Marshall tops FIU in Beef ‘O’ Brady Bowl
Cato throws for two TDs as Herd finish above .500
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Rakeem Cato threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns and Tyler Warner kicked a pair of field goals, helping Marshall beat Florida International 20-10 in the Beef ‘O’Brady’s Bowl on Tuesday night.
Cato threw TD passes of 31 and 35 yards to Aaron Dobson, the latter putting the game away in the closing seconds. Warner’s 39-yard field goal set up by a blocked punt snapped a 10-10 tie with 5:16 remaining.
Marshall (7-6) overcame a slow start to win five of its last seven games and avoid a losing record in its second season under coach Doc Holliday.
FIU (8-5) was denied a school-record ninth victory and there was speculation that coach Mario Cristobal may be a leading candidate to fill a job opening at Pittsburgh.
Cato, a freshman from Miami who is one of 28 players on Marshall’s roster recruited from the state of Florida, completed 27 of 39 passes and was intercepted once. Dobson had seven receptions for 81 yards, including a TD catch that wiped out a 10-3 FIU lead just before halftime.
All-purpose threat T.Y. Hilton scored on a 2-yard run for FIU, which also got a 46-yard field goal from Jack Griffin. Hilton had eight catches for 88 yards, ran for 22 yards on three carries and returned two kickoffs for 36 yards, but quarterback Wesley Carroll had difficulty getting the ball to him in open space in the second half.
Carroll was 19 of 29 passing for 150 yards.
Marshall struggled early against a tough schedule, losing in September to West Virginia, Ohio and Virginia Tech before regrouping late to win four of six down the stretch to become bowl eligible and finish second behind Southern Mississippi in the Conference USA East Division standings.
FIU started its Football Bowl Subdivision program in 2002.