The 1997 MAC Championship Game was the inaugural conference championship game of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

, and was played on December 5, 1997, at Marshall Stadium, now known as

Joan C. Edwards Stadium Joan C. Edwards Stadium, formerly Marshall University Stadium, is a football stadium located on the campus of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It can hold 38,227 spectators and includes twenty deluxe, indoor suites ...

, in Huntington, West Virginia. The game featured the

Marshall Thundering Herd The Marshall Thundering Herd is the intercollegiate athletic collection of teams that collectively represent the Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Thundering Herd athletic teams compete in the Sun Belt Conference, which are member ...

of the East Division, and the

Toledo Rockets The Toledo Rockets are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Toledo. The Rockets compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The ...

of the West Division. It snowed the entire game. The Thundering Herd defeated the Rockets 34–14.

Teams

Toledo

Toledo entered the championship game as West Division champions, having compiled a 9–2 record, 7–1 record in MAC play. The Rockets started the season 8–0 and reaching No. 18 in the AP Poll before losing to Ball State for its only conference loss.

Marshall

Marshall entered the championship game as East Division champions, having compiled a 9–2 record, 7–1 record in MAC play.. After losing its season-opener to

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

, the Thundering Herd won nine of its next ten games. This marked Marshall's first season back in the MAC since it was suspended from the conference after the 1968 season.

Game summary

Statistics

References

Championship Game In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

MAC Championship Game Marshall Thundering Herd football games Toledo Rockets football games December 1997 sports events in the United States MAC Championship {{WestVirginia-sport-stub