TULSA, OK—Maybe it was just meant to be. That may be the only explanation for how Marshall survived five turnovers and came away with a 45-34 win over Tulsa Thursday night.
Rakeem Cato threw for a career high 456 yards and five touchdowns as he willed Marshall to its seventh win of the season on the 43rd anniversary of the plane crash that claimed the lives of 75 people including most of the 1970 Thundering Herd football team.
After five Marshall turnovers turned into 24 points for Tulsa, Cato got one final chance to bring The Herd back in the fourth quarter. The Herd got the ball back trailing 34-31 with 4:51 to play and Cato went to work. On 3rd-and-8 from the Tulsa 37-yard line, Cato hit Tommy Shuler for a 19-yard gain to keep the drive alive. Two plays later, Cato floated a pass over a Tulsa defender to Tommy Shuler who backed into the endzone for the go-ahead score.
The comeback was necessitated after one of the worst stretches of offensive football in recent memory. Marshall’s first six drives in the second half resulted in four lost fumbles and two punts. The miscues allowed Tulsa to not only stay in the game, but also take the lead and nearly steal a win and The Herd’s season.
Leading 31-14 at the half, Marshall’s imploded in the third quarter. Rakeem Cato was sacked on the second play of the third quarter, fumbled and Tulsa pounced on the ball at the Marshall 15. That led to a three-yard touchdown run by redshirt freshman quarterback Dane Evans, cutting the lead to 31-20.
On Marshall’s ensuing drive, Kevin Grooms coughed up the ball giving the Golden Hurricane the ball back on its own 46. Nine plays later, Tulsa’s Trey Watts dove into the endzone from a yard out. Watts completed a two-point conversion on a halfback option pass to Thomas Roberson to cut Marshall’s lead to 31-28.
Tulsa’s defense responded holding Marshalls to a three-and-out. The Golden Hurricane promptly tied the game on a 29-yard Carl Salazar field goal with 2:12 left in the third quarter.
Marshall turned the ball over again eight plays later. This time Remi Watson fumbled at the Tulsa 45-yard line. The Golden Hurricane marched 42 yards in 11 plays taking its first lead of the game on a 30-yard Salazar field goal. The Golden Hurricane was outscoring Marshall 34-10 after The Herd jumped out to a 21-0 lead to start the game.
The Herd started driving the ball down the field but once again turned over the rock. Essray Taliaferro fumbled at the Tulsa 43 and it seemed Marshall’s mistakes were too numerous to overcome. But the defense forced two Tulsa punts to give Cato one more chance.
With less than four minutes to play, Cato lofted an 18-yard touchdown to Tommy Shuler that put Marshall up for good. The Herd tacked on one more score after forcing a turnover on downs when Ra’Shawde Myers sacked Dane Evans on the Tulsa four-yard line.
Essray Taliaferro punched it in from a yard out for the final score of the game.
Marshall squandered its best start on the road all season. The Herd came out of the gate firing on all cylinders building a 21-0 lead in the first quarter on the strength of three Rakeem Cato touchdown passes.
The Herd’s five turnovers were the most since Marshall gave the ball away six times at Memphis in 2011.
With the win, Marshal improves to 5-1 in the conference and remains tied with East Carolina for first place in the East Division. Marshall, 7-3 overall, travels to Florida International University next week.