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College Football
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Marshall 20, Florida International 10
When: 8:00 PM ET, Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburgh, Florida
Temperature: Dome
Head Official: Hubert Owens
Attendance: 20072

Rakeem Cato threw two touchdown passes to Aaron Dobson and Tyler Warner kicked a 39-yard field goal with 5:16 remaining to break a tie as Marshall scored the final 10 points en route to a 20-10 victory over Florida International in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl on Tuesday.

Cato's 35-yard touchdown pass to Dobson on fourth-and-5 with 30 seconds left capped a game in which both offenses struggled mightily. The two teams combined for 16 punts.

Marshall looked like it had taken the lead after blocking a punt and recovering it in the end zone with 7:35 to go, but the Thundering Herd were called for an illegal forward pass when Billy Mitchell tried to hand off the ball as he was being tackled inside the 5-yard line. A personal foul call on Marshall’s Tyrone Carper at the end of the play pushed the Thundering Herd back to the 23-yard line.

Florida International (8-5) held firm before Warner banked his field goal off the right upright to give Marshall a 13-10 advantage.

On the ensuing possession, Marshall’s Omar Brown stripped the ball from FIU receiver T.Y. Hilton and Rashad Jackson recovered to give Marshall possession at its own 39 with 4:24 to go.

Marshall ran the clock down to 38 seconds before Cato surprised Florida International and found an open Dobson for the game-sealing touchdown.

Down 10-3, Marshall rallied to tie the game before intermission. Cato found Dobson for a 31-yard touchdown pass with 23 seconds left before halftime to cap a six-play, 55-yard drive.

Cato finished 27-for-39 for 224 yards and two touchdowns. Dobson finished with seven receptions for 81 yards.
Top Game Performances
Rushing
Florida International   Marshall
Darriet Perry Player Tron Martinez
9 Attempts 16
36 Yards 58
4.0 Avg Yards 3.6
0 Touchdowns 0
0 Long 0
Receiving
Florida International   Marshall
T.Y. Hilton Player Aaron Dobson
8 Receptions 7
88 Yards 81
11.0 Avg Yards 11.6
0 Touchdowns 2
0 Long 0
Team Stats Summary
 
  Yards Scoring Defense
Team Tot Rus Pas TD FG INT Sck FF
Florida International 251 88 163 1 1 1 1.0 0
Marshall 310 84 226 2 2 0 2.0 2