COLUMN
HUNTINGTON, W.Va.— Knee jerk reactions can be the worst. They’re never given much thought and are usually an emotional response to a situation. So, that’s why I took a few days to think about Marshall’s 42-27 win over Miami (OH).
Perception is not reality
Marshall could be a victim of its own success. The expectation is for Marshall to 50+ points a game and roll through the schedule. The reality is, those are D-1 scholarship athletes on the other side of the ball too. Blowout wins by four touchdowns are going to be hard to come by.
Redhawks are improved
That was a much better Redhawk team than the one that came to Huntington a year ago. Chuck Martin will get things turned around in Oxford. It helps having three Notre Dame transfers on the team. Say what you will, but there was a reason Andrew Hendrix, Alex Welch and Lo Wood were recruited to Notre Dame, they’re pretty good athletes.
Cato is just fine
Chad Pennington told members of the media during this past year’s Green/White spring game, that Rakeem Cato has been so good that this year he could have a game in which he throws for 250 yards and three touchdowns and people will wonder what’s wrong? That’s what happened Saturday. Cato was 20-for-32 for 261 yards, three touchdowns and no picks. That’s pretty good, expect people expect 450 yards and five touchdowns. Don’t worry, Cato will be Cato.
Holliday won’t show his hand
Even with all the perfect season talk and access bowl hype, the ultimate goal for The Herd is to win a conference championship. Doc Holliday is not going to tip his hand in non-conference games. If he is confident he can run the base offense and defense and not give conference opponents a lot of film to study, that’s exactly what he’ll do.
Helping Addison
After Sebastian Johansson went down with an injury in the second quarter, true freshman A.J. Addison was inserted in the line up. The young tackled needed help on the edge so Marshall adjusted and kept tight ends Eric Frohnapfel and Joe Woodrum in to block and help Addison. This allowed Miami to adjust the defense and pay extra attention to slot receiver Tommy Shuler, effectively taking him out of the game in the second half.
Bottom line
The bottom line is Marshall went on the road during the first week of the season and came away with a 15 point win. It still put up 42 points and Devon Johnson rushed for 152 yard and a pair of touchdowns.