The 2014 Bahamas Bowl was a post-season American

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that was played December 24, 2014 at

Thomas Robinson Stadium Thomas Robinson Stadium, officially Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Nassau, Bahamas. The largest stadium in the country, it is used primarily for Association football, soccer matches. The stadium is also the ...

in Nassau in

the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

. The first edition of the Bahamas Bowl featured the Central Michigan Chippewas of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

against the

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers are the athletic teams that represent Western Kentucky University (WKU), located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, competing in the ...

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. It began at 12:00 p.m. EST and aired on

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. It was one of the 2014–15 bowl games that concluded the 2014 FBS football season. Sponsored by the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen fried chicken restaurant chain, the game was officially known as the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl. Western Kentucky beat Central Michigan, 49–48. By the middle of the third quarter, the Chippewas had fallen behind the Hilltoppers by a score of 49–14, but they scored four unanswered touchdowns and so near the end of the fourth quarter were down by only seven points. With one second remaining on the clock, Central Michigan had the ball on their own 25 yard line. The would-be final play started with a 45-yard

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from QB

Cooper Rush Cooper Robert Rush (born November 21, 1993) is an American professional football quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Central Michigan Chippewas, and was signed by the D ...

to receiver Jesse Kroll. As Kroll was being tackled he lateraled the ball to teammate Deon Butler, who darted 20 yards before lateraling to Courtney Williams. With no room to run, Williams executed a quick third lateral pass to star receiver

Titus Davis Titus Davis (January 3, 1993 – November 11, 2020) was an American professional football player who was a wide receiver. He played college football for the Central Michigan Chippewas, and holds the school records for both career receiving yar ...

who ran the final 13 yards and dove towards the pylon, scoring a touchdown that would have tied the game with a kicked extra point and sent the game into overtime, but instead Central Michigan attempted a two-point conversion for the win, which was unsuccessful. Had the try succeeded, it would have marked the largest comeback in bowl history and tied the largest comeback in any FBS game. The play was nominated for an

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. Chippewas quarterback Cooper Rush threw seven touchdown passes, setting a new NCAA bowl game record. This was the first postseason bowl game to be played outside the United States since the 2010 International Bowl at the

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Teams

The game featured the Central Michigan Chippewas of the

against the

. This was a rematch of both teams' most recent bowl appearance. The

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saw

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the United States, U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said t ...

defeat

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

by a score of 24–21.

Central Michigan Chippewas

After finishing the regular season with a 7–5 record, the Chippewas accepted their bid to the Bahamas Bowl.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

After finishing the regular season with a 7–5 record, the Hilltoppers accepted their bid to the Bahamas Bowl.

Weather and attendance

The game was played in brilliant sunshine, temperature of 79 degrees and a light, but steady, breeze from the SSE of 8 mph. The announced attendance was 13,667, but

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

reported that attendance at the 15,000-seat

in downtown Nassau was considerably sparser. The lower sections of the stadium, in direct sunlight, were nearly deserted as the few hundreds of spectators clustered in the upper rows, in the shade. The small stands behind both end zones were closed off.

Game summary

This game saw WKU get off to a fast start, leading 42-14 at halftime. After building a 49-14 lead, CMU mounted a historic comeback scoring 34 unanswered points in the 4th quarter. CMU forced a 3 and out on WKU in the 4th quarter, which resulted in a punt that landed in the end zone.

Final play of the game

CMU found themselves down 49–42 with one second left on the clock at their own 25 yard line after a punt by the Hilltoppers. Cooper Rush threw a pass down field 48 yards, which was caught by Jesse Kroll. Kroll then lateraled the ball to Deon Butler for 10 yards, who was chased down from behind but managed to lateral it back to Courtney Williams. Williams ran forward 2 yards and threw the ball laterally to Titus Davis. Davis then ran to the sideline being chased by 4 WKU defenders and managed to dive into the corner of the end zone, hitting the pylon with the football. The play resulted in a touchdown for the Chippewas that pulled them within 1 point. However, their ensuing 2 point conversion failed as Rush's pass to the back of the end zone fell incomplete, resulting in a 49–48 WKU win.

Scoring summary

Source:

Statistics

References

External links

Box score
at

{{Western Kentucky Hilltoppers bowl game navbox

Bahamas Bowl The Bahamas Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been contested nine times since 2014 in Nassau, Bahamas, at the 15,000-seat Thomas Robinson Stadium. The bowl has tie-ins with the Mid-American C ...

Bahamas Bowl Central Michigan Chippewas football bowl games Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football bowl games December 2014 sports events in North America