The 2008 Motor City Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

 bowl game

Bowl game

In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...

 in which the Florida Atlantic Owls

Florida Atlantic Owls football

The Florida Atlantic Owls football team represents Florida Atlantic University, a mid-major NCAA Division I-A college football team, that competes in the Sun Belt Conference.-Overview and history:...

 defeated the Central Michigan Chippewas

Central Michigan Chippewas football

The Central Michigan Chippewas football team is a college football program in Division I FBS, representing Central Michigan University. They are a top 25 program in terms of all-time winning percentage and top five amongst all teams from non-BCS automatic qualifying conferences...

 24–21. It was played on December 26, 2008 at Ford Field

Ford Field

Ford Field is an indoor American football stadium located in Detroit, Michigan, USA, that is the current home field of the NFL's Detroit Lions. It is owned by the Detroit/Wayne County Stadium Authority. It regularly seats 65,000, though it is expandable up to 70,000 for football and 80,000 for...

 in Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 and aired on ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

. The underdog FAU team from the Sun Belt Conference

Sun Belt Conference

The Sun Belt Conference is a college athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of Division I football competition . The Sun Belt has member institutions...

 was led by game Most Valuable Player

Most Valuable Player

In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...

 Rusty Smith

Rusty Smith (American football)

-Tennessee Titans:Smith was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He was the first ever player from FAU to be drafted.He was signed to a four-year contract on June 17, 2010....

. CMU had finished in third place in the West Division of the Mid-American Conference

Mid-American Conference

The Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members...

.

The game was the 12th installment of the Motor City Bowl

Motor City Bowl

The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played annually since 1997. The first five games were played at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. Starting in 2002, the game was moved to 65,000-seat Ford Field in downtown...

 and was attended by 41,399 people, the second-lowest all time for the Motor City Bowl.

Scoring summary

Scoring play	Score
1st Quarter
FAU – DiIvory Edgecomb 1 yard TD run (Ross Gornall kick), 7:37	FAU 7–0
2nd Quarter
CMU – Kito Poblah 5 yard TD pass from Dan LeFevour Dan LeFevour Dan LeFevour is an American football quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Central Michigan University...  (Andrew Aguila kick), 13:30	Tie 7–7
CMU – Aguila 35 yard FG, 9:30	CMU 10–7
FAU – Gornall 36 yard FG, :47	Tie 10–10
3rd Quarter
FAU – Chris Bonner 52 yard TD pass from Rusty Smith Rusty Smith (American football) -Tennessee Titans:Smith was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He was the first ever player from FAU to be drafted.He was signed to a four-year contract on June 17, 2010.... (Gornall kick), 7:57	FAU 17–10
CMU – Aguila 33 yard FG, 4:59	FAU 17–13
4th Quarter
FAU – Cortez Gent 18 yard TD pass from Smith (Gornall kick), 10:17	FAU 24–13
CMU – Antonio Brown 15 yard TD pass from LeFevour (Poblah pass from LeFevour), 3:09	FAU 24–21

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