HUNTINGTON, W.Va.—Louisiana Tech coach Skip Holtz watched the Herd’s game against Western Kentucky last Friday and saw Marshall’s defense get carved up for by Hilltoppers’ quarterback Brandon Doughty. WKU rolled up 738 yards of total offense and Doughty threw eight touchdown passes. But Holtz is not expecting Marshall’s defense to have another day like that anytime soon.
“They (WKU) had 49 points at halftime and I think they hit a couple of big play,” assessed Holtz. “There was not one thing that they did that said, ‘wow, they really exposed this.’ When I look at this defense, there is nothing to expose.”
Going into last week’s game Marshall’s defense was ranked first in Conference USA in total defense and scoring defense. Its still tops in C-USA allowing 20.7 points per game and second in total defense, right behind this week’s opponent, Louisiana Tech.
“There is not one area where we say, ‘alright, we are going to pick on this like their defensive line or their secondary.’ What [WKU] did was make some plays. They made some one-on-one jump balls and they threw the ball down the field. They executed, they hit some guys in dead stride that had to be perfect plays,” said Holtz.
While at times there were wide open receivers, WKU did make some outstanding plays throughout the game. There was at least one diving catch for a touchdown and credit Doughty for threading the needle and fitting passes in to some very tight windows.
That’s why Holtz is not coming to Huntington on Saturday expecting to put 65 points on the scoreboard. The body of evidence suggests that last Friday was an anomaly.
“They (WKU) could not do a lot wrong, but you come back and look at the end of regulation and they scored 10 points in the second half. They scored 49 in the first and 10 in the second and then scored a touchdown and went for two in overtime. They played really well in the first half, but then it seemed like Marshall came out in the second half and said enough of this. It was just a little too little too late to make up.”
Marshall gave up a little more than half as many yards in the second half as it did in the first half against WKU and limited to the Hilltoppers to 2-of-6 on third downs in the final two quarters.
“Marshall is not real complicated with what they do. They are fast, athletic and simple in what they do. They run to the ball and keep it in front of them. They got beat a couple of times deep, but they did not start changing their scheme. They did not start blitzing or changing coverages. They do what they do and they are very stern with what they do and give their players a chance to execute.”