— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall football coach Charles Huff saw a different version of his Thundering Herd for much of the second half of last Saturday’s season opener against Albany.
Following a lackluster and scoreless opening half against the Great Danes, the Herd rallied for a 21-17 victory over the FCS-level opponent.
The question becomes which version of Marshall shows up for the first road game of the season when the Herd faces East Carolina inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium at 4 p.m. Saturday. The matchup will air nationally on ESPNU.
Huff took issue with his team’s penalties at inopportune times against Albany, such as a Rasheen Ali touchdown run on the game’s first play eliminated by a holding call. He was pleased the halftime break helped his team overcome some mental mistakes, even though the Herd trailed in the fourth quarter.
“After halftime, the offense got things rolling and our defense did what they typically do,” Huff said. “It shows that when we execute, play with discipline and do what we’re supposed to do, we can have success. We can learn a lot from the slow start we had and how we rebounded in the second half.
“If we can’t do the basic stuff right, we’re going to struggle and we’re setting ourselves up for failure down the road.”
While Marshall was beating Albany last Saturday, East Carolina lost at No. 2 Michigan, 30-3. The Pirates’ points came courtesy of Andrew Conrad’s 33-yard field goal on the final play of the game.
ECU has won 11 of the previous 16 meetings with Marshall. The teams met in Huntington in 2021 and East Carolina rallied from a 38-21 third-quarter deficit to score a 42-38 victory. The two programs spent several years as fellow members of Conference USA before ECU moved on to the American Athletic Conference.
There is history between the two schools centered around the November 14, 1970 plane crash when 75 Marshall football players, coaches, administrators and fans were killed when a plane bringing the group back from a 17-14 loss at ECU crashed short of the runway at Huntington’s Tri-State Airport.
There is a memorial at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium that memorializes the 1970 Marshall football team.
East Carolina head coach Mike Houston just began his fifth season Greenville. Houston hopes the common history between ECU and Marshall means they continue facing each other. The two teams are slated to next meet in Huntington in 2025.
“There’s a great link between the schools due to the shared history of the plane crash,” Houston said. “The rivalry adds a lot of emotion to everything and this game is always going to be highly competitive and there will also be a lot around it.”
Ali had a 137-yard, two-touchdown performance last weekend and Houston says he remembers Ali giving the Pirates fits two years ago.
“Ali was a pain in the rear-end 2 years ago against us,” Houston said. “He was very productive last Saturday. They didn’t play a clean game last week and he wasn’t as effective as he could have been.”
Houston is playing two young quarterbacks in Mason Garcia and Alex Flinn as the Pirates work to replace Houston Ahlets, one of the more productive signal-callers in school history.
“They play really hard,” Huff said. “Tough and physical. Last year, they were one of the top offenses in the country. The new quarterbacks have strong arms and an ability to run when they need yardage. We’re preparing for both. The system they run is really consistent.
“Defensively, they try to create a lot of confusion up front. They’re aggressive and fast.”
Houston expects his quarterbacks to be challenged by the Marshall defense.
“They return a bunch of guys from a good defensive front from last year,” Houston said. “A very aggressive team with a fast D-line, active linebackers and aggressive secondary.”