Marshall rallies for victory in GMAC Bowl shootout

MOBILE, Ala. -- Marshall and East Carolina piled up the points so quickly that even the coaches had trouble keeping track.

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In the highest-scoring bowl game in history, Marshall rallied past the Pirates 64-61 in double overtime Wednesday night to win the GMAC Bowl behind Byron Leftwich's 576 yards passing.

''Lord, have mercy,'' East Carolina coach Steve Logan exclaimed. ''I hope everyone got their money's worth.''

Leftwich capped his night with an 8-yard touchdown toss to Josh Davis to end it, capping Marshall's comeback from a 30-point halftime deficit.

Previously, the highest-scoring bowl was Texas Tech's 55-41 victory over Air Force in the 1995 Copper.

The Thundering Herd (11-2) stormed back from a 38-8 halftime deficit, tying it at 51 in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. Marshall wasted a chance to win in regulation when it missed the extra point.

''I guess we had to make it a little dramatic and miss that extra point, then give the fans and TV a little bit more thrill,'' Marshall coach Bob Pruett said. ''It's bad that a team had to lose.''

Leftwich finished 41-of-70 with four scoring passes and a TD run.

Ahead 51-45, East Carolina (6-6) recovered an onsides kick in the final two minutes. But the Pirates couldn't run out the clock and punted into the end zone.

Marshall took over at its 20 with 50 seconds left and no timeouts. After two incomplete passes, Leftwich hit Denero Marriott for 20 yards.

Leftwich then connected with Curtis Jones for 27 yards and Marriott for 23.

Marshall made it 51-all when Leftwich hit a leaping Darius Watts in the corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown with seven seconds left.

Curtis Head's extra-point try was wide right, his seventh missed PAT of the year, leaving it tied.