Sun Belt Preview: GMAC Bowl
Troy vs. Central Michigan - Wednesday, Jan. 6, 7 ET, ESPN - Mobile, Alabama
The GMAC Bowl - formerly the Mobile Alabama Bowl - has been around for 11 seasons. One game in this postseason pageant’s history towers above the rest, and that’s the kind of contest Troy and Central Michigan will try to replicate on what could be a wonderfully wild Wednesday.
In order to understand the potential possessed by this tilt between Larry Blakeney’s Trojans and coach Butch Jones’s Chippewas from the Mid-American Conference, one has to travel back in time to the 2001 GMAC Bowl.
Eight seasons ago, two NFL-caliber quarterbacks - Byron Leftwich and David Garrard - stood on the same field, as Leftwich’s Marshall team stared down Garrard’s East Carolina crew in the highest-scoring bowl game ever staged. The contest was sloppy - both teams scored two defensive touchdowns - but as the action unfolded and worked its way toward a clamorous conclusion, the out-of-the-way bowl in little-known Ladd-Peebles Stadium (the Superdome or the Rose Bowl it isn’t) acquired awesome dimensions as a college football classic.
East Carolina exploded out of the gate for the game’s first 24 points and a 38-8 lead at halftime. Many teams mail in their bowl games and fail to respond to early adversity (the past few GMAC Bowls have proved this; Ball State and Bowling Green both rolled over against Tulsa in the 2009 and 2008 editions of this contest), but the Thundering Herd decided to unleash some lightning when the third quarter started. Down by 30, a troubled team Marshalled its resources and posted 28 third-quarter points to get back into the game.
ECU running back Leonard Henry - who rushed for 195 yards that night - rumbled into the end zone from 55 yards out to give the Pirates a late 51-42 lead and seemingly blunt the Herd’s comeback attempt, but Marshall was able to score nine points in the game’s final two minutes to send the tussle into overtime at 51-apiece. The Herd could have won the game on a PAT in the final seconds, but the kick missed, thereby extending the proceedings to the delight of fans that were hooked on the action.
After both teams scored a touchdown in the first overtime sequence, Leftwich - who threw for 576 yards, a bowl game record - hit Josh Davis on an eight-yard scoring strike after ECU settled for a field goal. Yes, after producing bowl-game records of 16 total touchdowns (including overtime) and 102 regulation-time points, Marshall and East Carolina finally decided a winner. The Herd outpointed the Pirates, 64-61, in a double-overtime dandy none of its observers will ever forget.
That’s the kind of game Troy and Central Michigan can replicate, because these two conference champions - the Trojans from the Sun Belt, the Chips from the MAC - own the quarterbacks who can sling and fling the pigskin with distinction.
Troy’s Levi Brown is one of the greatest signal callers the Sun Belt has ever seen. Brown - the 2009 Sun Belt Player of the Year - has thrown for more yards (3,868) than every other quarterback in the country except for Houston’s Case Keenum, and he blew away everyone else in the Belt in 2009. Brown was impressive in 2008, throwing for over 2,000 yards while accumulating 15 touchdowns against just three interceptions, but in 2009, the field general for Troy has been singularly spectacular.
On the other side of the divide, however, stands a gunslinger that can match Brown as a thrower and eclipse him as a runner.
Dan LeFevour has dominated the MAC far more than Brown has bested the Sun Belt. Central Michigan’s senior quarterback has eclipsed 3,000 passing yards in three of his four seasons in Mount Pleasant, Mich. LeFevour has thrown 101 touchdown passes in his four seasons, and produced a 6-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio in his past two seasons. LeFevour has always piled up prolific stats, but this year represented the superstar’s best body of work. LeFevour topped the 3,000-yard mark after falling short of it in his junior campaign. Far more importantly, however, LeFevour registered his highest-ever completion percentage - 71.1 - and threw for 27 touchdowns against just six picks. Moreover, LeFevour ran for 14 more touchdowns to lead CMU to its third MAC title in the past four seasons. If Troy and Levi Brown have created a culture of success in Southeastern Alabama, Dan LeFevour and Central Michigan have made just as much magic in the Midwest.
Now, these two lauded quarterbacks will face off in a game that could conjure visions of the 2001 GMAC Bowl. If a pair of college football superstars can light up the night sky, fans of the Trojans, the Chippewas, and really good football will have their fill in a bowl battle that’s not to be missed.
By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer