HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – FIU never really had a chance Saturday afternoon in Huntington. Playing on the 45th anniversary of the plane crash, senior day and wearing the alternate black jerseys players practically begged for, the Herd was not going to lose. The outcome was never in doubt as Marshall raced out to a 38-0 lead in the first half and cruised to a 52-0 win, setting up a showdown with Western Kentucky in two weeks for the east division title.
“I’m so proud of them. We kept a zero on the board, which we haven’t had all year,” said senior Evan McKelvey. “We played for the 75. We had a whole bunch of heart on the line.”
The shutout is the first for the Herd against a FBS opponent since 2003 at Edwards Stadium when it blanked Ohio 28-0.
“We wanted to have a shutout on defense for the seniors,” Tiquan Lang said. “We’ve got to send them out right.”
Marshall raced out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. Marshall’s first two drives started on the FIU side of midfield. Remi Watson put Marshall on the scoreboard with a 1-yard touchdown run coming with 11:14 left in the first quarter.
“That was crazy,” Watson insisted. “Our team chaplain Rev. Steve Harvey came in and said ‘you all might not know this but when you scored the first touchdown it was 11:14.’ Everybody in the locker room just sat back, like, ‘that’s crazy.’”
Whether or not that was a sign of things to come, Marshall had the momentum and never gave it up.
The Herd started its next drive on the FIU 32-yard line and make quick work of the Panther defense. Marshall needed just six plays to reach paydirt for a second time. Chase Litton threw a 7-yard scoring pass to Devonte Allen for the first of his three touchdowns. Litton’s 18 touchdown passes is the most in a single season for a freshman quarterback at Marshall. Rakeem Cato and Chad Pennington both had 15 in their rookie campaigns.
Any chance FIU had of getting back into the game evaporated with 1:21 left in the first quarter. Marshall’s defense came up with its third 3-and-out of the quarter and forced the Panthers to punt. Waiting on the other end was Deandre Reaves, who found a seam in the coverage team, put on move on one last defender and returned the punt 69 yards for a touchdown. Reaves, who returned a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown against Kent State earlier this season, is the first player since Troy Brown in 1991 to have a kick return and punt return for a touchdown in the same season.
“I caught it and had a little bit of space, then set it up and put on the speed and had to make a couple of people miss,” explained Reaves. “But all the credit goes those ten guys.”
While Marshall’s offense was rolling, the Herd’s defense was dominating. FIU was held to 92 yards of total offense in the first half. However, 73 of those yards came on two plays, a 34-yard swing pass to Julian Williams and a 39-yard pass to Akil Dan-Fodio. FIU only mustered two yards rushing by the time the teams when to the locker room.
“The name of the game was stop the run first and force them to pass the ball. If you force them to pass it just makes everything easier,” said McKelvey.
Marshall did exactly that. FIU had a grand total of 4 yards rushing at the half.
Marshall extended its lead in the second quarter with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Yuracheck and Remi Watson broke off a 62-yard touchdown run to make it a 35-0 game with 5:04 left in the second quarter.
With 18 seconds left in the first half and the ball on the FIU 18, Holliday gave his beleaguered kick Nick Smith a chance to regain his confidence. Smith responded drilling a 35-yard field goal putting the Herd ahead 38-0.
The second half was just a matter of setting the final score, as Marshall was content to grind it out on the ground for much of the half. Chase Litton threw his third touchdown with 52 seconds left in the third quarter, a 10-yard strike to Deandre Reaves.
Quarterback Michael Birdsong tacked on the Herd’s final touchdown on a 2-yard quarterback keeper with 3:58 left in the fourth quarter.
The 52-point victory is the largest margin of victory for the Thundering Herd during its 11 years in Conference USA.
“This is probably the most dominant performance that I’ve had since I’ve been here in all three phases,” complemented Doc Holliday. “I’m proud of them and we’ll give them a couple of days off here.”
After 11 consecutive games, Marshall will enjoy its bye week and has two weeks to prepare for Western Kentucky on the day after Thanksgiving. The winner of that game will win the east division title and play on Dec. 5 for the Conference USA championship.