TicketsGuidugli's MVP Performance Leads UC to Bowl Victory
Contact: Tom Hathaway
12/23/2004
Gino Guidugli became the first Bearcat to thrown two touchdown passes in a bowl game. |
FORT WORTH, Texas --- The University of Cincinnati?s 25 seniors ended their career as winners as they led the Bearcats to a 32-14 win over Marshall in the PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl on Thursday night.
The win is UC?s first in a bowl since 1997 and caps one of the biggest single-season turnarounds in school history. After starting the season 2-4, the Bearcats won five of their final six, appearing in their fourth bowl in the last five years.
The biggest comeback was by senior quarterback Gino Guidugli, who, despite playing with two broken bones in his throwing hand, completed 24-of-36 passes for 231 yards and two scores to earn game MVP honors. Guidugli concludes his career with nearly every UC passing record and set a new single-season touchdown pass record with 26.
?I didn?t know what to expect (from the hand),? said Guidugli. ?but my receivers stepped up and made some big plays. I came in with a bunch of great guys and I wanted to go out with those great guys. I couldn?t stand on the sidelines and watch.?
UC, which finished the season 7-5, last won a bowl game in the 1997 Humanitarian Bowl over Utah State. Marshall (6-6), on the other hand, had won five-straight bowl games, the longest active streak in the nation.
The Bearcats won the game with a balanced offense, dominating defense and outstanding special teams. They finished the game with 399-134 advantage in total offense, including 168 rushing yards to minus three for the Thundering Herd. UC held a 24-11 edge in first downs and held the ball for nearly two-thirds of the game. After having two punts blocked in their last outing, the Bearcats turned the tables, blocking two Marshall punts, leading directly to nine points. UC also converted all three field-goal attempts.
Richard Hall led the rushing attack with 62 yards on 23 carries, making him the 13th player in school history to cross the 1,000-yard barrier in a season, finishing with 1,012. Hannibal Thomas caught nine passes for 101 yards for his fifth 100-yard receiving game of the season and becoming the fourth Bearcat to reach 1,000 receiving yards in a year, totaling 1,027.
Kevin Lovell made all three of his field goal attempts and both extra points to set a school bowl record with 11 kick points. Guidugli set a new UC bowl mark with his two TC passes and Thomas? nine catches equaled a school bowl record.
Tyjuan Hagler led the defensive effort with a team-leading seven tackles, plus the blocked punt that Antwan Giddens returned for a touchdown a minute in and a forced fumble that led to a field goal and 10-0 UC lead after less than nine minutes.
Trent Cole added six tackles and a sack and Doug Monaghan picked up his fourth interception of the season. Cole finished his career with 46.5 tackles for loss and 18.5 sacks, second and third in UC history, respectively. Andre Frazier had a sack and two TFLs to raise his career totals to 23.5 and 43.5, second and fifth at UC all-time. Monaghan?s pick was the ninth of his career to tie him for fourth in UC annals.
After the Bearcats took the 10-0 lead, Marshall regrouped and went on a 12-play, 67-yard drive that Stan Hill capped with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Stan Davis. Two plays later, Guidugli made his only mistake of the night as Willie Smith stepped in front of a pass and returned it 32 yards of the score and the 14-10 Herd lead.
The interception was Guidugli?s first in 145 pass attempts and he responded by completing his next 10 passes. He led the Bearcats on a 13-play drive that saw him complete all six of his passes for 57 yards. The last one was a 15-yard strike to Brent Celek for the score, extending Celek?s school record for TD catches by a tight end to eight. This made the score 17-14 with 4:31 to go in the half and UC would never trail again.
After a Marshall three and out, UC marched 87 yards in 11 plays with Guidugli completing six-of-eight passes for 78 yards. The final eight was covered when freshman Earnest Jackson outjumped two Herd defenders for the score and a 24-14 UC lead at the half.
The Bearcats came out of the lockerroom dominating the line of scrimmage. Though their opening drive produced no points when a fake field goal attempt resulted in an interception, the 18-play drive consumed 6:28 of clock.
Marshall, who had the ball for just three possessions in the entire second half, drove to the UC 42 before Monaghan picked off Hill. UC followed with another 18-play drive. This one consumed 8:29 of clock and resulted in a 19-yard chip shot for Lovell.
After UC?s special teams pinned Marshall at its own 11-yard line the defense forced a punt from the 15, Cole broke through to block the punt, which resulted in a safety and a 29-14 lead with 9:42 to go.
The free kick gave UC the ball at the 50-yard line and the Bearcat rushing attack covered 26 of the 32 yards leading to Lovell?s third field goal and the final score of 32-14.
The win was the fourth bowl win in eight bowls for UC.