CMU vs. Marshall
10/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 26, 2002
Central Michigan University
vs
Marshall University
October 26, 2002
Post Game Notes and Quotes
Notes:
*Central Michigan University held Marshall to 23 points. It is the fewest points that Marshall has scored in conference play. Marshall was held to 26 points by MAC rival Central Florida. The fewest points in non-conference play was 21 points versus Virginia Tech.
*Jon Nelson, a buck linebacker for CMU, got the first start of his career and the first interception of his career.
*Sophomore Dionte' Wilson started for the second straight game at linebacker over J.T. Rembert.
*Sophomore tight end Joe Deifel made his first career start as the Herd started in a two tight end set.
*Senior left tackle Steve Sciullo made his 45th consecutive start in the game, the longest current streak in college football.
*The Herd's 14-play drive in the first quarter was the team's longest of the season in both plays and time of possession (7:16). The previous long drive in terms of time was 6:15 vs. Kent State. Three times this year Marshall had put together 13-play drives.
*With an 11-yard completion to Denero Marriott in the first quarter Marshall quarterback Byron Leftwich became the 20th player in Division I-A history to surpass 10,000 yards passing in a career. Leftwich was 18-24 for 226 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. He also surpassed former UCLA quarterback Cade McNown and former Boston College quarterback Glenn Foley to move into 18th place on the NCAA Division I-A career passing list.
*With two touchdown passes in the first half Leftwich surpassed John Elway and Donovan McNabb and tied Bart Hendricks (Boise State) for 14th in the NCAA Division I-A career touchdown passes list.
With his 58-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter, junior Darius Watts moved into a tie for second on the Mid-American Conference career TD catches list with 29. He is tied with former Northern Illinois receiver Justin McCareins. With three first half receptions Watts also moved into a tied for 10th on the all-time MAC list with former Bowling Green receiver Reggie Thornton (158).
*With 50 yards receiving in the first half sophomore Josh Davis surpasses the 1,600-yard mark for career yards. He is now 13th in Marshall history in career receiving yards with 1,672 yards. Curtis Head connected on three field goal attempts against the Chippewas, the first time in his career with three or more in a game.
*Yancey Satterwhite's third quarter interception was the sixth of his Marshall career.
Marshall head coach Bob Pruett
"We've been feeling good about ourseleves the last four to five weeks, and now it will feel good for us to feel bad."
"This is a tough place to play, but there's no excuse for giving CMU oppotunities like we did."
"We didn't have a lot of energy and they did. We didn't make the plays that we normally do. We didn't struggle moving the ball. We just weren't scoring."
"Byron Leftwich is a pretty good man. He took a lot of hits, and we have to do better than that. You have to catch the ball, and you have to protect him. He's a great a player and we need to help him out."
"We should have moved the ball all over the place, and we didn't."
CMU head coach Mike DeBord
"We played today. We played tough, and we played with effort. We played what we call, 'The Central Way.' And, when you play like that, you have an opportunity to win."
"I don't think you are going to stop Byron Leftwich, but our plan was to mix it up on him. He is in a special category in the country, not just the conference. You are looking at a guy who is going to light it up in the NFL."
"I can't tell you from a coaching standpoint what it's like to go through a week like last week. But, it was good to see the team back in its uniforms ready to play again."