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 PONTIAC, Mich.- Doug Chapman wanted everyone to know Marshall can
play with the big boys. Now they know. Chapman scored three touchdowns
and Marshall's defense did the rest as the No. 4 Marshall Thundering
Herd completed an undefeated season by beating BYU 21-3 on Monday in the
Motor City Bowl.
"It was a dream come true for the whole team," Chapman said. Chapman,
who rushed for 133 yards, ran for two TDs and hooked up on a pass play
with Chad Pennington for another as Marshall (13-0) remained one of
three unbeaten Division I teams in the country.
"Doug stepped up," Marshall coach Bob Pruett said. "In every big
ballgame we've had, Doug Chapman's done some great running." Marshall,
35-4 since moving up to Division I, has played in the Motor City Bowl
all three years. It lost the inaugural game and won the last two. "So
many heroes today," Pruett said. "It's unbelievable."
BYU (8-4), co-champions of the Mountain West Conference, got its lone
score on Owen Pochman's 28-yard field goal in the first quarter. It was
all Marshall after that and the Mid-American Conference champions broke
the game open with two touchdowns in a 1:44 span during the second half.
"We just kept believing something would happen," BYU defensive end
Setema Gali said. "There's miracles that happen out there in games.
Unfortunately, not for us today." T
he game had been billed as a shootout
between Pennington and BYU's Keven Feterik. But Pennington, who came in
with 3,799 yards passing and 37 TD tosses, completed 17 of 28 passes for
207 yards with one interception. Feterik, who passed for 3,554 yards and
25 TDs this season, could never escape the pressure from Marshall's
quick defenders. He was 6-of-11 for 125 yards before being forced from
the game early in the third quarter with a deep shoulder bruise. "It was
pretty hard," Feterik said. "I threw about three more passes after I got
hurt. It just kept getting worse." Freshman Bret Engemann and Charlie
Peterson finished for the Cougars, but they were no more successful than
Feterik.
Marshall finished with 354 yards while holding BYU to 204 yards. The
Cougars had minus-16 yards rushing. "Number one, we were unable to make
plays," BYU coach LaVell Edwards said. "They made a couple. That was the
difference in the ballgame."
The Cougars drove 57 yards in 10 plays on their second possession and
took a 3-0 lead on Pochman's field goal. It looked like it might be
BYU's day when Billy Malashevich missed a field goal early in the second
quarter for Marshall, but the Cougars' luck soon went sour. Pennington's
underthrown pass was intercepted by Jared Lee at the BYU 30 shortly
after the first of Malashevich's three misses, but Marshall's Nate Poole
forced Lee to fumble on the return attempt and Lanier Washington
recovered for Marshall.
Given new life, Pennington and Chapman hooked up
on a 30-yard touchdown pass play with 8:18 left in the half - on the
first snap - to give the Herd a 7-3 lead (video). "Credit Marshall. They did a
nice job," Edwards said. "We get the interception, fumble it right back.
Next play, they score." Chapman caught the ball in traffic at the 25,
made a nice move at the 10 and angled across the goal line.
Chapman, the game's Most Valuable Player, broke a tackle near the line
of scrimmage, springing himself for an 87-yard TD run with 51 seconds
left in the third quarter (video). "I was running and hoping to God nobody
caught me," Chapman said. "I was getting tired, starting to cramp during
the run." It was the longest play in the three-year history of this
bowl. The old mark was an 80-yard pass from Pennington to Randy Moss
against Mississippi in 1997. "He made a great run on the touchdown,"
Pruett said. "If you saw the replay, he was hit two or three times,
stepped over a guy. It was just a great run. He's going to be a great
pro."
A 16-yard interception return by Rogers Beckett set Marshall up at the
BYU 1 and Chapman dove in for the score two plays later for final score
with 14:07 left in the fourth quarter. |
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Attendance- 52,449
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
BYU- FG Pochman 28
Second Quarter
MAR- Chapman 30 pass from Pennington (Malashevich kick)
Third Quarter
MAR- Chapman 87 run (Malashevich kick)
Fourth Quarter
MAR- Chapman 1 run (Malashevich kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
BYU- Atuaia 2-19, C Peterson 3-7
MAR- Chapman 14-133, Turner7-15
Passing
BYU- Feterik 6-11-125, Engemann 6-11-45, Peterson 4-7-50
MAR- Pennington 17-28-207
Receiving
BYU- Hooks 4-108, Atuaia 4-35, Pittman 3-24,Ofahengaue 2-19, Horton 1-24
MAR- Williams 5-95, Chapman 4-40, Cooper 3-30, Washington 2-25, Poole
2-13
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