Military Bowl final score: Rakeem Cato leads Marshall past Maryland 31-20

So far this bowl season, the non-BCS bowl games have left little to be desired in terms of how competitive they’ve been and how entertaining they’ve been to watch. Not every game has been close so far, but today’s Military Bowl between Marshall and Maryland serves as a nice example of how games have been close the whole way through, even if their final score suggests otherwise.

Luckily for Marshall, they used the rocket arm of Rakeem Cato to blast past the Terps in a game that saw both offenses produce stars on the day. For Marshall, that was Cato, who nearly hit 400 yards passing and tossed three touchdowns including one late to seal the deal against Maryland.

But credit does go to the Terps offense, specifically running back Brandon Ross who rushed for over 100 yards but was held out of the endzone by the Marshall defense. That defense could contain the Terps in the first half and Maryland was looking to be sitting pretty entering the fourth quarter when they scored a huge go-ahead touchdown thanks to quarterback C.J. Brown.

The touchdown  was Brown’s second of the day, but the Terps defense went stale after that and couldn’t hold onto the lead. Marshall running back Essray Taliaferro punched in a touchdown from a few yards out and added the score to a rushing day that saw him nearly eclipse 100 yards on the day. The hero of the afternoon though was Rakeem Kato, who’s late touchdown with under four minutes left, lifted the Thundering Herd to an 11-point lead that the Terrps couldn’t over come.

Fans watching the game who didn’t have an affiliation to either school were again gifted with a game that stayed tight deep into the fourth quarter. It’s been a great bowl season so far and today’s Military Bowl did it’s part in not disappointing — unless you were rooting for Marshall.