HUNTINGTON, W.Va.—The Thundering Herd showed off its depth at running back Saturday night, rushing for 335 yards in the 63-17 win over Southern Miss, with its 1,200-yard rusher sidelined with a knee issue. While the names in the backfield were different, with Remi Watson and Steward Butler shouldering the load with Devon Johnson out, the names along the offensive line stayed the same.
“It’s a mindset. Every play we want to win the play. As an offensive line we pride ourselves on ‘five guys one mind.’ As long as we get ourselves fitted up it’s going to be a touchdown,” said guard Michael Selby.
The front five has been plowed the way for Marshall to rush 2,656 yards this season. That’s nearly 500 yards more than the Herd rushed for through nine games a season ago. And to put that in a little more perspective that’s 1,341 more yards than Marshall rushed for in the 2012 season. The Herd has 34 rushing touchdowns through nine games, matching last year’s total in 14 games.
“Coach Mirabal told us it doesn’t matter who is behind you it just matters who is in front of you,” said tackle Clint Van Horn. “That’s all we’ve cared about up to this point, so it shouldn’t change if we lose our starting running back.”
That’s not a knock on Devon Johnson or any of the other running backs. It goes back to the blue collar mentality and nasty attitude the offensive line plays with each week. They are not concerned with who they are blocking for, just that each man along the line wins his individual battle. If each does his job, the linemen feel Johnson, Watson, Butler, Cato or whoever has the ball in his hands has a chance to go the distance.
“We go into every game looking to dominate the line of scrimmage,” asserted Selby. “It doesn’t matter who is behind us, we just got to keep looking forward at who is in front of us.”
And dominate it has.
Marshall leads the country with 7.24 yards per rush and is ranked 7th with 295 yards rush per game.
“it’s a mind game in the trenches,” Van Horn said. “It’s a fist fight. Whoever is more physical is going to win and the other guy is going to lay down eventually.”