Factual error: During the Marshall-Xavier game the announcer refers to Xavier as the "Pirates", but Xavier's nickname is and was "Musketeers".

We Are Marshall (2006)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: McG
Starring: Anthony Mackie, David Strathairn, Matthew Fox, Matthew McConaughey
Marshall wins the game against Xavier University. Jack (Matthew McConaughey) gives the ball to who he considers to be the MVP and gives it to Dedmon. Red (Matthew Fox) leaves the team at the end of the year and is never involved with football ever again. Jack leaves the team some time later and becomes coach at a Naval Academy. Marshall's victory against Xavier is one of the few games they win in the 1971 season but the team improves in the following decades. Ruffin dies in 2001. Gene Morehouse's son also becomes an announcer of Marshall games. Footage of past games is shown at the end. Annie decides to move to California without her boyfriend, Chris, who died in the plane crash. Paul Griffin sells his steel company and ends up doing tours of the 'Young Thundering Herd's locker rooms and the coach's office.
A.J.
Jack Lengyel: One day, not today, not tomorrow, not this season, probably not next season either but one day, you and I are gonna wake up and suddenly we're gonna be like every other team in every other sport where winning is everything and nothing else matters. And when that day comes, well that's, that's when we'll honor them.
Trivia: Red Dawson has a cameo as the head coach of Morehead State.
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Answer: The did not mention it in the film, but here is a short explanation of what happened. The plane was on final approach, less than 6000 feet from the runway, and the weather was rainy and foggy. The tower communicated to the pilots that landing would be more difficult due to the weather and poor visibilty, but not impossible. The pilots couldn't see very well, and the plane collided with the tops of trees on a hillside located on the west side of the runway. The plane "inverted" and crashed almost upside down into the ground, creating a huge ball of fire and intense heat. The exact cause of the crash was never fully determined by the National Transportation Safety Board, although it was believed that the cause was due to "adverse operating conditions" and descent below "minimum descent altitude." (For more info, you can research "Southern Airways Flight 932")
Jazetopher