motor city bowl history
motor city bowl history
Motor City Bowl tickets are getting to be favorites with college football fans. The Motor City Bowl is a fairly new entrance into the world of college bowling having begun in 1997 when Mississippi took on Marshal for the inaugural edition of the Motor City Bowl. Held in Detroit’s Ford Field, home of the NFL’s Super Bowl XL, the Motor City Bowl pits the top team in the MAC against a bowl eligible selection from the Big 10. Usually this means the #7 selection from the Big 10, unless the conference has eight or more teams that rank well enough for bowl competition. Any way you look at it, the contest is a rare matchup between an MAC team and a good Big 10 team, making it easy to see why Motor City Bowl tickets are growing more popular every year.
Naturally, being held in the city of Detroit, the Motor City Bowl has corporate sponsors that reflect the makeup of the city. In this case, Ford, General Motors, and Daimler-Chrysler all contribute to the sponsorship of the Motor City Bowl. There are also lesser sponsors such as the UAW, and Blue Cross Blue Shield, but the biggest are obviously The Big Three of automotive production in Michigan.
The first Motor City Bowl set the event off to a good start with a contest between two teams that were evenly matched and delivered a thrilling performance for the 38,000 fans smart enough to land Motor City Bowl tickets. Ole Miss went head to head with Marshall in a game that came down to the wire. Marshall capped off its first year as an NCAA I-A team with a 10-2 record. The Thundering Herd was a team that liked to throw the ball and throw it often to Randy Moss, now one of the NFL’s premiere receivers with the Oakland Raiders.
On the other side of the field stood Ole Miss. Coming out of the SEC, one of the toughest conferences in the country, Ole Miss put u and 8-4 record, beating LSU and Arkansas along the way. Ole Miss could also boast of a future NFL player in Deuce McAllister, who went on to be drafted in the 1st Round of the NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints.
Both McAllister and Moss would make their mark in the inaugural Motor City Bowl. Moss was on the receiving end of an 87 yard touchdown pass while Deuce McAllister crossed the goal line for the winning touchdown with just 31 seconds left on the clock to give Ole Miss a 34-31 victory in one of the closest college bowl games to be played all year.
Now Motor City Bowl tickets have become must have bowl tickets for college football fans all over the country. Attendance at the Motor City Bowl regularly tops 50,000 fans. With its home base in Ford Field, one of the nation’s top venues for football and home of the Detroit Lions, football fans are guaranteed a great seat and a great game between quality opponents, one of the things that makes Motor City Bowl tickets more popular every year.
