games and the game this Friday night -- 1) both teams already have bowl bids securely in hand and 2) the game this time will be played at Toledo?s Glass Bowl instead of Marshall Stadium.
Entering the Herd?s final regular season game (bowl game stats do not count toward season or career totals), Marshall quarterback Byron Leftwich is within range of rewriting several Mid-American Conference season records. With 3,804 yards, he has already broken Chad Pennington?s MAC season record for total offense (3,799); he is four touchdowns, rushing or passing, shy of Pennington?s MAC record of 40 in a season; he is 15 pass completions shy of the MAC season record set by Bowling Green?s Brian McClure (298) in 1983; he is 98 yards passing shy of Pennington?s MAC standard (3,799); and he stands five TD passes shy of Pennington?s league mark of 39.
But Leftwich isn?t the only Herd player bearing down on MAC records. Junior Curtis Head is tied for the MAC mark for PAT kicks made in a season (53).
