The 1997 Motor City Bowl was the inaugural edition of the new

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, and was played at the

Silverdome The Pontiac Silverdome (also known simply as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, ...

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founde ...

on December 26, 1997. 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 MAC and the

Ole Miss Rebels The Ole Miss Rebels are the 18 men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that are funded by and represent the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford. The first was the football team, which began play in 1893. Originally known as th ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

Background

The Rebels finished third in the SEC Western Division in their first bowl game since

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. Marshall was champions of the MAC after beating Toledo in the

1997 MAC Championship Game The 1997 MAC Championship Game was the inaugural conference championship game of the Mid-American Conference, and was played on December 5, 1997, at Marshall Stadium, now known as Joan C. Edwards Stadium, in Huntington, West Virginia. The game fe ...

in their first ever season in Division I-A. This was their first bowl game since

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

Game summary

In a game with 1,018 yards of total offense, Stewart Patridge threw 29-of-47 passes for 332 yards and 3 touchdowns with 1 interception to lead Ole Miss to victory. Deuce McAllister at running back.

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 selecte ...

threw 23-of-45 for 337 yards and 3 touchdowns.

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 ...

caught 6 passes for 173 yards.

Aftermath

This was the only Motor City Bowl featuring a team from the SEC. Marshall went to the next three Motor City Bowls. Ole Miss went to two more bowl games in the decade.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20110608133202/http://www.mmbolding.com/bowls/Motor_City_1997.htm

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, ...

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl Ole Miss Rebels football bowl games Marshall Thundering Herd football bowl games

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