The 1997 Marshall Thundering Herd football team represented the

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: ...

as a member of the East Division 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 ...

(MAC) during the

1997 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season, play of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I-A level, began in late summer 1997 and culminated with the major bowl games in ea ...

. Led by second-year head coach

Bob Pruett Robert Lewis Pruett (born June 20, 1943) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach Marshall University for nine seasons, from 1996 to 2004. During his tenure at Marshall, the Marshall Thundering Herd f ...

, the Thundering Herd compiled an overall record of 10–3 with a mark of 7–1 in conference play, winning the MAC's East Division title. Marshall beat Toledo in

MAC Championship Game The MAC Football Championship Game is a football game between the winners of the East and West divisions of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to determine the conference champion. History The game has been played since 1997, when the conferenc ...

to win the conference championship and then lost to Ole Miss in the

Motor City Bowl The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (known as the Motor City Bowl until 2009) was a post-season college football bowl game that was played annually from 1997 to 2013. The first five games (1997–2001) were played at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, ...

. After winning the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly k ...

(SoCon) tile and the

NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was k ...

in 1996, Marshall returned to

NCAA Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

play for the first time since 1981 and the MAC for the time since 1968. The Thundering Herd played home games at

Marshall University 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 suit ...

in Huntington, West Virginia. Wide receiver

Randy Moss Randy Gene Moss (born February 13, 1977) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennessee ...

and quarterback

Chad Pennington James Chadwick Pennington (born June 26, 1976) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football at Marshall, where he won the Sammy Baugh Trophy, and was select ...

were the centerpiece of an explosive offense. Moss caught 26 touchdown passes, at the time an NCAA Division I-A record, and was a unanimous first-team All-American. For the season, Moss had 96 receptions for 1,820 yards, won the

Fred Biletnikoff Award The Fred Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to the most outstanding receiver in American college football by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc. (TQCF), an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The award was creat ...

as the nation's best wide receiver, and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, finishing fourth in the balloting, behind

Ryan Leaf Ryan David Leaf (born May 15, 1976) is a former American football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. He played for the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys between 1998 and 2001, and also pl ...

, Peyton Manning, and Charles Woodson, who won the award. Moss left Marshall with 168 receptions for 3,467 yards and a school record 53 touchdowns in two seasons. The Herd became only the second team to win a conference championship in its first NCAA Division I-A (now FBS) season, following the

1992 Nevada Wolf Pack football team The 1992 Nevada Wolf Pack football team represented the University of Nevada, Reno during the 1992 NCAA Division I-A football season. Nevada competed as a first-year member of the Big West Conference (BWC). The Wolf Pack were led by 17th-year h ...

that won the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

. The feat was not repeated until 2014, when Georgia Southern won the Sun Belt Conference title.

Schedule

Roster

Game summaries

at West Virginia

After trailing 28–3, the Thundering Herd scored 28 straight to take a 31–28 lead into the 4th quarter. West Virginia responded with two fourth quarter touchdowns to win this much anticipated season opener, 42–31. Randy Moss had seven receptions for 85 yards and two touchdowns.

at Army

Randy Moss had five receptions for 186 yards and two touchdowns.

st Kent State

Randy Moss hauled in 8 receptions for 216 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Western Illinois

Randy Moss had 5 receptions for 52 yards and 2 touchdowns.

at Ball State

Randy Moss caught 13 passes for 205 yards and a school-record 5 touchdowns.

Akron

Randy Moss had 6 receptions for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns.

at Miami (OH)

Randy Moss had 10 receptions for 147 yards and a touchdown.

Eastern Michigan

Randy Moss had 8 receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown.

at Central Michigan

Randy Moss had 7 receptions for 193 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Bowling Green

Randy Moss had 7 receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown.

Ohio

Randy Moss had seven receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown.

Toledo (MAC Championship Game)

Randy Moss had seven receptions for 170 yards and three touchdowns.

vs. Ole Miss (Motor City Bowl)

Playing in its first bowl game since the

1948 Tangerine Bowl The 1948 Tangerine Bowl was an American college football bowl game played after the 1947 season, on January 1, 1948, at the Tangerine Bowl stadium in Orlando, Florida. The game was the second annual Tangerine Bowl, now known as the Citrus Bow ...

, Marshall lost a back-and-forth matchup with Ole Miss. Randy Moss had 6 receptions for 173 yards and a touchdown, including an 80-yard bomb from Chad Pennington, in his final collegiate game.

Awards and honors

–

, Heisman Trophy Finalist (4th in Voting), Unanimous First-Team All-American, MAC Offensive Player of the Year

Team players in the 1998 NFL Draft

References

{{Mid-American Conference football champions

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

Marshall Thundering Herd football seasons Mid-American Conference football champion seasons

Marshall Thundering Herd football The Marshall Thundering Herd football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports program of Marshall University. The team represents the university as a member of the Sun Belt Conference East Division of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...