Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Falls in PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl
12/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Marshall Falls in PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl
12/24/2004
- Box Score
FORT WORTH, Texas ? Senior quarterback Gino Guidugli completed 24-of-36 passes and threw two touchdowns to lead the University of Cincinnati to a 32-14 win over Marshall University in the second annual PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl, Thursday.
Guidugli threw for 231 yards and earned team MVP honors for the Bearcats. Also making a large contribution to the win for the Bearcats was senior linebacker Tyjuan Hagler, who blocked a punt for a touchdown and forced a fumble, which led to a field goal.
The Thundering Herd found itself in an early 10-0 hole. After receiving the opening kickoff, the Herd went three and out to bring up a fourth down at its own 28 yard line. On the ensuing punt, Tyjuan Hagler blocked Ian O?Connor?s punt. Antwuan Giddens picked the ball up and ran it to the endzone to give UC a 7-0 lead only a minute into the game.
Hagler made another play for the Bearcats later in the first quarter. On the first play of Marshall?s third drive of the game, senior quarterback Graham Gochneaur, in his first play of the game, rolled right and was hit by Hagler, causing a fumble. Andre Frazier recovered the fumble on Marshall?s 27 to give the Bearcats great field position. Cincinnati was unable to find the endzone on the drive, but did kick a field goal to take a 10-0 lead.
On the next drive, Marshall would get on the board. The Herd offense put together a 12- play, 67-yard drive, capped off by a 13 yard touchdown pass from Stan Hill to Josh Davis to make it a 10-7 game. Davis led the team with two receptions for 28 yards on the drive. Hill also had a 13-yard scramble to give MU a first down.
Marshall?s defense stepped it up on Cincinnati?s next drive. On the second play of the drive, Bearcat quarterback Gino Guidugli threw a pass that hung up in the air a little too long and was intercepted by Herd defensive back Willie Smith. Smith proceeded to run the interception to the endzone and give Marshall its first lead of the game. It was Smith?s fourth interception of the season. The play gave the Herd a 14-10 lead with 25 second left in the quarter.
From that point, the game belonged to Cincinnati. In their second drive of the second quarter, the Bearcats put together a six minute drive, culminating with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Guidugli to tight end Brent Celek. That gave UC a 17-14 lead and they would not look back from there.
After holding the Herd to a three and out, the Bearcats put together another touchdown drive. The drive started on their 13 and ended with Guidugli throwing his second touchdown pass of the game. He lobbed a pass to the endzone and Earnest Jackson out-jumped the Herd defense to get the touchdown. The score came with 18 seconds left in the half and gave the Bearcats a 24-14 halftime lead.
Even though there was no scoring in the quarter, the Bearcats controlled the third quarter. Cincinnati ran 27 plays in the quarter while limiting the Herd to only nine plays from scrimmage.
In the fourth quarter, the Bearcats put the finishing touches on the win. With 10:50 left in the game, UC finished another long drive of over 8 minutes with a field goal to take a 27-14 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, freshman Ahmad Bradshaw fumbled the punt, giving the Herd tough field position, starting the drive at their own ten yard line. After going three plays and out, Ian O?Connor had his second punt blocked of the night. This time, Trent Cole blocked the punt for UC and O?Connor fell on it in the endzone for a safety. That put two more points on the board for UC.
The Bearcats put the game out of reach after taking the free kick down the field for another field goal. It marked Kevin Lovell?s third field goal of the game.
The Herd made one last effort on their next drive, converting a fourth and 14, but the Bearcat defense held and got the ball back to run out the clock and take the 32-14 win.
Cincinnati?s defense dominated the Herd offense, limiting it to 134 total yards, including -3 yards on the ground. They also helped Cincinnati dominate the time of possession, holding the Herd to only 21:33 while the UC offense possessed the ball for 38:27.
Senior Josh Davis led Marshall with five receptions for 67 yards. He finishes his collegiate career ranked second all-time with 306, three behind Taylor Stubblefield of Purdue. He also finished second on the all-time MAC yards receiving list with 3,899, behind only Darius Watts? total of 4,031. For his efforts in the game, he was named Marshall?s most valuable player.
Hannibal Thomas, a senior wide receiver, led UC with nine receptions for 102 yards.
Marshall finished the 2004 season with a 6-6 record, their 21st consecutive non-losing season. It did, however, end their streak of 20 winning seasons in a row. The loss also marked the Herd?s first to a Conference USA opponent.
The loss also snapped MU?s five-bowl win streak. Marshall previously won three straight Motor City Bowls from 1998-2000 and was victorious in the 2001 and 2002 GMAC Bowls.
