— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — It’s one thing to get into the red zone. It’s another for an offense to finish and come away with points.
That’s an area Marshall will work on this week after Saturday’s 21-20 loss to FBS newcomer Missouri State in front of 28,564 fans on the cool, cloudy evening at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
The missed opportunity that hurt the most came early in the fourth period with the Thundering Herd (0-2) in front 20-14. On third-and-1 at the visitor’s 8-yard line, quarterback Zion Turner opted for a fade route to Bryan Robinson in the right corner of the end zone, but the pass went incomplete. On came Lorcan Quinn for a 26-yard field goal with a chance to make it a two-score game and improve the odds new coach Tony Gibson would get career win No.1 in the home debut for the Green and White.
Instead, Quinn’s field goal clanked off the right upright and the miss gave life to the Bears, who were playing their second FBS game after allowing 73 points at Southern Cal a week earlier.
“Got to go back and watch the film on that drive,” said Turner, who came to Marshall from Jacksonville State via transfer portal and made the start. “It was third down that we threw the fade. And I’ll own up to that 100 percent that was my fault. Should never have thrown the fade. You get up two scores, it’s probably right there. Tough as it is, we’ve got to watch film, correct mistakes and move on.”
Bears’ quarterback Jacob Clark then moved the Bears 80 yards in nine plays for the go-ahead score, an 8-yard TD pass to tight end Jeron Asken. Three plays earlier, Clark executed a screen to Ramone Green Jr. for 55 yards to the Herd 18.
Turner and the Herd offense struggled at the outset with just 7 total yards in the first quarter. After Missouri State scored early in the second, Marshall responded with two 70-plus yard drives for scores to go with a 50-yard field goal by Quinn for a 17-7 lead.
Marshall’s only points of the second half came on Quinn’s 33-yard field goal. At that point, MU led by 13.
“Got to finish drives in the red zone,” Turner said. “A lot of mistakes, a lot of bad reads early especially by me. Got to come out and convert. We’ve got to work harder. We can’t get the game back. We started to get going in the second quarter. We’ve got to push and keep that going.”
Clark completed 21-of-31 passes for 359 yards and three scores and surpassed 5,000 yards for his career. He has thrown for 200 yards or more in 14 of his 18 career starts.
After the go-ahead score, the Bears turned to their defense for one last stand. With Marshall facing fourth-and-7 from its 38, Missouri State’s Mitchell Toney got to Turner and the deflected pass fell into the arms of teammate Kanye Young with 1:48 left. The Bears would run for one first down, then run out the clock for win.
“That group went through a lot of adversity, heartache the last two months,” Bears’ coach Ryan Beard said. “To be men of that character, that resiliency, after last week you hear you’t can’t do this, you can’t do that. I know what we can do. We have talent in that locker room.”
Missouri State ended Marshall’s nine-game home win streak and prevented a 15th straight home-opening win. Clark had a 57-yard pass to Green in the second quarter to open the visitors’ scoring. He threw a 52-yard TD strike to Jmariyae Robinson with 7:59 left in the third to cut the deficit to 20-14.
Turner got the Herd’s first score on a 14-yard run. The second came on a 37-yard romp by Justin Williams-Thomas on a fourth-and-1.
“Just got to convert,” Williams-Thomas said. “We came up short. Back to the drawing board. The run was pretty exciting. It was just my time. Give credit to the O line. As much as I want to take the credit, it’s all up to the O line for me to score. Without the guys up front, it’s not possible. We left some points out there. Got to score when we have the opportunity.”
Herd linebacker Kerion Martin led in tackles with 13, including a sack and two tackles for loss. The downer is the Bears amassed 474 total yards to 274 for the Herd.
“We’ve got to play more disciplined ball on the defensive side,” Martin said. “We have to take that on the chin. We generate a lot of pressure up front, but we have to get him on the ground.”
Martin says the defense must stick together through tough times.
“That’s not the brand we want to be known for. We’ll get this out of our DNA,” Martin said. “This definitely is a wakeup call. We got the vibe in the locker room so this doesn’t become demoralizing.”
Marshall is home this Saturday against Eastern Kentucky. Game time is 6 p.m.