Wednesday, December 27, 2000
UC, Marshall Johnny-come-latelys
By LARRY LAGE
AP Sports Writer
PONTIAC, Mich. — The way they were playing two months ago, it didn't appear likely that either Marshall or Cincinnati would be anywhere but home for Christmas. It's the way they played afterward that got both teams into Wednesday's Motor City Bowl.
The Bearcats were 3-4 before winning their last four games.
“Our backs were to the wall after that start and our defense said, "Get on our backs,”' Cincinnati coach Rick Minter said. “We had 20 takeaways from that unit during the last four games and that's what really gave us the opportunity to be here.”
The Thundering Herd's 2-4 start included an Oct. 5 loss to Western Michigan. That game ended a 33-game home winning streak, the nation's longest.
Marshall won four of its last five regular-season games and capped the turnaround with a 19-14 come-from-behind win over Western Michigan in the MAC championship game on Dec. 2.
Marshall's Mid-American Conference rivals blew an opportunity to bury the Herd during what started out as a rebuilding year, defensive back Danny Derricott said.
“We had a new quarterback, new linebackers, new defensive tackles and just a lot of guys that hadn't been in big games,” Derricott said. “If there was a year to beat us, this was it.”
As it turns out, Marshall remains the only school to represent the MAC in the Motor City Bowl's short history. The Herd lost to Mississippi by three points in 1997 and won easily the past two years.
The Motor City Bowl and the MAC will discuss their contract after this game to explore options for selecting teams for future bowls. Now the bid automatically goes to the winner of the MAC championship game, regardless of the team's record.
This season, Toledo finished 10-1 and Western Michigan was 9-3.
“It makes sense to at least discuss this for the best interest of the bowl and the conference,” said Motor City Bowl executive director Ken Hoffman. “Many of the other relationships between bowls and conferences have such provisions.”
Such talk upsets Marshall coach Bob Pruett.
“Last year, we were 11-0 and nobody was crying then,” Pruett said. “They were begging us to come, hoping we didn't take another bowl bid. This is a bunch of bull. Some people in Detroit and Michigan were upset that their team didn't get here. Well, you got to win the championship to get to this bowl.”
The Bearcats didn't have to win the Conference USA title to go to the Motor City Bowl. But they chose it over the Mobile Alabama Bowl and the galleryfurniture.com bowl in Houston.
“We could've gone to two other bowls in warmer climates against bigger-conference teams, like a Big 12 team,” Minter said. “But we chose to come here. Those other bowls are about the same — there's not a nickel bit of difference payout-wise ($750,000 per team). We decided, let's go where our fans can go while we're trying to build our tradition as a program.”
While Marshall is playing in its fourth straight bowl, Cincinnati is playing in its first since 1997 and just its second since 1951.
“They're tired of coming here,” Minter joked. “It's all about perspective. Our guys are hungry to be here, so we're looking forward to this. We're not all disappointed. We're thrilled to be here.”
So was Marshall wide receiver Nate Poole, who said: “We can have fun no matter where we're at. Why complain when you have a chance to play another football game? And you can't knock this bowl until you experience it.”
Marshall's best weapon on offense is sophomore quarterback Byron Leftwich, who Pruett believes has the potential to be better than his former quarterback, Chad Pennington. Leftwich threw 21 touchdown passes and was intercepted just nine times.
Cincinnati will rely on the foot of Jonathan Ruffin, who won the Lou Groza Award as the nation's top college kicker. Ruffin made 26-of-29 field goals.
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UC, Marshall Johnny-come-latelys
