— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Huntington is host to a rare visit from a Power 5 Conference football team this week as the Virginia Tech Hokies (1-2) take on Marshall (2-0) Saturday at Noon at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
The game can be seen nationally on ESPN2.
Marshall was off last week after wins against Albany and at East Carolina. The Hokies have lost two straight to Big Ten members Purdue and Rutgers after opening the season with a 36-17 win over Sun Belt Conference member Old Dominion. ODU will be in Huntington next Saturday to take on Marshall in the Thundering Herd’s Homecoming game.
The last two weeks have left much to be desired for the Hokies, which came up short in Blacksburg against the Boilermakers, 24-17, and followed it with a 35-16 loss at Rutgers.
The key question is if the Herd will be facing former two-year Marshall starting quarterback Grant Wells, a Charleston native who left Marshall for Virginia Tech after the 2021 season.
Wells didn’t play last week at Rutgers after being injured against Purdue.
Second-year Hokies’ head coach Brent Pry says he’s unsure on Wells’ status for this week.
“I thought his progress was slow last week,” Pry said. “I was hoping he would be available as an emergency for the game. We’re going to continue to work and treat him and rehab him. He’s definitely feeling better.
“Right now, I’d say he’s questionable, but he’s certainly better off than he was last week at this time.”
Wells threw for 494 yards and five touchdowns over the first two games.
He was replaced last week by Baylor transfer Kyron Drones, who passed for 190 yards and a touchdown and added 74 rushing yards.
Marshall head coach Charles Huff is warning Herd fans to ignore the fact that VT is struggling early this season.
“This will be the toughest game we’ve played all year,” Huff said. “They’re probably a handful of plays away from changing their overall record. When you watch the games, you can see this is a really good football team that is coached really well. They’ll be coming in here ready to play.
“Defensively, they make it really tough for you to move the football, and then offensively, they’ve got some schemes and some players that can create some explosive plays.”
The Hokies have won 11 of 13 previous meetings with Marshall, including nine straight, which dates back to every game in the series since 1951. The teams last met in Blacksburg in 2018, when Virginia Tech claimed a 41-20 victory over a Doc Holliday-coached Marshall team.
Virginia Tech last visited Marshall in 2011 — a 30-10 Hokies’ win.
Marshall’s only wins in the series both came in Huntington in 1939 and 1940.
LOTS OF TIES
Huntington and Blacksburg are 192 miles apart, but there are several close ties between the Marshall and Virginia Tech football programs beyond Wells. The most poignant one involves Clarksburg native Frank Loria, an All-American defensive back at Virginia Tech who later coached at Marshall. Loria died in the November 14, 1970 Marshall football plane crash … Rick Tolley, Marshall head coach and a VT almnus, was also killed in the crash … Pry’s father, Jim, was a Marshall quarterback and part of the Young Thundering Herd squad that played in 1971 following the plane crash … Pry and Huff worked together on James Franklin’s coaching staffs at Vanderbilt and Penn State … Hokies’ defensive line coach J.C. Price coached at Marshall for nine seasons … Marshall special teams coordinator Jonathan Galante played and coached at Virginia Tech … Hokies’ Senior Director of Player Personnel Mike Villagrana came to Blacksburg from Marshall after helping assemble the Herd’s highly-touted 2022 recruiting class … Tech defensive lineman C.J. McCray was on the 2020 Marshall roster, but never played for the Herd … Longtime Virginia Tech radio play-by-play announcer Bill Roth spent the 1987-1988 season as the radio voice of the Thundering Herd.