That night, the plane carrying the Herd back to Huntington, West Virginia crashed just before landing, killing all 75 on board.
On the second play from scrimmage, Leftwich threw a screen pass deep in his own territory that bounced off the arms of intended receiver Denero Marriott into the hands of Ty Hunt, who returned the interception 12 yards for the game's first touchdown.
[1] On Marshall's second possession, a snap out of the shotgun went over Leftwich's right shoulder, and Jerome Stewart picked up the ball and ran it back 43 yards for another Pirates touchdown.
[4] After the Pirates' Kevin Miller kicked a field goal, the Herd finally got on the board when Leftwich connected on a 35-yard touchdown pass to Darius Watts.
A Miller field goal, increasing the Pirates' lead to 44–36, was followed by a Marshall drive ending with a Leftwich touchdown pass to Marriott, giving the Herd the chance to tie the game with a two-point conversion, which failed.
With 1 minute 53 seconds left, Curtis Head kicked a field goal for Marshall to cut the lead to 51–45.
[1][4] Leftwich then led the Herd on a furious last-minute drive, connecting with three passes of 20 yards or more before finding Watts in the end zone for a touchdown with 7 seconds left.
All Marshall needed to cap a historic comeback was for Head to kick the extra point—but for the seventh time that season, he missed, leaving the game tied at 51–51.
[1] The game was already the highest-scoring in bowl history even before going to overtime, with the two teams combining for 102 points, breaking the previous record of 96.
[9][10] East Carolina earned the dubious honor of scoring the most points ever by a losing team in a bowl game.