2002 GMAC Bowl
The 2002 GMAC Bowl was an American college football bowl game. It was part of the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season and was the fifth edition of the bowl game. It was played in December 2002 and featured the Louisville Cardinals, and the Marshall Thundering Herd.
| 2002 GMAC Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 18, 2002 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2002 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Ladd–Peebles Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Mobile, Alabama | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Marshall QB Byron Leftwich | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Marshall by 2.5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 40,646 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
Marshall started the scoring with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Byron Leftwich to wide receiver Denero Marriott for a 7–0 lead. In the second quarter, Marshall's Curtis Head kicked a 23-yard field goal to give Marshall a 10–0 lead. Leftwich later tossed an 8-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Demetrius Doss for a 17–0 lead. Louisville got on the board with a 2-yard TJ Patterson touchdown run, making the score 17–7.
In the third quarter, Leftwich again connected with Doss for a 12-yard touchdown pass and a 24–7 lead. He later found Marriott for a 26-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Franklin Wallace added a 15-yard touchdown run to give Marshall a 38–7 lead. With 13 seconds left in the game, quarterback Dave Ragone found Tiger Jones in the end zone for a Louisville touchdown. The two-point conversion to Jones made the final score 38–15.