Herd Squanders Opportunities In Home Loss to Rutgers

Rutgers 30 - Marshall 20

[Huntington, WV] For the second week in a row, the Thundering Herd was presented with every opportunity to win the game as they forced a desperate Rutgers team to cough up the ball 5 times, however they were completely unable to capitalize only recovering on 1 occasion. This was compounded by the fact that the Marshall QB Larry Ricketts pitched 2 INTs and the running backs also gave the ball away twice. You don't expect that you will lose the turnover battle -3 when you cause 5 fumbles, but that's exactly what happened this week.

As a positive note, the aenimic Herd offense finally sputtered to life nearly doubling the season's output in 1 game against a dominant defense of the Scarlet Knights aided by a pair of broken plays. First it was the Player of the Game for the Herd, WR/RB Ray Ferguson who took a quick out from Ricketts, shrugged off the Rutgers CB and scampered 60 yards to bring the score to 14-10 Rutgers near the end of the 2nd quarter. The other was recent TE-to-RB convert John Amaya who fumbles the handoff, then picked the ball up off the turf and ran past a Rutgers defense caught off-guard for a 50-yard scoring play.

Unfortunately for the home crowd, that would be as close as the Herd would get, ultimately surrendering 3 more FGs to complete the scoring.

Marshall Offensive Player of the Game: WR Ray Ferguson 8 Rec 129 yards 1TD (14 Tgts)
Marshall Defensive Player of the Game: CB Lewis McGinnis 10 TKL, (4 Cth All / 1 Knockdown / 7 Tgts)

The Navy Midshipmen will visit Joan C. Edwards Stadium next week as these 2 divisional foes square off to get out of the basement of the Independent Conference and into contention. Navy is in a 3 game tailspin after starting the season with 3 straight impressive wins - which Navy will show up? Tune in to find out!

Marshall Squeaks Past Navy; Keeps Slim Bowl Hopes Alive

Marshall 24 - Navy 21

[Huntington, WV] Coming off their first home loss in more than a year and a half, Marshall had everything to prove in this weeks grudge match versus Navy. Two straight losses overall found the Herd in the basement of the Independent Conference, and with the fewest points scored in the entire NCAA. Navy has been on a slide of its own, dropping the last 3 contests after a scorching 3-0 start and flirting briefly with a top-5 ranking.

Marshall built up a big lead with 21 straight points in the 2nd quarter and a chance for more with the ball near the midfield stripe and 3:53 to play in the half, but Thundering Herd QB Larry Ricketts pitched 2 INTs on successive drives opening the door for Navy to score a late TD to narrow the lead to 14 at halftime.

On the first drive of the second half, Navy was moving the ball well but failed to succeed on a 4th down gamble and ultimately came away with no points, which would prove costly in the end. Navy QB James Sherwood would put the team on his back and bring the Midshipmen storming back to tie the game just into the 4th quarter and it was 21-21 with 12:00 left in the match.

Marshall was unable to get anything going on offense in the second half - with 5 3-and-outs and 2 4-and-outs, but luckily the Thundering Herd defense was putting on a show. Marshall CB Bradley Abron picked off Sherwood for the 3rd time late in the 4th quarter but the offense was unable to punch the ball into FG range and Head Coach Doc Holliday made the gutsy call to kick the ball back to Navy and pin them deep in their own end. The call worked to perfection as P James McClellan drilled a beauty 50-yard punt to the Navy 3-yard line. The play of the game came 3 plays later as walk-on CB Jacob Putnam would pick off Sherwood on the Navy 29-yard line just above the 2 minute warning. Hilight: https://ncaa-football.myfootballnow.com/watch/467#87428

The Marshall offense ran the ball 3 straight times to burn Navy's time-outs and made the challenging 45-yard FG for a slim 3-point lead. Ultimately Navy would run out of time and Marshall was able to bring their record to 3-4 with hopes of making their way back to .500 by the midway point in the schedule after a difficult first half.

Marshall Offensive Player of the Game: RB John Amaya 11 Ru 22 22 yards, 1 Ru TD, 4 Rec 114 yards 1 Rec TD (4 Tgts)
Marshall Defensive Player of the Game: CB Bradley Abron 5 TKL (2 Missed), 3 INTs (5 Cth All / 3 Knockdown / 14 Tgts)
Honorable Mention: DT Gregory Howard 6 TKL, 4 Sacks, 7 Hurries

Next week is a rematch of the 2017 Chic-Fil-A Peach Bowl where the Thundering Herd fell to the UCLA juggernaut 29-7. This season the Bruins have been having a tougher time getting stud HB Bobby Warfield into the rhythm offensively but he is able to explode on any play and take the rock to the house so the Thundering Herd will have to bring their A game to next weeks match, right here, in Huntington.

Herd Stampedes Bruins In Peach Bowl Rematch

Marshall 63 - UCLA 30

[Huntington, WV] There had been alot written in the days and weeks leading up to this weeks home game against the UCLA Bruins. Both teams have come down to earth after last seasons' meteoric rise through the Bowl season. Of course noone here in Huntington needs to be reminded about how last season ended for the Thundering Herd - falling 29-7 in the Chic-Fil-A Bowl to these same UCLA Bruins. But to this point in the season, both of these teams have been struggling to keep their heads above water as they've been outside of Bowl consideration for the entire season. This game would likely be each team's last chance to get things going in a positive direction and make their final push to get into contention.

Freshman QB Larry Ricketts has had a difficult season to this point in the year, but in today's game he was near perfect going 26/30 for 621 yards and 6TDs - doubling his season TD total in 1 game. He spent alot of extra time in the film room this past week and definitely found a match-up that he wanted to exploit with WR Andres Emert against the UCLA dime corner as Emert put up a staggering 7 Rec (8 Tgts) for 277 yards and 1 score. Since the running game had been having a difficult time to move the ball in recent weeks, the offense flowed through a new face and it paid off in spades. Marshall really took control of the game over the middle 2 quarters, outscoring the visitors 38-16 to take a stranglehold on the game that they would never relinquish.

Marshall Offensive Player of the Game: QB Larry Ricketts 26/30 - 621 yards, 6 TDs
Marshall Defensive Player of the Game: DE Ray Rumfelt 6 TKL (1 Missed), 4 Sacks, 2 Hurries

The Kansas Jayhawks visit Huntington WV this week in a battle of the 2 most dominant DT's in the NCAA. Keith Thomas took home nearly every major defensive award last season and he a ton of Heisman buzz surrounding his play (and well deserved), but we have our own DT here in Gregory Howard that has had this game circled on his calendar for quite some time. It will be interesting to see how they play against one another on the same field.

Herd Rocks Jayhawks, Chalks Up Another Win

Marshall 37 - Kansas 7

[Huntington, WV] As we previously mentioned last week; Marshall DT Gregory Howard had been pacing around the training facility over the past week, eager to show the world what he could do in a face-to-face match-up with perennial Heisman candidate Keith Thomas of the visiting Jayhawks. Thomas comes into Huntington leading the nation in Sacks, & Hurries as a 1-man wrecking crew for the Kansas squad.

The first quarter was filled with fireworks as the 2 teams combined to put up 31 points (24-7 Marshall) on the back of RB/WR Shawn Petty's 3 rushing TDs. It was a true coming out game for the redshirt freshman from the Philadelphia suburbs as he found himself running free in the Jayhawk secondary all day long.

The Herd relied on a strong rushing attack for most of the game as it became evident that QB Larry Ricketts didn't have his A-game going in this one. The coaching staff has been at a loss to explain the drop in performance between last season and this one - 7 TDs behind last years pace, and that's including last weeks 6 TD performance. He will need to pick up his performance if the Herd are going to make a run into the Bowl picture.

Defensively the afore mentioned Howard was dominant - 3 sacks 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovered. His counterpart Keith Thomas was held to just 3 tackles and 3 hurries. It was an outstanding performance by Herbert Campbell who has had some real challenges in his pass protection this year (7 sacks) to keep the top rusher in the NCAA to just 3 hurries. Hopefully this will bode well for him in the weeks and years to come.

Marshall Offensive Player of the Game: RB/WR Shawn Petty 21 Ru 231 yards, 3TDs
Marshall Defensive Player of the Game: Gregory Howard 3 TKL, 3 Sacks, 6 Hurries, 1 FF, 1FR

Everything on the line this week as it is truly DO OR DIE, a MUST WIN game against the Naval cadets in Annapolis, MD. With both teams coming in at 5-4 and 2 games behind Army for second in the conference, the winner of this game will have a chance to challenge for Bowl consideration, while the loser will likely be left wonder how the season slipped through their fingers.

Hoffman Stars As Midshipmen Sink Marshall Season

Navy 35 - Marshall 30

[Annapolis, MD] The 4-game Marshall homestand concluded last week as the team went 3-1 and pulled themselves from the cellar of the Independent Conference and into contention. This week would present another strong test, visiting the Naval Academy in Annapolis MD - a team the Herd had defeated narrowly (24-21) 3 short weeks ago.

Navy's Heisman candidate QB James Sherwood was a game-time decision as he was nursing a hand injury and much to the surprise of many, started the game on the bench in favor of understudy Francis Hernandez in his first game action of the season. Sherwood did enter the game briefly in the 1st quarter with the game in doubt and he connected on both of his passes deep in Marshall territory including a 6-yard TD strike. Hernandez needed no help as he put together a VERY impressive game - 22 of 32, 349 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. He had instant chemistry with Tennessee transfer RB/WR Albert Hoffman as Hoffman caught 9 ***** and added 13 rushes to keep the Herd defense off-balance all game. Hoffman finished with 267 total yards, 1 TD - the lone blemish a fumble which the Midshipmen would later recover.

Spotting Navy a 21-point lead proved too much for Marshall to overcome. They outscored Navy 30-14 over the final 3 quarters and had a late surge with 2 TDs in the 4th quarter and were driving for a go-ahead score when QB Larry Ricketts was intercepted at the Navy 33-yard line on the first play after the 2-minute warning. Hilight: https://ncaa-football.myfootballnow.com/watch/512#96093. Marshall would never hold the ball again in the game as Navy ran down the clock and put the game, and Marshall's season, on ice.

Marshall Offensive Player of the Game: WR Andres Emert 6 Rec (7 Targets) 85 yards, 2TDs
Marshall Defensive Player of the Game: SS Bobby Osborne 8 TKL, (7 Cth Alld, 1 Knockdown, 13 Targets)

Marshall will visit Los Angeles and the USC Trojans next week in a battle of teams that will both be out of Bowl consideration. There is still much to play for as the coaching staff and AD Garrok will be evaluating talent from here on out for the rest of the season as they get a head-start to the recruiting season.

Christiansen Struggles In Red Zone; Trojans Fall To Herd

Marshall 27 - USC 12

[Los Angeles, CA] Coming off last week' demoralizing loss to Navy, which more than likely ended any Bowl hopes for the young Marshall squad, the Herd migrated west to take on the listless Trojans for a Saturday afternoon showdown.

The 2 evenly-matched teams traded punts in the first quarter until QB Larry Ricketts engineered a 10-play 72-yard TD drive, capped off by a 2-yard TD plunge by RB John Amaya, his first of 2 on the day. Marshall added another TD before halftime as Ricketts found last weeks Offensive Player of the Game WR Andres Emert for a 21-yard TD. Whatever goodwill Ricketts had earned was quickly squandered as he gifted a golden opportunity to the Trojans by throwing up a duck with 45-sec to play in the half, handing the ball over in Herd territory. But the defense held, thanks in part to a costly Holding penalty on USC and sack by DE Eddie Parra on the final play - with the score 14-3 Marshall at the half.

Another scoreless quarter (the third), and the teams would trade FGs to open the 4th quarter - but Marshall would put the game out of reach with a 10-play drive that took 5:35 off the clock and concluded with RB John Amaya's second 2-yard TD of the game. USC would add a late TD but they wouldn't create much of a scare as Marshall escaped with a 27-12 victory, despite 2 turnovers thanks in large part to 8 sacks and limiting USC to 1FG in 3 Red Zone trips.

Marshall Offensive Player of the Game: RB John Amaya 19 Ru, 90 Yards, 2TDs; 2 Rec (2 Targets) 8 yards
Marshall Defensive Player of the Game: DE Eddie Parra 3 TKL, 3 Sacks, 7 Hurries

Marshall will travel up Highway 5 north to Seattle and take on the Washington Huskies who are in the thick of the Bowl hunt. Marshall is looking to play spoiler much like last season as the roles were reversed, and Marshall bested the Huskies 34-17 in the friendly confines of West Virginia to go on and secure a Bowl berth. This season, Rutgers, Navy and Washington are all pushing for the final position and Marshall will try to ruin someone else's season.

Huskies Take Bite Out Of Herd

Washington 30 - Marshall 24

[Seattle, WA] Last season these two teams were battling head-to-head to make a post-season Bowl game, facing off in West Virginia the Herd emerged victorious 34-17 thanks to a big day running the ball by WR Ray Ferguson. This game looked to be a blow-out early but Marshall came storming back in the 4th quarter, only to come up short 30-24.

Washington would rely on RB Miles Gaskin to pace the offense with 24 carries and he was bottled up for most of the game by a stout Herd run defense. Once the Huskies got their intermediate passing game rolling in late in the second quarter it would spell doom for Marshall's chances. Too many times this season the Marshall secondary has been caught out of position, or giving up high percentage throws to the opposition that would keep their drives alive. This will have to be a major point of emphasis when the recruiting starts up anew - and I'd suspect another skilled pass rusher to take the focus off of DT Gregory Howard would also help immensely.

Ultimately, this was another game that slipped through Marshall's fingers - they squandered another big performance from surprising Red Shirt Freshman RB Shawn Petty who ties the game with less than 2 min to play, but the Herd left too much time on the clock and the Huskies marched the length of the field in 1:25 for the dagger TD - exhausting all of Marshall's timeouts in the process.

Marshall Offensive Player of the Game: RB Shawn Petty 12 Ru, 51 Yards; 4 Rec (5 Targets) 130 yards, 2TDs
Marshall Defensive Player of the Game: DT Clinton Canterbury 8 TKL (1 Missed), 1 FF

Marshall late season road trip makes its annual stop in South Bend to take on the Independent Conference-leading Irish and look to use the game as a measuring stick for player evaluation. Notre Dame seems a shoe-in for a 1st Round bye in the post season and will be one of the odds-on favorites to take home the championship this season.

Herd Turnovers Hand Irish Easy Win

(2) Notre Dame 42 - Marshall 3

[South Bend, IN] Two teams going in opposite directions as the Conference-leading Irish look to make a statement at home against another Independent foe. Marshall on the other hand are still inexplicably mathematically alive for an At-Large Bowl appearance as Rutgers, Navy and Iowa continue to stumble towards the post-season.

Offensively the Herd was offensive; posting barely 200 yards from scrimmage; gave up 4 turnovers, and put up an embarrassing 1-for-14 on third down. The coaching staff decided to take the unprecedented step of not awarding an award for the Offensive Player of the Game, as Coach Doc Holliday stated in the post-game press conference, "I think it would be doing a disservice to these boys to set a bad example of rewarding any of them for today's performance. We, as a coaching staff, will continue to demand their best and we refuse to accept anything less. That's the kind of culture that we're trying to instill into our young squad and I've been reassured by the AD that they are behind us 100%."

The Herd defense was over-matched and out-gunned for the entire game. The Golden Domers were 4-of-5 in the Red Zone and able to move the ball seemingly at-will.


Marshall Offensive Player of the Game: NONE
Marshall Defensive Player of the Game: SS Bobby Osborne 7 TKL, 1 Cth Allwd (7 Targets), 1 Knockdown

Next week Marshall returns home to the friendly confines of Joan C Edwards Stadium to take on Utah. The Utes brought on a new Athletic Director from last season and the team is still trying to find it's way in the NCAA.

Herd Collide With Utes, Only Marshall Walks Away

Marshall 36 - Utah 6

[Huntington, WV] In a battle of 2 teams outside the Bowl picture, it was clear which ruled supreme on this day. Utah has been playing many of their lesser lights this season; possibly to get a look at the youngsters to gauge their play against more established collegiate players, but there have been murmuring throughout the broadcasting fraternity that they are purposely tanking games. It's unclear what is to be gained from this and how it would help entice future top recruits from coming aboard this program, but nonethless Marshall was happy to reap the rewards and run rough-shod overtop the defenseless Utes.

After having been completely shut down last week in South Bend, the Herd was able to snatch the momentum and gallop to an easy victory. They ran up a 27-3 lead at the half and put it in cruise control the rest of the way. Marshall QB Larry Ricketts (who has come under fire in recent weeks) looked like the pivot that put up such a strong season last year as he put up a QB rating over 107, with 2TDs and 0 INTs. It is noteworthy to mention however that Marshall was 1-for-13 on 3rd down as they have struggled with 3rd downs for most of the season.

The secondary feasted on poor Ute QB play as they picked off 3 ***** and sacked the QB 3 times. The Herd defense gave up a ton of yardage in the passing game, but considering Utah was behind for most of the evening they were bound to be throwing on most downs which skewed the yardage totals.

Marshall Offensive Player of the Game: QB Larry Ricketts 17 of 31, 282 yards, 2TDs; 107QBR
Marshall Defensive Player of the Game: DT Gregory Howard 6 Tkls, 1 Sack, 15 Hurries, 1 Knockdown

Marshall looks to prepares to take on Notre Dame for the 2nd time in 3 weeks; this time at home where they look to improve on last weeks 42-3 beatdown. The Irish are cruising into the Bowl season for the second straight season they they're fighting tooth & nail with an upstart Army squad for 1st place in the Conference and a 1st Round Bowl bye. Incidentally the Herd will host Army next week and they will have a part to play in the end of season rankings - if they want to.[/quote]

Comeback Fizzles As Herd Falls Short

(2) Notre Dame 34 - Marshall 20

[Huntington, WV] Two weeks removed from an embarrassing drubbing at the hands of a heated rival, where the Head Coach had to address the players' heart after the game, all eyes were on how the Thundering Herd would respond. Last weeks game against the Utes was a strong sign that the team had received the message, but there would be a much stiffer test this week.

Notre Dame came out fast and pinned the Herd inside their 5-yard line on their first 2 drives, eventually surrendering a Safety and a quick 2-0 lead. Marshall's best drive of the first half was 4 plays long and went a total of 6 yards. Marshall QB Larry Ricketts was under siege as the Irish came blitzing in waves, and they benefitted with 2 interceptions in the first half alone as Marshall found themselves down 18-0 at the break.

The Herd held a players-only meeting during half-time, locking the coaching staff out of the locker room and when they emerged for the second half it looked like a whole new team was ready to take the field. The embattled Ricketts dialed up a deep go route for WR Ray Ferguson on their first play of the quarter and it went for a 75-yard TD - GAME ON! https://ncaa-football.myfootballnow.com/watch/590#110866
Marshall put up 20 Third Quarter points and found themselves in a dog-fight with arguably the top team in the nation. Notre Dame responded with a FG late in the quarter and the game was in the balance going to the 4th Quarter.

That's when the best team in the Conference put to rest any doubt who was going to emerge victorious on this day. The Irish defense would get home for another Safety, boot a FG to stretch their lead to 6, and finally sink a dagger into the heart of the Herd faithful with a 56-yard pass & run to extinguish all hope.

Coach Doc Holliday addressed the player's halftime meeting after the game, "Your leaders have to lead; that's what you saw there. In the first half you could see that they we playing a very individualistic game out there - nothing like the team concepts that we've been preaching for the past 2 years. Some of the older guys realize that they're not going to be around here for that much longer; whether that be moving on to the next level or something else, and they took it upon themselves to bring a reality check to the younger guys that have been coasting for much of the season. You can see what kind of team we could be if we played to our potential, and I hope that carries on next week against Army."

Marshall Offensive Player of the Game: WR Ronald Stewart 5 Rec, 93 Yards (8 Targets)
Marshall Defensive Player of the Game: CB Bradley Abron 6 TKL, 6 Cth Allwd (16 Targets), 6 Knockdowns, 1 INT

Army marches into West Virginia looking to sweep the season series with Marshall on their way to the post-season. The Thundering Herd will be looking to prove that this weeks tussle with Norte Dame wasn't an aberration and that they will be a force to be reckoned with next season.