Old foes face off as Marshall travels to Middle Tennessee
Fresh off of a 38-7 victory for their first win of the season, Marshall (1-2) will hit the road to Tennessee for a match-up with old CUSA rival Middle Tennessee State (1-2).
In this 12th meeting all-time, The Thundering Herd head into Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium looking to avenge their 34-28 loss back in 2021 and bring their record back to even.
Marshall
After two tough losses, The Thundering Herd were able to finally net their first win in the Tony Gibson era on Saturday.
Marshall seemingly breezed by Eastern Kentucky, scoring more points in one half than the first two weeks combined. However, the Herd’s defense seemed to be the backbone in their win against the Colonels, forcing two interceptions, ten tackles for loss and netting five sacks as a unit.
Redshirt freshman Cannon Lewis led the way for Marshall, notching 9 tackles (2 solo) and .5 sacks. After the game, Lewis commented on the Thundering Herd’s improvement from last weeks loss
“We were able to turn pressures into sacks, bad balls into turnovers,” Lewis said “We’ll keep building off of that.”
The Thundering Herd offense leaned heavily on their run game, with 11 different players getting a chance to touch the ball. Leading the offensive charge was redshirt junior quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, going 7-for-9 with 108 pass yards, 58 rush yards, two passing touchdowns and a rushing score. Del Rio-Wilson got the nod over Zion Turner, who had started at quarterback in Week 2.
Del Rio-Wilson commented after the game about his opportunity to start and his mindset for the offense in this game.
“This whole week I made sure the whole offense prepared and came detailed,” Del Rio-Wilson said “We came to dominate. We didn’t come to just play.”
Despite holding the advantage in the overall series 6 to 5, Middle Tennessee State has been a historically tough place to play for the Thundering Herd. Marshall is 1 and 4 when going on the road to face the Blue Raiders with their last road win coming from a 38-10 win back in 2017.
However, head coach Tony Gibson is not concerned
“Not even talking about it. We got 72 new guys and a brand new staff,” Gibson said “None of us have ever been there.”
Middle Tennessee State
On Saturday, the Blue Raiders were able to squeak by Nevada off of a game winning touchdown by Nicholas Vattiato with 21 seconds left in the 4th quarter.
After a slow start, the Blue Raiders found themselves down 13-0 heading into halftime. Middle Tennessee punting the ball away five times and turning it over once in the first half. After a turnover on downs and two punts, it seemed like Nevada had the game in hand heading into the 4th quarter.
Following an interception by Juwon Gaston, the Blue Raiders would finally get on the board. Stringing together a 10-play drive that was capped off by a 13-yard touchdown by Nahzae Cox, putting the score at 13-7 still in favor of Nevada.
Nevada would put together a lengthy drive of their own following the Blue Raider touchdown. However, the 8-play, 51-yard drive would come up empty on a missed 41-yard field goal attempt.
Middle Tennessee then took the ball 76 yards on 11 plays and a touchdown by quarterback Nicholas Vattiato after the Wolfpack missed field goal.
With 21 seconds left, Nevada would take the ball 36 yards on four plays to set themselves up for a long field goal attempt to win the game.
Ultimately, the 56-yard attempt was no good and Middle Tennessee won 14-13 in comeback fashion.
Despite the win, Middle Tennessee is currently sitting at a -81 scoring margin. The Blue Raider defense allowed 30+ points in the first two weeks of the season. The Blue Raiders average 25 points per game against the Thundering Herd in series history.
Marshall at Middle Tennessee State
Kickoff: Saturday, Sept.20 at 6:00 p.m.
TV: ESPN+
Radio: WMUL-FM 88.1 (also on Varsity Network app)
For information on tickets, fans can click here. Fans can also contact Marshall’s ticket office via email herdtickets@marshall.edu or by phone at 304-696-4373.
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