AKRON, OH— The questions surrounding Marshall coming into Saturday’s game with Akron were could the Herd go on the road and win the game, play well and remain focused throughout?
Marshall went on the road and took care of business.
It created turnovers and didn’t commit them.
It remained focused and didn’t let Akron creep back into the contest.
“We came in here and we played four quarters. I think we get better at that each week and that’s what we’ll keep working on,” said tailback Devon Johnson.
Johnson rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries in the 48-10 win over Akron.
It wasn’t a surprise to see Marshall jump out to a 24-0 lead, it has outscored opponents 55-0 in the first quarters of games this year. Once Marshall built the lead it was curious to see how the team would react. Would it keep the pedal down like it did the previous week against Ohio or would the players relax and give Akron a chance to get back in the game, as was the case at Miami.
Marshall didn’t relax with a 31-3 lead at halftime.
“We’ve got to come out and start fast. Coach Holliday basically gave us the same speech,” Rakeem Cato. “We knew we wanted to score a touchdown. We kept pushing and just kept fighting,”
On the first drive of the second half, Marshall marched 75 yards on 7 plays to extend its lead to 38-3 then followed with a 13-play drive that put The Herd up 41-3.
“I challenged our guys to go out and start fast in the first half and do the same thing in the third quarter and they did,” praised Doc Holliday.