The 1998 MAC Championship Game was the second conference championship game of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

, and was played on December 4, 1998, 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 Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

. The game featured a rematch of the 1997 game, between the East Division's

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 membe ...

, and the West Division's

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 ...

. Marshall was heavily favored to win the game. Marshall defeated Toledo to claim their second consecutive conference title by a score of 23–17. During the game, Marshall starting 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 selecte ...

was hurt, and was replaced by

Byron Leftwich Byron Antron Leftwich (born January 14, 1980) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played in the NFL for ten seaso ...

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 1998 sports events in the United States

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 ...

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