Motor City Bowl: Marshall 25, Cincinnati 14

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) _ Byron Leftwich showed that his coach knows what he's talking about. <br><br>Marshall coach Bob Pruett has been telling everyone that Leftwich has the potential to be the Mid-American

Thursday, December 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) _ Byron Leftwich showed that his coach knows what he's talking about.

Marshall coach Bob Pruett has been telling everyone that Leftwich has the potential to be the Mid-American Conference's best quarterback ever.

The MAC is not exactly the cradle of quarterbacks, but it did produce Charlie Batch of the Detroit Lions and Chad Pennington, drafted by the New York Jets in the first round this year.

``It makes you want to get better every day and work hard every day,'' Leftwich said after hearing his coach's praise. ``When your coach says you have an opportunity to be the best quarterback ever from the MAC, it only pushes you to get better.

``It's a good pressure.''

Leftwich led the Thundering Herd to a 25-14 win over Cincinnati in the Motor City Bowl on Wednesday, giving Marshall a three-game winning streak in the bowl after losing the inaugural game in 1997.

Marshall (8-5) won six of its last seven games in what was expected to be a rebuilding year after Pennington graduated.

Leftwich, the Most Valuable Player of the game, threw a 77-yard touchdown pass on the fourth play and rushed for another TD, making up for two turnovers in the second quarter.

``I was so juiced up, I wanted to make every play a touchdown,'' Leftwich said. ``Coach told me to settle down, and I did, and it showed in the second half.''

The sophomore was 17-of-30 for 221 yards. This season, Leftwich completed over 60 percent of his passes for 3,579 yards with 22 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

``His story is still yet unwritten,'' Cincinnati coach Rick Minter said. ``He had a great game, and his career is only half over. That's scary if you're his opposition.''

Leftwich was confident he would be successful this season after sitting behind Pennington the past two years.

``I just had to wait my turn and get a chance,'' Leftwich said. ``I think I really showed what I could do, and I am proud to lead a continually proud line of Marshall quarterbacks.''

Cincinnati's Deontey Kenner was 19-of-39 for 189 yards with two interceptions, and DeMarco McCleskey rushed for 72 yards and two touchdowns.

Despite the loss, the Bearcats (7-5) hope they will begin a winning tradition at what is regarded as a basketball school.

``Today's defeat is just a setback and is not detrimental to the program,'' Minter said. ``This is the best team I've had here at Cincinnati in terms of character and playing ability.''

The Bearcats won their last four regular-season games to earn a bowl bid for just the second time since 1951.

``The loss doesn't taint our season at all,'' Cincinnati's Ray Jackson said. ``We were 3-8 last year and we improved to 7-5 this year. It hurts a little that we didn't finish with a bowl win, but we will be back to get one next year.''

Motor City Bowl officials said they sold 52,911 tickets, but just 26,018 fans watched the game.