Motor City Bowl

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Motor City Bowl

Motor City Bowl logo
Stadium Ford Field
Location Detroit, Michigan
Previous Stadiums Pontiac Silverdome (1997-2001)
Previous Locations Pontiac, Michigan (1997-2001)
Operated 1997-present
Conference Tie-ins Big Ten, MAC
Payout US$750,000 (2006)
Sponsors
Ford, General Motors and Chrysler
Former names
Ford Motor City Bowl (1997)
2007 Matchup
Purdue vs. Central Michigan (Purdue 51, CMU 48)
2008 Matchup
MAC Champion vs. Big Ten #7 (December 26)

The Motor City Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played annually since 1997. The first five games (1997-2001) were played at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. Starting in 2002, the game was moved to 65,000-seat Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The game features the champion from the Mid-American Conference playing one from the Big Ten Conference. If the Big Ten does not have an eligible team, the game will feature a team from the Big East that meets the requirement of at least seven wins; otherwise, an at-large team is chosen. The game is jointly sponsored by the "Big Three" automakers in Detroit: Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.

The Motor City Bowl marked the first bowl game held in the Detroit area since the Cherry Bowl in 1984-1985.

The most recent installment, played December 26, 2007 on ESPN, matched up Central Michigan University and Purdue. After a one-sided first half in the Boilermakers favor, CMU came back to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. Purdue kicked a field goal as time expired to win. A bowl record crowd of 60,624 fans witnessed the exciting finish to the 11th Motor City Bowl.

Contents

[edit] Bowl matchups and results

Date Winning Team Losing Team Attendance Notes
December 26, 1997 Mississippi 34 Marshall 31 43,340
December 23, 1998 Marshall 48 Louisville 29 38,016
December 27, 1999 Marshall 21 BYU 3 44,449
December 27, 2000 Marshall 25 Cincinnati 14 44,911
December 29, 2001 Toledo 23 Cincinnati 16 44,164
December 26, 2002 Boston College 51 Toledo 25 45,761
December 26, 2003 Bowling Green 28 Northwestern 24 51,286
December 27, 2004 [1] Connecticut 39 Toledo 10 52,552
December 26, 2005 [2] Memphis 38 Akron 31 45,801
December 26, 2006 [3] Central Michigan 31 Middle Tennessee 14 54,113
December 26, 2007 Purdue 51 Central Michigan 48 60,624 notes

[edit] MVPs

Year MVP(s) Team Position
1997 Stewart Patridge Mississippi QB
1998 Chad Pennington Marshall QB
1999 Doug Chapman Marshall RB
2000 Byron Leftwich Marshall QB
2001 Chester Taylor Toledo RB
2002 Brian St. Pierre Boston College QB
2003 Josh Harris Bowling Green QB
Jason Wright Northwestern RB
2004 Dan Orlovsky Connecticut QB
2005 DeAngelo Williams Memphis RB
2006 Dan LeFevour Central Michigan QB
2007 Curtis Painter Purdue QB

[edit] Most appearances

Rank Team Appearances Record
1 Marshall 4 3-1
2 Toledo 3 1-2
3 Central Michigan 2 1-1
3 Cincinnati 2 0-2

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Connecticut received the bid to play in this game as the Big Ten did not field enough teams to qualify for this game.
  2. ^ Memphis replaced the Big Ten and Big East teams as they did not have enough teams to qualify for this game.
  3. ^ The Big Ten did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fulfill their obligation to qualify for this game, so Middle Tennessee filled the Big Ten's spot.
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