HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall looked like a different team Saturday night, in every way. Wearing special black jerseys and throwback helmets paying homage to the 1970 and 1971 teams, Marshall gave the diehard fans at Joan C. Edwards Stadium a throwback performance in a 42-17 win over Middle Tennessee.
Prior to kickoff the 75 victims of the 1970 plane crashed were honored during an emotional tribute video. When Marshall took the field, instead of running out of a cloud of smoke and through the tunnel, the team marched out locking arms.
“It’s a different ball game when you put that helmet on and you put this jersey on. We were 75 strong tonight. Those are 75 angels looking at us and they played that game,” said quarterback Chase Litton. “I’m thankful that I could go out there and lead this team tonight with that 75 and that 1970 logo on my helmet.”
That emotion carried over into a game that turned out to be Marshall’s best performance of the season. Litton threw 246 yards and four touchdowns while Marshall got the running game out of neutral and rushed for a 207 yards.
Anthony Anderson ran for 109 yards and Tony Pittman nearly reached the century mark, finishing the game with 88 yards on the ground. Marshall had not had a 100-yard rusher this season. In fact, you have to go back to last season’s homecoming game against North Texas, when Hyleck Foster rushed for 105 yards, to find the last Marshall running back to run for triple digits.
“Everything was clicking with our o-line setting up everything for us,” said Anderson. “We’ve talked about it [rushing for 100 yards] each week and I just kept it in the back of my mind.”
While Marshall’s offense looked more like the 2015 version Saturday night, the defense also ratcheted up its game, forcing four turnovers. Middle Tennessee redshirt-freshman quarterback John Urzua was picked off twice and tailback I’Tavius Mathers fumbled two times while being held to just 45 yards on the ground. The Herd also kept the heat on the young quarterback, who was making his first start for the injured Brent Stockstill. Marshall came up with three sacks on the night and even more hits on Urzua.
“We shut him [Mathers] down tonight. It was huge for our defensive line to do that tonight,” defensive end Ryan Bee said. “The whole defense played great.”
Cory Neely led Marshall with 13 tackles but made two big plays ripping the football out of the hands of Middle Tennessee’s I’Tavius Mathers and coming up with a leaping interception in the second half. Neely went up in the air, tipped the ball to himself and was able to snag it before the ball grazed the turf.
“I new I was going to play a good game and I just had to keep going to the end,” commented Neely.
The defense set the tone for the game on the opening drive. Middle Tennessee won the toss and immediately wanted the football to start the game. That was no surprise since Marshall had allowed its last seven opponents to score on their first drive of the game.
However, this week was different. Terry Richardson intercepted Urzua’s third down pass to give Marshall the ball on the Blue Raider 39. That set up the Herd’s initial score, a 3-yard Foster touchdown run.
Middle Tennessee took the lead later in the first quarter on a 38-yard Canon Rooker field goal and 7-yard touchdown pass. Chase Litton connected with Justin Hunt for a 25-yard touchdown pass with 9:17 to go in the first half to give Marshall the lead back. But the Blue Raiders would answer with their own 15-play, 75 yard drive to take a 17-14 lead. That was the last time Middle Tennessee reached the end zone.
Marshall scored 28 unanswered points in the second half. Litton threw two touchdowns to Justin Hunt and Josh Knight while Anderson and Foster rushed for two more scores, salting away the 42-17 win.
Knight led the Herd with six catches for 73 yards. Hunt had 87 yards receiving on five catches and two touchdowns.
The Herd now heads to Miami next week for its final road contest of the season against FIU.