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Marshall 64 - East Carolina 61
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2001 GMAC BOWL |
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MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- Marshall and East Carolina piled up the points so quickly that even the coaches had trouble keeping track. |
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In the highest-scoring bowl game in history, Marshall rallied past the Pirates 64-61 in double overtime Wednesday night to win the GMAC Bowl behind Byron Leftwich's 576 yards passing.
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| "Lord, have mercy," East Carolina coach Steve Logan exclaimed. "I hope everyone got their money's worth." |
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| Leftwich capped his night with an 8-yard touchdown toss to Josh Davis to end it, capping Marshall's comeback from a 30-point halftime deficit. |
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| Previously, the highest-scoring bowl was Texas Tech's 55-41 victory over Air Force in the 1995 Copper. |
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| The Thundering Herd (11-2) stormed back from a 38-8 halftime deficit, tying it at 51 in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. Marshall wasted a chance to win in regulation when it missed the extra point. |
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| "I guess we had to make it a little dramatic and miss that extra point, then give the fans and TV a little bit more thrill," Marshall coach Bob Pruett said. "It's bad that a team had to lose." |
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| Leftwich finished 41-of-70 with four scoring passes and a TD run. |
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| Ahead 51-45, East Carolina (6-6) recovered an onsides kick in the final two minutes. But the Pirates couldn't run out the clock and punted into the end zone. |
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| Marshall took over at its 20 with 50 seconds left and no timeouts. After two incomplete passes, Leftwich hit Denero Marriott for 20 yards. |
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| Leftwich then connected with Curtis Jones for 27 yards and Marriott for 23. Marshall made it 51-all when Leftwich hit a leaping Darius Watts in the corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown with seven seconds left. Curtis Head's extra-point try was wide right, his seventh missed PAT of the year, leaving it tied. |
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| Both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime. Marshall's Franklin Wallace had a 2-yard run and Leonard Henry came back with a 25-yard TD on the next play. |
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| Marshall held East Carolina to Kevin Miller's 37-yard field goal in the second overtime. |
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| Then, Leftwich hit Marriott for a 21-yard completion. After two running plays lost yardage, Leftwich connected with Davis to win it on third-and-goal. |
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| The game featured four defensive touchdowns, two by East Carolina in the first four minutes of the game and two by Marshall in the third quarter. |
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| Henry rushed for 195 yards and three scores on 29 carries, but couldn't overcome Leftwich's fifth 400-yard passing performance of the year. |
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| Marriott had 15 catches for 234 yards and Watts added 133 yards and two scores on seven receptions. |
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| The teams combined for 1,141 total yards. |
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| A few thousand fans left at halftime, and they missed seeing the Thundering Herd come back with 28 third-quarter points, scoring on 25-yard interception returns by Ralph Street and Terrence Tarpley. |
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| An East Carolina fumble then set up Wallace's 15-yard scoring run to make it 41-36 with a minute left. |
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| Miller then hit a 32-yard field goal, his third, after David Garrard's touchdown run was negated by a holding call. |
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| Marshall had committed just nine turnovers in its first 12 games, but nearly self-destructed early. |
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| On the game's second play, Leftwich's screen pass bounced off Marriott's arm and in the arms of Ty Hunt, who took it 12 yards into the end zone. |
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| The Thundering Herd's next drive ended when Leftwich couldn't handle a high snap. He tried to fall on it, but the ball squibbed out of his hands and Jerome Steward scooped it up for a 43-yard score. |
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| Leftwich appeared to click into gear on the next drive, completing five straight passes. But he threw an interception directly to Steward in the back of the end zone. |
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| A muffed punt set up Garrard's 6-yard scoring run late in the first half. |
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