Louisville vs. Marshall
Dec 23, 1998
NCAAF MOTOR CITY BOWL
FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
LOUISVILLE 0 21 0 8 29
MARSHALL 7 14 17 10 48 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QTR: MRSH - TD, JAMES WILLIAMS 29 YD PASS FROM CHAD PENNINGTON
(BILLY MALASHEVICH KICK), 12:56
2ND QTR: LVIL - TD, LEROY COLLINS 2 YD RUN (JON HILBERT KICK), 2:15
MRSH - TD, LANIER WASHINGTON 14 YD PASS FROM CHAD
PENNINGTON (BILLY MALASHEVICH KICK), 5:04
LVIL - TD, CHARLES SHEFFIELD 21 YD PASS FROM CHRIS REDMAN
(JON HILBERT KICK), 6:43
MRSH - TD, JAMES WILLIAMS 26 YD PASS FROM CHAD PENNINGTON
(BILLY MALASHEVICH KICK), 8:03
LVIL - TD, LEROY COLLINS 13 YD RUN (JON HILBERT KICK),
13:08
3RD QTR: MRSH - TD, JERRALD LONG 50 YD PASS FROM CHAD PENNINGTON
(BILLY MALASHEVICH KICK), 2:41
MRSH - TD, DOUG CHAPMAN 1 YD RUN (BILLY MALASHEVICH
KICK), 7:19
MRSH - FG, BILLY MALASHEVICH 22 YD, 12:06
4TH QTR: MRSH - TD, DOUG CHAPMAN 1 YD RUN (BILLY MALASHEVICH
KICK), 0:30
LVIL - TD, LEROY COLLINS 1 YD RUN (LEROY COLLINS RUN FOR
TWO-POINT CONVERSION), 4:36
MRSH - FG, BILLY MALASHEVICH 32 YD, 9:57
Extended Box
NCAAF 1 2 3 4 F
- - - - --
Louisville 0 21 0 8 29
Marshall 7 14 17 10 48 FINAL
Marshall-J Williams 29 pass from Pennington (Malashevich kick)
Louisville-L Collins 2 run (Hilbert kick)
Marshall-L Washington 14 pass from Pennington (Malashevich
kick)
Louisville-Sheffield 21 pass from Redman (Hilbert kick)
Marshall-J Williams 26 pass from Pennington (Malashevich kick)
Louisville-L Collins 13 run (Hilbert kick)
Marshall-Long 50 pass from Pennington (Malashevich kick)
Marshall-Chapman 1 run (Malashevich kick)
Marshall-FG Malashevich 22
Marshall-Chapman 1 run (Malashevich kick)
Louisville-L Collins 1 run (L Collins run for two-point
conversion)
Marshall-FG Malashevich 32
Louisville Marshall
First downs 26 27
Rushed-yards 21-66 45-202
Passing yards 336 411
Sacked-yards lost 3-29 0-0
Return yards 0 62
Passes 35-54-1 18-24-0
Punts 4-49.3 1-58.0
Fumbles-lost 3-0 2-0
Penalties-yards 13-109 14-123
Time of possession 28:49 31:11
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Louisville-L Collins 14-94, Cooper 2-0, Redman 5-minus
28. Marshall-Turner 13-94, Chapman 26-76, Pennington 3-34,
Baxter 0-2, Leftwich 3-minus 4.
PASSING: Louisville-Redman 35-54-1-336. Marshall-Pennington
18-24-0-411.
RECEIVING: Louisville-Jackson 8-96, Boyd 8-84, Sheffield 8-75,
L Collins 4-10, Green 3-38, Parker 3-27, Cooper 1-6.
Marshall-Cooper 5-67, J Williams 3-68, Chapman 2-69, Long 2-57,
Colclough 2-56, L Washington 2-35, Kellett 1-59, Turner 1-0.
Att: 32,206
Game Story
PONTIAC, Michigan (Ticker) -- Chad Pennington won the battle of
quarterbacks, throwing for 411 yards and four touchdowns, and
Marshall scored on eight of its final 10 possessions to
overpower Louisville, 48-29, in the Motor City Bowl.
The Mid-American Conference champions rolled to their first-ever
bowl victory behind Pennington, who outdueled Chris Redman by
completing 18-of-24 passes without an interception in his third
career 400-yard game. Redman, a fellow junior, was 35-of-54 for
336 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
"They had the coverage, but our receivers made some plays,"
Pennington said. "We had to take the pressure off of our defense
and put the pressure on our shoulders."
If both quarterbacks remain in school as expected, they will be
front-runners for the 1999 Heisman Trophy.
"(Redman) is a great quarterback," added Pennington. "Chris and
I talked a lot all week. He has pinpoint accuracy and a great
feel for the game."
The Thundering Herd (12-1) went three-and-out on the opening
possession but were stopped just twice thereafter. Billy
Malashevich missed a 56-yard field goal on the last play of the
first half and coach Bob Pruett had his team kneel down in the
final moments with Marshall deep in Louisville territory.
Marshall players celebrated the victory by dousing Pruett, who
has led the Herd to 101 victories in the 1990s. Marshall is the
only Division I-A or I-AA school to record 100 victories during
the decade.
"We had seven goals at the start of the season and we think we
reached two of those today," Pruett said. "One was to win a
bowl and the other was to finish in the top 25. I think we
proved it today that we belong in the top 25."
Playing in the Motor City Bowl for the second straight season,
Marshall recorded its first bowl victory in its third try. The
Herd lost to Catawba in the 1948 Tangerine Bowl and was beaten
by Mississippi, 34-31, in the inaugural game last year.
Last season's trip came in Marshall's return to I-A play after
nearly two decades of I-AA dominance that included two national
championships and six trips to the title game.
Despite the loss in its first postseason appearance since 1993,
Louisville (7-5) closed a remarkable turnaround campaign. The
Cardinals recovered from last year's 1-10 season in which the
lone victory came against winless Illinois.
"We accomplished a bowl game this year and more than anyone
thought we would," said Louisville coach John L. Smith, "even
more than some of the players probably thought. We have to take
a look at this season with a positive attitude and we have to
improve even more this year. We're not going to dwell on one
game. We have to look at the whole season and build on that."
After a wild final 18 minutes of the first half that saw the
teams score touchdowns on six consecutive possessions, Marshall
took over with 17 points in the opening 12:06 of the third
quarter.
The Thundering Herd stopped Louisville on the opening possession
of the period, then struck on the third play when Pennington
found Jerrald Long open along the left sideline for a 50-yard
score. On the first play of Marshall's next possession, Doug
Chapman took Pennington's screen pass 65 yards to the Louisville
10-yard line. Moments later, Chapman barreled his way for a
one-yard TD.
Louisville was forced to punt and Damone Williams returned the
kick 41 yards to the Cardinals 15. The Thundering Herd settled
for Malashevich's 22-yard field goal and a 38-21 lead.
"I felt the third quarter was the crucial quarter," Pennington
said. "We wanted to come out and take the pressure off the
defense. We saw how they scored 21 quick points in the first
half."
Marshall pushed its advantage to 45-21 just 30 seconds into the
fourth quarter on another one-yard TD plunge by Chapman. The
Cardinals fought within 16 points four minutes later on Leroy
Collins' one-yard TD run and two-point conversion scamper.
But Malashevich's 32-yard field goal sealed the victory with
just over 10 minutes remaining.
"They did a great job in the second half," Smith said. "They
have some great speed and they took away our routes. I just
felt they played harder than we did in the second half. We put
a lot of pressure on our offense to score every time it had the
football."
After the teams went a shocking 12:56 without scoring, Marshall
ended the drought when Pennington hit James Williams for a
29-yard score. It was the first of six consecutive touchdowns
on drives covering 97, 79, 84, 87, 82 and 80 yards.
Collins fought his way for a two-yard touchdown early in the
second quarter before Marshall regained the lead on Pennington's
14-yard TD toss to Lanier Washington. Redman's only scoring
strike of the game came moments later when he found Charles
Sheffield for 21 yards.
Pennington hooked up with James Williams again on a 26-yard
score to put Marhsall ahead, 21-14, but the Cardinals tied it
with 1:52 left in the half on Collins' 13-yard run.
Llow Turner carried 13 times for 94 yards and Chapman added 94
on 26 attempts for Marshall, which racked up 613 yards of total
offense compared to 402 for the Cardinals. Pennington hit eight
different receivers, with John Cooper leading the way with 67
yards on five catches.
"We had to establish a running game and eat up the clock to
start out the second half because they scored 21 points in the
blink of an eye," said Chapman. "Our offensive line also did
the job up front."
Collins carried 14 times for 84 yards for Louisville, while
Arnold Jackson totaled 96 yards on eight catches.