A sextuple-header of post-Christmas bowl games began with Marshall taking the St. Petersburg Bowl in a 16-10 decision over Connecticut Saturday afternoon at a dreary and empty Tropicana Field.
Chase Litton led the Herd by completing 23-of-34 throws for 218 yards with a touchdown and an interception. His 16-yard scoring strike to Ryan Yuracheck opened the scoring at the 8:10 mark of the first quarter. Ron Johnson responded for Connecticut with an eight-yard scoring burst to cap a 75-yard, six-minute scoring march on the ensuing possession.
Neither team would find the end zone for the rest of the game.
Marshall blew a number of chances to put the Huskies away throughout the game. After Johnson’s score tied the game, Marshall mounted drives of 65 and 85 yards, but each ended in short Nick Smith field goals. The Thundering Herd opened the second half with a 58-yard drive that stalled on a 4th-and-2 at the UConn 17. After an interception on the ensuing possession, Smith missed a 43-yard field goal (very, very) wide right.
Leading 13-10 with 8:12 to play in the fourth quarter, Marshall embarked on what could have been a clock-killing, game-ending drive from its own 5-yard line, but the push ended in a 32-yard Smith field goal with 1:44 remaining.
Given one more chance to win the game with a touchdown, Connecticut moved 16 yards to its own 41 before Bryant Shirreffs’ 4th-and-9 toss to Hergy Mayala fell incomplete with 21 seconds remaining.
Shirreffs paced Connecticut by completing 10-of-17 passes for 86 yards with an interception while rushing a team-high 19 times for 75 yards.
Overall, Marshall out-rushed UConn 171-125 and out-gained the Huskies 389-213.
The win gives Marshall (10-3) a double-digit victory total for the third consecutive season, while UConn (6-7) is still in search of its first winning campaign since 2010 and its first bowl victory since 2009.
