HUNTINGTON, W.Va.— Today is a day Herd fans have waited 12 years for. It’s a chance for Marshall’s 19 seniors to play at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in front of the home fans. It’s a chance for redemption. It’s a chance to win a championship.
“It’s going to be pretty intense. People are going to try to redeem themselves as an offense and a defense. I hope everybody comes out firing on all cylinders,” said tackle Clint Van Horn.
Marshall wants to prove last week’s 67-66 loss to Western Kentucky was a fluke. It also wants to avenge last year’s loss in the Conference USA Championship game. The players who were in Houston a year ago will never forget the feeling of seeing a championship slip away.
“That hurt. We were playing for a championship and that’s stuff you never forget,” insisted linebacker Neville Hewitt.
Hewitt and the rest of the team realizes it will also never forget the feeling of winning a championship and especially the feeling of winning in front of the hometown fans. That is the opportunity presenting itself this afternoon at Edwards Stadium.
“The ultimate goal is to play for a championship and here we are playing for a championship game here in Huntington,” said coach Doc Holliday. “It doesn’t get any better than that. It’s been 12 years since that happened here. They’re going to come play their tail off on Saturday and I wouldn’t expect any less.”
Marshall has hosted nine championship games at Edwards Stadium, four National Title games in D-1AA and five Mid-American Conference Championship games. The Herd is 7-2 in those games, never losing a MAC title game played in Huntington. In fact, Marshall has an 84.4 winning percentage at “The Joan” since it opened in 1991. Only Baylor has a better home winning percentage, 5-0 at brand new McLane Stadium.
That home field advantage didn’t bother Western Kentucky last week as Marshall did not look like that juggernaut has been billed as. Louisiana Tech is very comparable to the Hilltoppers, but the Bulldogs have the second best defense in the league and leads the country with 36 takeaways.
Louisiana Tech will blitz about 53 percent of the time and will bring pressure on any down.
“They bring it from everywhere. We’re going to have to do a good job of picking it up. They do a great job of hiding it so we’ll have to keep our eyes up,” said Center Chris Japserse.
Western Kentucky got to Cato for three sacks last week, but Jasperse feels there was nothing wrong with the protection packages, it was more technique issues that allowed rushers to get by Marshall’s blockers.
“I don’t think there’s anything from that game that can be exploited,” felt Jasperse.
The Louisiana Tech offense should look familiar to Herd fans. Tony Petersen, former Marshall quarterbacks coach, is the Bulldogs offensive coordinator. And like 2012 at Marshall, Petersen has weapons to work with, starting with redshirt senior quarterback Cody Sokol.
The transfer from Iowa is completing just under 60 percent of his passes this year. Sokol has over 31-hundred yards passing and 29 touchdowns. Safety D.J. Hunter says defending Sokol and the passing game comes down to making plays on defense.
“We’ve got to execute our plays,” said defensive back D.J. Hunter.
Hunter admitted Marshall did not make the plays it was accustomed to making, allowing Western Kentucky to move up and down the field But the Herd is confident that will not be the case again today.
“You do your technique and be fundamentally sound then all that stuff will take care of itself,” explained Neville Hewitt.
It’s been 12 years since Marshall last experienced a conference championship. A championship ring is the one thing that separates players such as Jasperse, Rouse, Cato and Shuler from the likes of Sciullo, Toviessi, Leftwich, Watts, Derricott and Pennington.
“Our ultimate goal is to win a championship,” reiterated center Chris Jasperse.