— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall hopes to get a Conference USA win streak going as the Herd heads to sunny Palm Beach County, Fla., for Friday’s matchup against Florida Atlantic.
The game begins at 6:30 p.m., at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, and will be shown on CBS Sports Network.
The Herd and Owls both picked up wins last Saturday.
Marshall (3-3, 1-1) recorded eight sacks on the way to a 31-17 home win over Old Dominion while FAU (4-2, 2-0) knocked off Middle Tennessee, 28-13.
Marshall leads the all-time series with the Owls 5-1, including a 31-7 Herd win last season at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Here are some things to look for Friday.
1 — Tight end factor
The winner of this game might be the team whose tight ends have the better night.
Marshall has three productive tight ends — Armani Levias, Xavier Gaines and Devin Miller — who have combined for 43 catches, 428 yards and five touchdowns in the first half of the season. Levias and Gaines are the Herd’s top two receivers statistically.
An equally effective Florida Atlantic duo in Harrison Bryant and John Raine awaits the Herd defense. Bryant is second among FBS tight ends with 413 receiving yards this season and is the Owl’s leader in receptions and yards. Raine has four touchdown catches.
2 — Florida homecoming
About one-third of Marshall’s roster hails from the Sunshine State, making this a much anticipated for the Herd.
Marshall head coach Doc Holliday always emphasizes that Florida trips are not for pleasure, but truly business trips.
For the players, it’s another opportunity to win a game and come a bit closer to the goal of competing for a conference title. For Holliday and his staff, it’s a chance to once again increase the Marshall brand in Florida as the Herd battles with plenty of other schools for talent in the state.
Holliday demands intensity from his squad on these Florida trips and the Florida natives wearing Herd colors on Friday night won’t want to disappoint the family and friends at FAU Stadium.
3 — Defensive resurgence?
Marshall’s defense has struggled at times this fall as players adjusted to a new coordinator in Brad Lambert, plugged in new personnel and became accustomed to new alignments.
The changes seemed to finally work in last week’s 31-17 home win over Old Dominion as the Herd held the Monarchs to 206 yards and 11 first downs. Most impressively were the eight sacks recorded by Marshall and limiting the Monarchs to only 83 rushing yards.
Sophomore defensive end Darius Hodge recorded 4.5 sacks and that performance propelled Hodge to earn Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week honors.
Hodge isn’t a one-man show on the defensive side as Marshall also got solid play from linebacker Tavante Beckett (14 tackles last week vs. ODU).
The Herd face an Owls’ offense that is balanced and led by talented sophomore quarterback Chris Robison, who has a big arm and can scramble when needed.
Notes
Holliday is known as a Florida recruiting ace, but his coaching record in the Sunshine State is pretty good, too. Since 2013, Holliday’s Marshall teams have been 12-3 in games contested in the state of Florida and/or against Florida schools. The wins include bowl victories in Boca Raton (2014), St. Petersburg (2015) and Tampa (2018) … The Herd might have found some much-needed production from a wideout as true freshman Broc Thompson had a breakout performance against Old Dominion with 91 yards on six catches. Fellow wideout Willie Johnson was used as both a receiver and runner in the ODU game as offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey again utilized Johnson and his speed on a reverse, a play that paid off with a 27-yard touchdown…The eight sacks against ODU tied for the second-most in school history. MU’s sack record was set in 1986 as the Herd racked up 12 in a game at Ohio …. Hodge’s 4.5 sacks tied for the Marshall single-game sack record. Hodge now shares that mark with Cecil Fletcher, who set the mark in 1986 at Ohio. Hodge’s sack total also was tied for the third-highest single game mark in Conference USA history (an honor shared with Louisiana Tech’s Houston Bates in 2014 and FAU’s Martin Wright in 2013). Hodge’s 4.5 sacks are also the single-game high at Joan C. Edwards Stadium since it opened in 1991.