COLUMN
HUNTINGTON, W.Va.—Over the last four years, Herd fans have been waiting for Marshall football to turn the corner and return to the days when 9 or 10 win seasons were the norm and not the exception. There have been glimpses of such a return as Doc Holliday has rebuilt the program but it never felt like the program had taken the proverbial “next step.”
That was until The Herd bested Maryland in the Military Bowl last week.
Throughout the 2013 season there were opportunities to capture a signature win that would demonstrate the program was ready to get over the hump, but games against Ohio, Virginia Tech and Middle Tennessee State slipped away. The Herd was whipped in the C-USA Championship game. It needed to make a statement in the Military Bowl to validate the season.
Marshall went on the road, played consistently and beat a team from a BCS conference for its tenth win of the year. That was the kind of statement Doc Holliday’s crew needed to make.
In Marshall’s four losses, and even a couple of wins this year, in each game there was an “oh no” moment where it the wheels fell off. For example, in the Virginia Tech game, that moment came in the fourth quarter as the Hokies came back to tie the game. Another came when Virginia Tech blocked the field goal in overtime.
There was never a point in the Military Bowl that felt like Marshall wasn’t in control. Even during Maryland’s 99-yard drive to take the lead, there was no panic on the Marshall sideline and you had a feeling the offense would answer.
And it did. Rakeem Cato led Marshall down the field and took the lead for good.
That was the point at which it occurred to me that this team was ready to take the next step. It was on the road, trailing in the fourth quarter, facing an ACC team and it came through. The offense never panicked and drove down the field for the game-winning touchdown. The defense held it’s own and never let Maryland get back in the game.
That would not have been the case last year and quite frankly, it may not have happened earlier this year. It demonstrated how far the program has come from a talent standpoint and a mental toughness standpoint since Holliday took the reigns of the program four years ago.
2013 has by far been the best season for Marshall in more than a decade but I’m not quite ready to declare the program “back.”
It must win a conference championship for me to make such a declaration, but there’s no denying that it is very close and has the potential to do something special in 2014.
Maybe by this time next year we’ll be ready to officially say that Marshall football is back.