MOBILE, Alabama: Andrew Aguila kicked a 37-yard field goal in double overtime to give Central Michigan a 44-41 win over Troy in college football’s GMAC Bowl on Wednesday.
Quarterback Dan LeFevour threw a touchdown pass to put the sluggish Chippewas ahead with 1:17 left and scored from 13 yards out in the first overtime on the day as he moved into second place in the Football Bowl Subdivision’s career total yards list.
Vince Agnew blocked Michael Taylor’s 31-yard field-goal attempt for Troy at the start of second overtime, and Central Michigan played conservatively to set up Aguila’s GMAC record fifth field goal.
The Trojans led much of the game, thanks to DuJuan Harris’ three touchdowns. But after taking a 31-19 lead midway through the fourth quarter, they gave up a 95-yard kickoff return to Antonio Brown, then allowed LeFevour to complete 8 of 11 passes for a 90-yard drive before finding Bryan Anderson for a touchdown.
The drive was in stark contrast to the rest of the game.
The Chippewas and LeFevour were sluggish and plagued by small mistakes that kept Aguila busy. He kicked goals from 28, 35, 44 and 42 yards in regulation, keeping Central Michigan in it until LeFevour rallied the team from 12 points down.
LeFevour completed 33 of 55 passes for 395 yards and finished his career with 15,853 total yards, trailing only Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang (16,910). He also moved into fifth place in the FBS in career completions and 10th in passing yards, and was selected the game’s most valuable player.
The game was expected to be an offensive duel between quarterbacks LeFevour and Troy’s Levi Brown, but Brown had a definite advantage early.
He completed 31 of 56 passes for 386 yards and became the 41st quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a single season. He opened the scoring with a 9-yard pass to Harris and was sharp on third down as the Trojans converted 13 of 20.
Harris rushed for 112 yards and scored rushing touchdowns of 6 and 1 yards.
The last score midway through the fourth quarter appeared to put the game beyond reach, but Antonio Brown took the ensuing kickoff up the right side and raced nearly untouched to the end zone to cut the lead to 31-26. He also scored on a 7-yard touchdown run and finished with 403 yards across receptions, rushes and returns.
