2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl

The 2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl was an NCAA bowl game (previously the Motor City Bowl game) played at 8:30 p.m. EST on December 26, 2010 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan and aired on ESPN. The bowl game matched up the Florida International Panthers of the Sun Belt Conference against the Toledo Rockets of the Mid-American Conference.

2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl
FIU Panthers Toledo Rockets
(6–6) (8–4)
Sun Belt MAC
34 32
Head coach: 
Mario Cristobal		 Head coach: 
Tim Beckman
1234 Total
FIU 071413 34
Toledo 71438 32
DateDecember 26, 2010
Season2010
StadiumFord Field
LocationDetroit, Michigan
MVPWR T. Y. Hilton, FIU
FavoriteToledo by 1[1]
RefereeRon Cherry (ACC)
Attendance32,431
PayoutUS$750,000[2]
United States TV coverage
NetworkESPN
AnnouncersDave LaMont, J. C. Pearson and Quint Kessenich
Nielsen ratings1.6/1.629 million viewers[3]

The game was the 14th installment of the bowl game played in Detroit.

Teams

Florida International
See also: 2010 FIU Panthers football team

Florida International played in its first bowl game in school history. The Panthers were the 2010 Sun Belt Conference Champions. They came into the game with a 6-6 overall record. They were led by an outstanding defense that had helped them almost pull off upsets against Rutgers and Texas A&M. FIU was invited to play in the bowl as the Big Ten Conference was unable to fill its slot in the contest.

Toledo
See also: 2010 Toledo Rockets football team

Toledo entered the bowl with an 8-4 overall record. The Rockets were making their first bowl appearance since 2005 when they defeated UTEP in the GMAC Bowl. Three of its four losses this season were to bowl-bound teams: Boise State, Northern Illinois and Arizona. This was the fourth time in school history that the Rockets played in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. They played in the game when it was known as the Motor City Bowl in 2001, 2002, and 2004. They were 1-2 in previous matchups with their only win coming in 2001 against Cincinnati.

Game summary

Scoring
Scoring Play Score
1st Quarter
TOL - Adonis Thomas 4-yard run (Bill Claus kick), 5:40 TOL 7–0
2nd Quarter
TOL - Adonis Thomas 87-yard run (Bill Claus kick), 10:45 TOL 14–0
FIU - Darriet Perry 1-yard run (Jack Griffin kick), 6:25 TOL 14–7
TOL - Terrance Owens 10-yard pass to Danny Noble (Bill Claus kick), 2:56 TOL 21–7
3rd Quarter
TOL - Bill Claus 29 yard kick, 9:44 TOL 24–7
FIU - T. Y. Hilton 89-yard kickoff return (Jack Griffin kick), 9:32 TOL 24–14
FIU - Darriet Perry 7-yard run (Jack Griffin kick), 6:45 TOL 24–21
4th Quarter
FIU - Wesley Carroll 10-yard pass to T. Y. Hilton (Jack Griffin kick), 7:34 FIU 28–24
FIU - Jack Griffin 31 yard kick, 3:18 FIU 31–24
TOL - Terrance Owens 14-yard run (Two point conversion), 1:14 TOL 32–31
FIU - Jack Griffin 34 yard kick, 0:00 FIU 34–32

Statistics
StatisticsFIUToledo
First Downs1524
Total offense, plays-yards65–30870–436
Rushes-yards (net)37–16843–305
Passes, Comp-Att-Yds16-28-14015-27-131
Fumbles-Interceptions0–11–3
Time of Possession28:3831:22

Game notes

The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl marked the first ever bowl meeting between the two schools. However, these two schools have met twice before in 2008 and 2009 with each University splitting the results. FIU leads the series 3-1.

References
  1. The Odds, Los Angeles Times, December 20, 2010
  2. http://www.sportingnews.com/college-football/article/2008-12-07/2008-09-division-i-a-bowl-schedule
  3. Maffei, John, Glut of bowl games leaves some with bad time slots and low TV ratings Archived 2011-01-03 at the Wayback Machine, North County Times, December 30, 2010
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