Marshall 52, Northern Illinois 23: Rakeem Cato and Tommy Shuler ended their collegiate careers in style as the senior duo hooked up 18 times for 185 yards in the Thundering Herd's convincing victory over the Huskies in the inaugural Boca Raton Bowl.

Cato passed for three touchdowns and ran for two others, finishing 25-of-37 for 281 yards with another 25 on the ground. One of Cato's TD passes went to Shuler, who set season highs for catches and yards as Marshall (13-1) wrapped up an impressive campaign in which its only loss was a 67-66, triple-overtime setback to Western Kentucky.

Devon Johnson ran for 131 yards and a score and Deandre Reaves returned a kickoff for a touchdown as the Thundering Herd converted 9-of-14 third downs en route to 505 total yards. Drew Hare was 15-of-27 for 225 yards and a touchdown for Northern Illinois (11-3), which got 158 combined rushing yards from Joel Bouagnon and Cameron Stingily but still lost for the first time in eight games.

Northern Illinois took an early 7-0 before Reaves returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards untouched to knot things up, and Cato tacked on a 5-yard TD run on Marshall's next possession. The Thundering Herd pushed their advantage to 24-10 on Johnson's 2-yard run with 5:29 to go in the second quarter before the Huskies got within 24-13 on a field goal in the waning seconds of the first half.

Cato's 6-yard TD strike to Shuler made it 31-13 midway through the third quarter and his second TD pass of the period - an 11-yard hookup with Angelo Jean-Louis - created a 38-20 advantage. Cato added two more touchdowns - a 27-yard strike to Deon-Tay McManus and a 4-yard scoring scamper - as the Thundering Herd poured it on in the final quarter.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Cato and Shuler were high school teammates at Miami Central High School in West Little River, Fla. ... Johnson had been limited to a total of 63 rushing yards in the last two games. Prior to that slump, he had rushed for at least 91 yards in each of his first 10 games this year. ... Northern Illinois had gone six straight games without allowing more than 24 points.