— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Who will be the survivor in Huntington Saturday afternoon as Marshall and Florida Atlantic battle to stay alive in the Conference USA East Division race?
It’s Homecoming in Huntington and the Herd and Owls kick it off at 2:30 p.m. at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. The game can be seen on Facebook Live through the CBS Sports Network.
Marshall (4-2, 2-1) comes in with momentum from a 42-20 league road victory last week at Old Dominion. The Owls (3-3, 1-1) had last week off after a home win over ODU two weeks ago.
Currently, both teams are tied with Middle Tennessee in the division’s loss column and trailing Florida International, which is undefeated in conference play.
Here are three things to look for as the Herd and Owls battle it out:
1. FAU’s run game or Marshall’s rush defense?
The most interesting battle this week is between Marshall’s conference-leading run defense and the sledgehammer run game of the Owls, led by last year’s conference player of the year, junior back Devin Singletary.
A third-team Associated Press All-American last season, Singletary is known as a strong runner who gets many of his yards after breaking initial contact. He holds school records for rushing yards and all-purpose yards as well as for total points scored. So far this season, Singletary has averaged over 100 yards per game, but he’s also had trouble piling up large yardage numbers against tougher run defenses like Oklahoma and Air Force.
Marshall’s run defense has been stingy this year, allowing only 103 yards per game (the 139 yards allowed against FCS opponent Eastern Kentucky is a season high for opponents).
Marshall has only allowed 270 rushing yards in three Conference USA games.
2. Alex Thomson establishing himself as Marshall’s starting quarterback
Marshall’s highly-touted junior transfer quarterback Alex Thomson had a game of discovery last week in the win at Old Dominion. The discovery was made by MU fans who finally saw that the former Wagner signal-caller had all of the talent and tools that football experts said he possessed.
After a shaky opener two weeks ago in relief of injured redshirt freshman Isaiah Green (a 34-24 home loss to Middle Tennessee), Thomson played a well-rounded game last week in the ODU win with 182 passing yards and 29 rushing yards.
Thomson will be tested Saturday by an FAU defense that has given up a lot of yards, but is also full of athleticism and big-play potential. If Thomson’’s development continues, he’ll hold on to the starting job and Marshall could be heading into an interesting final month of the season.
3. How much will being home matter?
Florida Atlantic’s highly-touted head coach, Lane Kiffin, has coached in some of the nation’s toughest football venues as head coach of Southern California, Tennessee and the NFL’s Oakland Raiders. This will be his first time coaching at normally-noisy Joan C. Edwards Stadium and “The Joan” has been a house of horrors for the Owls in two previous visits.
FAU was pounded in Huntington 35-16 in 2014 and lost a heartbreaker to the Herd two years ago, 27-21, eventually leading to the dismissal of ex-Owls coach Charlie Partridge. Marshall leads the all-time series 4-1 and FAU’s lone win came last year in Boca Raton, 30-25, in a game Marshall tied in the third quarter after falling behind early.
This season, however, Marshall is 3-0 on the road and just 1-2 at home with its lone win over Eastern Kentucky and losses against N.C. State and Middle Tennessee.
Notes: Marshall head coach Doc Holliday said former starting running back Keion Davis should be back in action this week. Davis was injured late in the win at Western Kentucky. He’s had 177 yards in four games so far this season. If healthy, Davis could also resume his kick return duties … No word on the status of safety Jaylon-McClain-Sapp, who has been out since the game against the Wolfpack … Marshall’s special teams have recovered from a rough start to the season. Justin Rohrwasser’s placement kicks and kickoffs are consistent (6-of-8 on field goals, 21 of 22 on extra points and most kickoffs into the end zone) and punter Robert Lefevre has boosted his punt average to just over 41 yards, including 46 yards per punt at Old Dominion … It’s a big sports weekend on the Marshall campus. Besides the football game, Herd basketball makes its debut with a Friday night event at the Cam Henderson Center, there is a home swim meet against Ohio University as well as men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball action to follow.