— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Game day arrives early this week for Marshall and Coastal Carolina this week as the teams meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday inside Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina.
The matchup will air nationally on ESPN2.
Marshall (4-3, 2-1) is coming off a 40-37 overtime win on October 18 against Texas State in Huntington, while the Chanticleers (4-3, 3-1) picked up a road win that same day at Appalachian State, 45-37.
Thursday is the start of a five-game stretch that Marshall first-year head coach Tony Gibson says will determine the overall outlook of his first season in Huntington.
“We’re road tested,” Gibson said. “We’ve played two overtime games. We’ve had big wins. We’ve had close wins. Our kids are in a groove right now and we just need to keep it rolling. We have to keep preparing the right way and doing things the right way on and off the field. Our kids are bought into what we’re doing and this five-game stretch is crucial to our program.”
After the nationally-televised game at Coastal Carolina, Marshall has four Sun Belt Conference contests to wrap-up the season starting with a home game against James Madison. The other three are contests at Georgia State, at Appalachian State and against Georgia Southern.
“Every week, you have to play,” Gibson said. “If you have a down week, you can get beat by anybody in the league. I have a lot of respect for the coaches in this league.”
Marshall has endured plenty of ups and downs this fall.
A disappointing home-opening loss to Missouri State and a meltdown at Louisiana led to a double overtime loss, while wins at Middle Tennessee and recently at home over Old Dominion and Texas State have been highlights.
Gibson says his first Marshall team must keep mistakes to a minimum and execute at a high level to ensure a strong finish to the season — both areas the Herd has improved on in October.
“I feel that we should be 6-1 right now,” Gibson said. “Some of the reason we’re not at that record is on the coaches and some on our players not being able to finish games. After the Louisiana game, it would have been easy to lose the football team, but these guys have rallied and that’s what I’m most proud of.”