2014 Boca Raton Bowl

The 2014 Boca Raton Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game that was played on December 23, 2014 at FAU Stadium on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. The first edition of the Boca Raton Bowl, it featured the Conference USA champion Marshall Thundering Herd against the Mid-American Conference champion Northern Illinois Huskies. The game began at 6:00 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN.^[5] It was one of the 2014–15 bowl games that concluded the 2014 FBS football season. Marshall beat Northern Illinois by a score of 52–23.^[6]

2014 Boca Raton Bowl
1st Boca Raton Bowl
Marshall Thundering Herd Northern Illinois Huskies (12–1) (11–2) C-USA MAC 52 23 Head coach:  John "Doc" Holliday Head coach:  Rod Carey
1 2 3 4 Total Marshall 14 10 14 14 52 Northern Illinois 7 6 7 3 23
Date	December 23, 2014
Season	2014
Stadium	FAU Stadium
Location	Boca Raton, Florida
MVP	Marshall QB Rakeem Cato[1]
Favorite	Marshall by 8.5[2]
Referee	Rick Loumiet[3] (Mtn. West)
Attendance	29,419[4]
Payout	US$400,000
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN/ESPN Radio
Announcers	Dave LaMont, Desmond Howard, & Quint Kessenich (ESPN) Marc Kestecher, John Congemi, & Ian Fitzsimmons (ESPN Radio)
Boca Raton Bowl   2015 >

Teams

The game featured the Conference USA champion Marshall Thundering Herd against the Mid-American Conference champion Northern Illinois Huskies.

This was the eighth overall meeting between these two teams, with Northern Illinois previously leading the series 4–3. The previous time these two teams met was in 2001.

Marshall Thundering Herd

See also: 2014 Marshall Thundering Herd football team

After finishing the regular season with a 12–1 record and winning their first Conference USA championship over the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs by a score of 26–23, the Thundering Herd accepted their bid to the Boca Raton Bowl.^[7]

This was Marshall's second Florida bowl game; they had previously won the 2011 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, defeating the FIU Panthers by a score of 20–10.

Northern Illinois Huskies

See also: 2014 Northern Illinois Huskies football team

After finishing the regular season with an 11–2 record and winning the MAC Championship Game over the Bowling Green Falcons by a score of 51–17, the Huskies accepted their bid to the Boca Raton Bowl.^[8]

This was Northern Illinois' second bowl game in South Florida; in their most high-profile game to date, they had appeared in the 2013 Orange Bowl, losing to the Florida State Seminoles by a score of 31–10.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP MRSH NIU 1 7:33 7 67 2:17 NIU Juwan Brescacin 19-yard touchdown reception from Drew Hare, Christian Hagan kick good 0 7 1 7:19 – – – MRSH Kickoff returned 93 yards for touchdown by Deandre Reaves, Justin Haig kick good 7 7 1 3:42 5 42 2:12 MRSH Rakeem Cato 5-yard touchdown run, Haig kick good 14 7 2 11:51 9 69 2:41 MRSH 28-yard field goal by Justin Haig 17 7 2 7:31 10 64 4:20 NIU 19-yard field goal by Christian Hagan 17 10 2 5:29 6 65 2:02 MRSH Devon Johnson 2-yard touchdown run, Haig kick good 24 10 2 0:07 8 49 1:39 NIU 30-yard field goal by Christian Hagan 24 13 3 6:39 9 56 4:10 MRSH Tommy Shuler 6-yard touchdown reception from Rakeem Cato, Haig kick good 31 13 3 4:50 5 75 1:49 NIU Cameron Stingily 24-yard touchdown run, Hagan kick good 31 20 3 2:06 11 68 2:44 MRSH Angelo Jean-Louis 11-yard touchdown reception from Rakeem Cato, Haig kick good 38 20 4 11:48 9 70 3:51 MRSH Deon-Tay McManus 27-yard touchdown reception from Rakeem Cato, Haig kick good 45 20 4 8:39 10 65 3:09 NIU 31-yard field goal by Christian Hagan 45 23 4 4:10 8 41 4:29 MRSH Rakeem Cato 4-yard touchdown run, Haig kick good 52 23 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 52 23

Source: ^[3]

Statistics

Statistics[3]	MRSH	NIU
First downs	28	25
Plays–yards	75–505	78–425
Rushes–yards	38–224	50–200
Passing yards	281	225
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	25–37–0	15–28–0
Time of possession	29:18	30:42

References

1. Burke, Peter (December 23, 2014). "Rakeem Cato caps record-setting career with win in Boca Raton Bowl". local10.com. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
2. Odds
3. "Boca Raton Bowl Box Score". Stat Broadcast. December 23, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
4. "Marshall Thundering Herd vs. Northern Illinois Huskies". USA Today. December 23, 2014. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
5. "Announced: Marshall, Northern Illinois to Face Off in Inaugural Boca Raton Bowl". TheBocaRatonBowl.com. Boca Raton Bowl. December 7, 2014. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
6. "Locals Lead Marshall to Boca Raton Bowl Blowout", Reuters, December 23, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
7. "Conference USA Sends Marshall to Boca Raton Bowl". HerdZone.com. Marshall Thundering Herd. December 7, 2014. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
8. "NIU to Take On Marshall in First Boca Raton Bowl". NIUHuskies.com. Northern Illinois Huskies. December 7, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2014.

External links

• Box score at ESPN