— By David Walsh
With the first name Lunch, imagine all the headlines and leads a quarterback can generate when he comes off the bench and converts a likely setback into a storybook comeback win. In double overtime no less. For the opponent, there’s nothing to cheer about in that scenario.
That’s how it went down Saturday night when Louisiana, trailing 34-17 midway through the third period, had quarterback Lunch Winfield enter the game, account for four of his five touchdowns with the capper a 10-yard run in the second OT when he leaped over a Marshall defender into the end zone to secure a 54-51 victory.
For the Thundering Herd, a late lunch served didn’t agree with the visitors as Winfield helped make possible the school’s biggest comeback win since 1982.
Winfield replaced No. 2 QB Daniel Beale in the third period after Beale threw two interceptions, one returned by Herd lineman Paul Hudson III for a touchdown.
But after his team faced a 34-17 deficit, Winfield ran for two of his three scores on the night and tossed two TD passes, the second with 16 seconds left in regulation, to tie the game at 41 and force overtime. He racked up 129 yards rushing and 125 yards passing.
First-year Marshall coach Tony Gibson tipped his cap to Winfield and probably tossed that cap once or twice to show disgust with his team’s second-half defense.
“Score 50 some points and lose a football game — that’s unacceptable,” Gibson said. “Defense didn’t get it done. It’s embarrassing what we did in the second half.
“We knew he (Winfield) was a dual threat. Give credit to him. He made big-time throws and made good runs. The team jumped on his back and he carried them in the second half. Kudos to him.”
After Winfield hit wide receiver Charles Robertson for a 45-yard game-tying touchdown with 4:27 to play, Marshall manufactured a seven-play, 71-yard scoring drive capped by a 27-yard touchdown connection from quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson to Demarcus Lacey to retake the lead.
With 1:01 on the clock and no timeouts, Winfield directed a seven-play, 75-yard drive of his own, forcing overtime with a 24-yard touchdown strike to Dale Martin.
Zyland Perry — who rushed for 75 yards and two touchdowns — scored on a 25-yard dash on the first OT snap for the Ragin’ Cajuns. The Herd stayed alive when Del Rio-Wilson found Adrian Norton for a 3-yard TD pass on a fourth down to thwart a potential Louisiana goal line stand.
Once Marshall was held to a field goal in the second overtime, Winfield called his own number on four straight plays, capped by the game-winner.
“You score to have a tide heading into the break. Certainly a lot of momentum coming out in that third quarter,” Gibson said. “We couldn’t finish. That’s what we were saying coming off the last week (win at Middle Tennessee). We finished in the fourth quarter. This week we didn’t. That pick six is the way we should’ve been playing the whole night. Relax? I don’t know. We have the persons to do it. It’s not fair to this football team, this university and all the guys who played here before to end a football game the way we did in the second half.
“Way too many stupid penalties. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We kept their drives alive. Ridiculous. Got to get this thing right defensively.”
Marshall had its own exceptional performances from Del Rio-Wilson (24-of-31 for 258 yards and three scores), running back Michael Allen (19 carries for 138 yards, two scores and first Herd runner over 100 yards in a game this season) and Lacey (10 receptions for 146 yards and two TDs).
Marshall (2-3, 0-1) racked up 503 total yards to 461 for Louisiana (2-3, 1-0). One drawback was Marshall had 102 yards in penalties compared to 5 (one call for running into the kicker) for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Marshall is off this week. The Herd’s next game is October 11 against Old Dominion — a 3:30 p.m. kick at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
“I don’t know if we can get it all done in two weeks,” Gibson said. “It’s going to be a bad taste in our mouth. A lot of stuff to get fixed on defense. I guarantee the Herd Nation it will be better.”
Gibson hopes the Herd offense can keep going as the unit has been been potent since Del Rio-Wilson made his first start in Week 3.
“The offense is humming right now,” Gibson said. “Carlos, another fabulous game for that young man. Michael Allen goes over 100 yards. Busted one. We did everything we needed to.”
Allen agreed.
“We’re finding our strides,” Allen said. “Get behind those big guys to do what I do. We’ve got two weeks to get ready. We’ve got to come out of this.”