HUNTINGTON, W.VA. - Marshall won the right to face the University of Cincinnati in the Dec. 27 Motor City Bowl by defeating Western Michigan 19-14 Saturday in the Mid American Conference title game.

        The Thundering Herd (7-5) will be playing in Detroit for the fourth straight year. UC (7-4) is making its first appearance there. Its last bowl game was the 1997 Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, where it defeated Utah State.

        Byron Leftwich, the MAC's passing and total offense leader who failed to make any of the all-conference squads, saved the day for Marshall by throwing a 29-yard touchdown pass to John Cooper midway through the fourth quarter.

        “I consider myself a championship quarterback. The opportunity was there for us to pull it out, and I was glad I was able to help out,” Leftwich said.

        Western was shut out in the first half for the first time all season, but Jeff Welsh threw two TD passes to give the Broncos a 14-13 lead early in the fourth quarter.

        Leftwich then drove Marshall 80 yards in eight plays. He completed six of seven passes on the drive, including the go-ahead score to Cooper, who took a pass down the right sideline and scored untouched with six minutes remaining.

        “Coach let me call the plays down the stretch,” Leftwich said. “Our guys knew we had to score. We went into a two-minute offense, which is a bit more uptempo and suits our style much more.”

        Western drove to the Marshall 27 on its next drive, but Welsh threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-4. Leftwich completed 29-of-45 passes for 358 yards.

        The Thundering Herd started the season 2-4, including blowout losses to Western Michigan and Toledo, before winning the East Division on a tiebreaker over Ohio.

        “Halftime at Toledo, we hit rock bottom,” Marshall coach Bob Pruett said. “Ever since then, we've banded together and started playing together. And now we're going to Detroit.”

        Marshall ....... 3 10 0 6—19

        W. Michigan ....... 0 0 7 7— 14

        First Quarter

        Mar—FG Jenkins 20, 9:41

        Second Quarter

        Mar—FG Jenkins 30, 4:51

        Mar—Watts 44 pass from Leftwich (Jenkins kick), 1:37

        Third Quarter

        WMU—Neal 22 pass from Welsh (Selent kick), 0:47

        Fourth Quarter

        WMU—Bush 41 pass from Welsh (Selent kick), 12:52

        Mar—Cooper 29 pass from Leftwich (pass failed), 6:14

        A—24,816.

        INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

        RUSHING—Marshall, Wallace 19-79, Leftwich 7-6, Carey 2-2, Team 3-(minus 17). W. Michigan, Sanford 19-67, Woods 4-21, Selzer 2-7, Welsh 5-2, Neal 2-(minus 11).

        PASSING—Marshall, Leftwich 29-45-0-358. W. Michigan, Welsh 23-34-1-264.

        RECEIVING—Marshall, Poole 7-58, Foye 6-74, Watts 4-94, Washington 4-29, Cooper 3-63, Carey 2-13, Wallace 2-1, Kellett 1-26. W. Michigan, Neal 10-93, Alston 4-32, Bush 3-58, Afariogun 2-51, Wolverton 1-17, Sanford 1-6, Selzer 1-4, Woods 1-3.

Marshall to play UC in bowl Bearcats using down time to learn UC women 84, Coastal Carolina 55

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