— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Entering the 2024 football season, Marshall’s football team had modest expectations.
League coaches picked the Thundering Herd to finish fifth among seven teams in the Sun Belt’s East Division.
Those projections haven’t played out, with the Herd winners of four straight to position themselves atop the East Division.
If three things work out in Marshall’s favor, the Herd could celebrate a divisional title this weekend.
Marshall (7-3, 5-1) plays at Old Dominion (4-6, 3-3) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday from S.B. Ballard Stadium in Norfolk, Virginia. The game is being shown nationally on ESPNU.
ODU is coached by Ricky Rahne, who is in his fifth season with a record of 19-28. Rahne and Marshall head coach Charles Huff worked together at Penn State from 2014-17.
While Marshall was wrapping up the home portion of its schedule last week with a 31-19 victory over Coastal Carolina, Old Dominion was upended at home by James Madison, 35-32, leaving the Monarchs having to win this week and their regular season finale at Arkansas State to qualify for a bowl game.
Huff sees a better team in ODU than its record suggests.
“You put the film on and you see that they’re a good football team,” Huff said. “There are some games where they make plays and succeed and others where they miss. That’s not due to a lack of talent or coaching, but that’s the way the ball bounces sometimes.”
Old Dominion’s wins this season are against Bowling Green, Georgia State, Texas State and Georgia Southern. The Monarchs played a challenging non-conference schedule and fell to South Carolina (23-19), East Carolina (20-14) and Virginia Tech (37-17). Sun Belt losses came to Coastal Carolina, Appalachian State and the Dukes, and five of the Monarchs’ six setbacks are by less than 10 points.
To clinch the East Division on Saturday, the Herd must defeat ODU and have James Madison and Georgia Southern lose.
The Dukes play at Appalachian State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, while the Eagles are at Coastal Carolina the same day with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. Thus, the Herd will know the results of both games before it takes on ODU.
“Where we’re ranked or not ranked doesn’t really matter,” Huff said. “You just have to go out and play. We have to focus on how we move the ball against a good defense and stop a really good offense.”
The Herd and Monarchs have met nine previous times and Marshall has won eight.
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Marshall will wrap up the regular season with another national television appearance November 30 when the Herd and James Madison battle at 8 p.m. on ESPNU. It will be Marshall’s sixth national TV appearance this season.
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Marshall redshirt senior defensive back J.J. Roberts was named the Sun Belt Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.
Roberts earned the award after jumping through the line and blocking a Coastal Carolina field goal attempt that Jacobie Henderson returned 65 yards for a touchdown.
Roberts also had 12 tackles and four pass breakups in the win, which gives him a conference-leading 13 on the season — a figure that is also No. 10 in FBS. Roberts is second on Marshall with 75 tackles this season.
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For the third straight week, Marshall junior Mike Green received national accolades for his performance. This time, Green earned the East-West Shrine Bowl Breakout Defensive Player of the Week award following his performance in a win over Coastal Carolina.
Green finished with eight tackles, two tackles for loss, two sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and two quarterback hurries.
Over his last three games, Green has piled up impressive numbers with 22 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
In the last three weeks, Green has been named as the Reese’s Senior Bowl Defensive Player of the Week, the East-West Shrine Bowl Breakout Defensive Player of the Week and a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award, given to the College Defensive Player of the Year.