— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall is off this weekend for the first time in 2025, providing the Herd with extra practice time, healing and a refresher on execution.
That’s especially true for Marshall after the disappointment of last weekend when the Herd squandered a 34-17 lead and lost 54-51 in double overtime at Louisiana.
Up next for Marshall (2-3, 0-1) is another Sun Belt Conference matchup at Joan C. Edwards Stadium against the Old Dominion Monarchs. That game is set for a 3:30 p.m. kick next Saturday.
The Monarchs are off to a 3-1 start and start Sun Belt play at 6 p.m. Saturday against Coastal Carolina.
ODU’s only loss came at nationally-ranked Indiana and the Monarchs recorded notable wins against Virginia Tech and Liberty.
“Our next game is going to be a tough one,” MU head coach Tony Gibson said. “This is a great time for a bye week and a chance to get some things fixed.”
A lot of work this week involves both unit and individual improvement. That’s especially true of the Marshall defense, which allowed 34 points after the third quarter of its most recent game, as Ragin’ Cajuns back-up quarterback Lunch Winfield shredded the Herd defenders for a combined 254 passing and rushing yards and five total touchdowns from the fourth quarter on.
“We’re doing a lot of self-scout this week and one-on-one meetings with guys,” Gibson said. “We’re resting some guys in practice that have played a lot of snaps and other guys who need to heal up. I’ve told our coaches that we need to honestly tell these guys how they’re playing, what they’re doing and what they have to do to be better.”
Gibson was quoted this week as saying that the Herd defensive work late against Louisiana was “gross” and he hopes the bad feeling leaving the field last Saturday is a memory that will drive his team the rest of the season.
“We can’t sit and feel sorry for ourselves,” Gibson said. “It’s in the past. The sad thing is that we could easily be 4-1 right now and that’s a whole different conversation. We have to keep fighting, because our kids did keep fighting last week and didn’t quit.”
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Marshall’s offense has been potent in recent weeks under the direction of redshirt junior quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson.
Del Rio-Wilson is now tops nationally in quarterback rating at 206.5. He is also second in completion percentage at 78.5 percent, trailing only Ohio State’s Julian Sayin. Over three starts, Del Rio-Wilson has averaged 9.8 yards per completion and hasn’t thrown an interception.