By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON – Quarterback Grant Wells and wide receiver Willie Johnson had career days, at an ideal time for the nationally-ranked Thundering Herd. Wells, piled up 336 yards to go with five touchdown passes and Johnson snagged eight receptions for 137 yards and two scores in a resounding 42-14 victory over Middle Tennessee State Saturday afternoon.
Saturday was the 50th anniversary of the Marshall plane crash when the chartered jet bringing Marshall traveling party home from a 17-14 loss at East Carolina in Greenville, N.C., crashed short of the runway at Tri-State Airport in Kenova. All 75 aboard perished.
Marshall remains unbeaten in crash anniversary games under coach Doc Holliday (11-0).
“What a great day for our fans,” Holliday said. “It’s a special day. I’m just so happy. It’s so emotional when you walk out on the field. So much goes into this week. Maybe excited too much. When we settled down, we did a nice job.”
Wells topped his performance in the season opener against Eastern Kentucky, when he threw four TD passes and had 307 yards.
With Middle Tennessee committed to stopping run and packing eight men in the box, The Herd went up top nearly exclusively.
“They [Middle Tennessee] went in to stop the run. Got to make plays out the outside,” Holliday said.
That’s exactly what the Herd did and Willie Johnson benefited from the offensive adjustment. Coming into the game today, Johnson had just six receptions for 61 yards.
“We’ve got the deep threat,” Wells said matter of factly.
Artie Henry added five catches for 63 yards and Gammage five for 62.
“I grew up watching this story,” Wells said about the Herd’s rebound from the crash. “I knew the game would be extremely special. Walk out, I had to snap back into we’re playing Middle Tennessee.”
Defensively, Marshall again stonewalled the opponent. Middle Tennessee was limited to 56 yards rushing. No opponent has broken 100 yards in a game this season. Marshall entered the game third in the nation in yards allowed per game and No. 1 both rushing defense and scoring defense.
Holliday saluted the defense for containing Middle Tennessee quarterback Asher O’Hara.
“He’s created problems for everybody,” Holliday said. “You try to get him down on the ground. Like I said last year, how’d you like to be a coach in a game you can’t lose.”
O’Hara had 241 yards passing, but only 39 on the ground.
Marshall converted two Middle Tennessee State turnovers into two scores on the way to 21-7 lead at halftime and pulled away in the second half. The Blue Raiders had just four snaps in the final period.
The first break came when Reed Blankenship of the Blue Raiders mishandled a punt and the Herd’s Joshua Bowers recovered at the 7-yard line. It took two plays to score, the TD coming on a 3-yard pass to a wide-open Johnson with 7:18 left in the quarter.
The second came in the second period when O’Hara fumbled the ball on a scramble and linebacker Tavante Beckett recovered and went eight yards to the visitor’s 47 yard line. Wells capped the touchdown drive with a 17-yard pass to Corey Gammage, who made a juggling catch and got his feet down in time in the right corner of the end zone. After a review, the score stood for a 21-7 lead.
Marshall’s go-ahead TD came earlier in the second period when the Herd went 60 yards in six plays. Wells found Johnson on a deep pass for 44 yards to the five-yard line. Wells later called a play-action pass and hit Hayden Hagler for a 1-yard score. It was just Hagler’s second catch of the season.
“The best feeling in the world,” Johnson said about winning this particular game. “It’s a great feeling to come out and do what we did today. We came together today. We all made our plays.”
Beckett enjoyed the payback after suffering a loss at Middle Tennessee a year ago. The loss, along with one to Charlotte, kept the Herd from winning the East.
“They took it away from us last year,” he said. “Remind them who we are. Make sure we don’t let it slip away this time.”
The Herd, No. 16 in The Associated Press poll and 15th in the Amway Coaches Poll, is 7-0 overall and leads the Conference USA East Division at 4-0.
The Herd will be home next Saturday against Charlotte. Game time is 12:30 p.m. This is Marshall’s highest national ranking in 18 years. The Blue Raiders are 2-6, 2-4 C-USA.