COMMENTARY
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – It would have been easy for Thundering Herd players to be overcome Saturday afternoon as they prepared to face FIU. Saturday marked the 45th anniversary of the 1970 plane crash, it was senior day and the Herd was sporting its new black alternate jerseys.
But Marshall kept emotions in check and turned all the electricity surrounding the game into positive energy while shutting out of Florida International 52-0.
“It was a really emotional day for all of us, the fans, players and coaches,” admitted Doc Holliday after the most lopsided Conference USA win for the Herd. “I thought out kids handled it extremely well. I thought they showed up the way the way they were supposed to, played the way they were supposed to.”
The day, which started with the annual memorial service in the student center plaza, could not have been more perfect if you tried to script it. Honoring the 75 victims of the crash by wearing a number decal on the sides of their helmets and donning new black jerseys, the Herd played what Holliday described as the most dominant performance during his tenure.
Remi Watson’s 1-yard touchdown run with 11:14 in the first quarter seemed like an early sign there was no way Marshall could lose on Saturday.
“Anybody who plays us on this day, at home, it’s a bad day for them,” asserted senior Evan McKelvey. “We’re going to play 10 times harder because we’re playing for 75 other people. We just played our heart out.”
“With these black jerseys and these 75s on our helmets, I wouldn’t want to play us,” said quarterback Chase Litton.
Even FIU coach Ron Turner seemed to realize early on today was not his team’s day.
“It’s obviously difficult,” he said. “They are a very, very, very good football team. We knew that coming in and we would have to play our best game just to have a shot.”
“Every time we’ve put that 75 on the helmets, they’ve responded extremely well in these last three years,” said Holliday. “These kids, you can tell by the way the practiced all week, the way they handled themselves at the hotel and there’s just something about when you put that No. 75 on your helmet and show up here at home, especially on the actual day it happened.”