Freshman Deuce McAllister caught a touchdown pass and ran for the winning score with 31 seconds to play to cap a wild second half as Mississippi defeated Marshall, 34-31, in the inaugural Motor City Bowl at Pontiac, Michigan.
The Rebels (8-4) improved to 10-0 against non-conference teams under coach Tommy Tuberville. The eight victories are the most for the Rebels since the 1992 squad finished 9-3. Mississippi, now 15-11 in the postseason, evened its bowl mark at 2-2 in the 1990s. The Rebels' only previous postseason victory this decade came in the 1992 Liberty Bowl against Air Force.
Mississippi was led by quarterback Stewart Patridge, who completed 29-of-47 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns, and John Avery, who gained 110 yards on 27 carries.
"It was a great game and it ended up that we scored in the final minutes for the win," Tuberville said. "Marshall has a great team. We had to play well to win."
"Avery is an excellent back who is a side-to-side runner," added Marshall linebacker John Grace. "McAllister is more of a power runner who goes straight ahead. He came in with fresh legs when we were tired and just ran through us."
Marshall star receiver Randy Moss caught six passes for 173 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown on the Thundering Herd's first play from scrimmage. Moss, who finished fourth in balloting for the Heisman Trophy, caught 96 passes for 1,820 yards this season. He has at least one TD reception in each of his 28 collegiate games.
Marshall (10-3) still set a school record for wins by a team making the jump to college football's premier division.
The Thundering Herd, who won the Division I-AA title in 1992 and 1996 and was runner-up three times during the 1990s before entering Division I-A this year. They were competing in only their second bowl game and first since losing to Catawba, 7-0, in the 1948 Tangerine Bowl.
No school in the country has won more football games (89) in the 1990s than Marshall. Bob Pruett, who was an assistant at Mississippi in 1990 and 1991, is 25-3 in his first two years as Thundering Herd head coach.
Marshall took a 17-7 advantage into the second half but Mississippi sliced into the lead on its first possession of the third quarter. After Patridge converted on a 3rd-and-eight with a nine-yard completion to tight end Rufus French, he hit Andre Rone on a crossing pattern over the middle for a 13-yard score.
The Rebels took the lead nine minutes into the quarter as Patridge hit McAllister wide open in the right flat. McAllister raced untouched down the sideline for a 20-yard score, his fifth TD of the season but only the first receiving.
In the third period, Patridge completed 10-of-14 passes for 114 yards and two scores.
Five minutes into the fourth quarter, Marshall regained the lead, 24-17, on a six-yard screen pass from Chad Pennington to Doug Chapman. The score capped an 11-play, 80-yard drive for the Thundering Herd, who had not managed more than four plays on any drive in the third period.
"Marshall has as good an offense as we played all year because of the weapons that they have on the outside," said Tuberville, "They spread the field and they make you cover the field. They put pressure on your defense play after play. Our guys did step up."
After Marshall's Billy Malashevich twice booted the ball out of bounds on the ensuing kickoff, the Thundering Herd were flagged for a late hit on the return. That put Mississippi at its own 40-yard line and the Rebels were in the end zone less than three minutes later on a 19-yard pass from Stewart to Grant Heard. Steve Lindsey missed the extra-point to keep Marshall within three.
The Herd drove right down the field on the next possession, going 80 yards in nine plays over 2:42, to take the lead. On 3rd-and-goal from the 9, Chapman burst up the middle for his third touchdown of the game.
But Mississippi had enough time to drive for the winning score. McCallister set up his own touchdown with a 24-yard run on 3rd-and-1 to the Marshall 17. Patridge followed with a eight-yard completion to Heard and, two plays later, the freshman's one-yard dive won the game for the Rebels.
"Coming off that (late game-winning drive in) the (Mississippi) State game and driving in the last couple of minutes, everybody had confidence in each other to get the job done," said Patridge. "Everybody executed on the final drive and we were able to pull it out."
Pennington was 23-of-45 passes for 337 yards for Marshall, while Chapman ran 19 times for 152 yards.
"It's a shame our team had to lose," said Pruett. "It was a great football game. I'm really proud of our players. They really played their hearts out. They gave a great effort."
Mississippi wasted no time getting the fireworks started. On its first play from scrimmage, Patridge hit a streaking Heard down the right sidline for a 55-yard completion. Avery's one-yard dive on the next play gave the Rebels a 7-0 lead.
The Thundering Herd went one better on their first possession, tying it on the first play when Moss beat cornerback Malikia Griffin on a fly pattern down the right side and hauled in an 80-yard touchdown pass. It was Moss' 26th scoring reception of the season, four more than the previous record set by Houston's Manny Hazard in 1989.
It also was Pennington's 40th TD pass of the year. Pennington, who backed up Florida transfer Eric Kresser last year, led the nation in touchdown passes.
Neither team mustered more than three plays on its next two possessions, but Malashevich capped a 54-yard drive with a 36-yard field goal.
With just under six minutes gone in the second quarter, Marshall extended to a 17-7 lead as Pennington rolled right and hit LaVorn Colclough in the corner of the end zone for a 19-yard score. The drive began after cornerback Larry Moore intercepted Patridge.
The Rebels mounted a 15-play, 80-yard drive over the final four minutes of the first half, but came away scoreless when Patridge was stopped at the 3 with 10 seconds left. The clock ran out on Mississippi, which had exhausted its timeouts.
"If we make more plays, we would have won the football game," added Pruett. "We were using this game as a gauge to see where we are and what we had to do, and how much harder we had to recruit. I think we found out some things tonight that we need to get a little bigger, a little stronger."