Marshall Stamps Itself Big Time With a 21-3 Victory Over BYU

Doug Chapman wanted everyone to know Marshall can play with the big boys. Now they know.

Chapman scored three touchdowns and Marshall’s defense did the rest as the No. 11 Thundering Herd completed an undefeated season by beating Brigham Young, 21-3, Monday in the Motor City Bowl.

“It was a dream come true for the whole team,” Chapman said.

Chapman, who rushed for 133 yards, ran for two touchdowns and hooked up on a pass play with Chad Pennington for another as Marshall (13-0) remained one of three unbeaten Division I teams .

“Doug stepped up,” Marshall Coach Bob Pruett said. “In every big ballgame we’ve had, Doug Chapman’s done some great running.”

Marshall, 35-4 since moving up to Division I, has played in the Motor City Bowl all three years. It lost the inaugural game and won the last two.

“So many heroes today,” Pruett said. “It’s unbelievable.”

BYU (8-4), co-champion of the Mountain West Conference, got its only points on Owen Pochman’s 28-yard field goal in the first quarter. It was all Marshall after that and the Mid-American Conference champion broke the game open with two touchdowns in a 1:44 span during the second half.

“We just kept believing something would happen,” BYU defensive end Setema Gali said. “There’s miracles that happen out there in games. Unfortunately, not for us today.”

The game had been billed as a shootout between Pennington and BYU’s Kevin Feterik.

But Pennington, who came in with 3,799 yards passing and 37 touchdown passes, completed 17 of 28 for 207 yards with one interception.

Feterik, who passed for 3,554 yards and 25 touchdowns this season, could never escape the pressure from Marshall’s quick defenders. He was six for 11 for 125 yards before being forced from the game early in the third quarter with a fractured clavicle.

“It was pretty hard,” Feterik said. “I threw about three more passes after I got hurt. It just kept getting worse.”

Freshman Bret Engemann and Charlie Peterson replaced Feterik, but they were no more successful for the Cougars.

Marshall finished with 354 yards while holding BYU to 204 yards. The Cougars had minus-16 yards rushing.

“Number one, we were unable to make plays,” BYU Coach LaVell Edwards said. “They made a couple. That was the difference in the ballgame.”

The Cougars drove 57 yards in 10 plays on their second possession and took a 3-0 lead on Pochman’s field goal.

An underthrown pass by Pennington was intercepted by Jared Lee at the BYU 30 shortly after the first of Billy Malashevich’s three missed field goals in the second quarter, but Lee fumbled on the return and Lanier Washington recovered for Marshall.

Given new life, Pennington and Chapman teamed up on the next play for a 30-yard touchdown pass play with 8:18 left in the half. Chapman caught the ball in traffic at the 25, made a nice move at the 10 and angled across the goal line.

Chapman, the game’s most valuable player, then broke a tackle near the line of scrimmage and raced to an 87-yard touchdown with 51 seconds left in the third quarter.