2011 Marshall Thundering Herd Football Preview

One of the big tests for any program in college football is to find a way to play each and every game with a relatively equal amount of intensity. When the 2011 season kicks off in Huntington, West Virginia, its hometown team needs to learn about the virtues of maintaining an even keel.

The growing pains of year one of the Doc Holliday regime were difficult to deal with for the Marshall Thundering Herd, especially during the first portion of the season. Marshall played 28 freshmen during the season, the second-highest number in the Football Bowl Subdivision. This “learning on the job” reality of the 2010 season caused the Thundering Herd to drop six of their first seven games. Yet, the number one cause of Marshall’s September and early-October misery was the fact that the Herd blew a 21-6 fourth-quarter lead at home against in-state rival West Virginia. The Marshall-West Virginia series is heated, and it’s a season-maker for the Herd whenever they can beat the Mountaineers on the gridiron. Marshall not only led that game by 15 points in the fourth quarter, but had the ball inside the WVU 10-yard line. Improbably, the Herd fumbled to give WVU a new lease on life. Few people thought that fumble would matter at the time, but sure enough, the Mountaineers produced a touchdown drive, got a stop, and then – with no margin for error – scored a touchdown with 12 seconds left to pull within two points of the Herd at 21-19. A successful 2-point conversion followed, and the Mountaineers owned all the momentum heading into overtime. A missed Marshall field goal ultimately handed West Virginia a three-point win, crushing the Herd’s hopes and dreams. It was that loss – in what had been a brilliantly-played game for 47 minutes – that hijacked Marshall’s confidence for the following month. The team was so downcast and despondent about the loss that it didn’t mentally recover until the second half of the season. The Herd fell victim to a familiar college football problem: They allowed one loss to defeat them three more times.

It’s worth pointing out that once Marshall decided to move past the West Virginia heartbreak, it delivered some special stuff on Saturdays. At 1-6, Marshall turned things around. The Thundering Herd won four of their final five games, knocking off UTEP and UAB to get to 4-4 in Conference USA by season’s end. Fresh from this learning experience, Holliday – who was part of the West Virginia coaching staff before becoming the head man in Huntington – will be able to better prepare his players for the mental grind posed by college football.

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The Herd return nine starters on the defensive side of the ball, led by First Team All-Conference USA defensive end Vinny Curry. Marshall also brings back its entire secondary. The defense may have to carry the torch early on because the offensive personnel groupings have not been settled. Quarterbacks A.J. Graham, Eddie Sullivan, and true freshman Cornelius Jones will all vie for the starting job. Five offensive starters return in 2011, but the overall cohesiveness of this unit is very much an open question at this point.

The Thundering Herd begin the season against rival West Virginia. A visit from Virginia Tech will also test the young Marshall quarterbacks. In league play, the Thundering Herd must travel to both Central Florida and Tulsa, while East Carolina and Southern Mississippi must come to Huntington.