MOTOR CITY BOWL Akron gets ready for first-ever bowl game against Memphis

The two teams will clash Dec. 26 at Ford Field in Detroit.
DETROIT (AP) -- The Memphis Tigers are not one of college football's powerhouse programs.
Still, they look awfully good to the Akron Zips.
Memphis (6-5) and Akron (7-5) will play in the Dec. 26 Motor City Bowl at Ford Field and representatives of both programs visited the stadium Wednesday for a news conference.
"Memphis has done a great job under Coach [Tommy] West and they've built something," Akron coach J.D. Brookhart said. "We feel like we're just starting that process."
Won MAC title game
Akron will be playing in the first bowl game in school history. The Zips earned a return trip to Detroit after winning the MAC championship game 31-30 over Northern Illinois on Dec. 1 at Ford Field. Quarterback Luke Getsy hit Domenik Hixson on a 36-yard touchdown pass with 10 seconds left to give Akron the win.
"We've been playing football for 105 years at Akron and this, believe it or not, is our first conference championship," Brookhart said. "We really believe that is the beginning of our legacy."
Third straight bowl
Memphis is in a bowl for the third straight year after not seeing postseason action since 1971.
"We're very excited to be here because we had an up-and-down season," West said. "We lost 12 players for the season to injuries so it is an accomplishment to be picked for a bowl against a champion like Akron."
The Tigers lost their top two quarterbacks to broken legs in the first three games of the season and ended up moving their top receiver, senior Maurice Avery, to quarterback.
That put most of the offensive load on the shoulders of tailback DeAngelo Williams, who responded with 1,726 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns.
"We've always been a passing team but that changed this year with the injuries," West said. "Now we've had to become a running team and DeAngelo has done a fantastic job."
Wears Sanders' number
Like most college and high-school players who have played at Ford Field this year, Williams is excited to be at the stadium that will host the Super Bowl in two months. But he has a more personal reason to be happy about playing in Detroit -- he wears No. 20 in honor of Barry Sanders.
"In high school, I wore No. 34 because of Ricky Williams," he said. "But when I got to Memphis that number was gone so I took No. 20 because I've always loved Barry. I really think that, pound-for-pound, he's the best runner to ever touch a football."
Zips defensive lineman Brian White knows that stopping Williams will be a tough job but, until game time, he just plans to soak in the atmosphere.
"It still really hasn't sunk in what we've done," he said. "It's taking a while to realize that we pulled that game out and now we're playing in a bowl game."
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