— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Tony Gibson built a roster nearly from scratch after accepting the Thundering Herd head coaching job 11 months ago.
The 72 new players Gibson and his staff brought into the MU program hope to gain bowl eligibility with a win on Saturday as Georgia Southern visits for a Sun Belt Conference game that marks the regular season finale for both teams and the season finale for one.
Kickoff at Joan C. Edwards Stadium is set for 1:30 p.m., and the matchup can be viewed on ESPN+.
The Herd (5-6, 3-4) suffered a frustrating 26-24 loss at Appalachian State last week while the Eagles (5-6, 3-4) were fell at home against Old Dominion, 45-10.
Clay Helton, the former head coach at Southern California, is in his fourth year as the leader of the Eagles and has compiled a 25-25 record in Statesboro.
One concern for Marshall this week is the health of starting quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, who was hobbled early in the fourth quarter during the Appalachian State loss. Del Rio-Wilson was replaced by Zion Turner, who was unable to move the Herd into position for a potential game-winning field goal. Marshall’s offense lost two fumbles late that proved particularly costly.
Gibson indicated Del Rio-Wilson will start Saturday.
“Carlos is good to go this week,” Gibson said. “I’m excited for him to set the new Marshall record for quarterback rushing yards in a season. He didn’t even play the first two games of the season. We need him this weekend to give us a chance to win.”
Del Rio-Wilson has 659 rushing yards and broke a 47-year-old MU record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a season. The previous record-holder was Danny Wright, who ran for 652 yards in 1978.
A big key for Marshall this week will be cutting down on mistakes. In addition to three costly turnovers in the setback to the Mountaineers, Marshall was also flagged six times for 60 yards.
“To be able to win, we have to play smarter and take care of the football,” Gibson said. “Georgia Southern is a storied program and Marshall has played a lot of significant games against them in the past and this is another opportunity for our programs to do that. We’re going to have to play really well to win.”
Marshall and Georgia Southern have played nine previous times as members of both the Sun Belt and Southern Conference and the Herd leads the all-time series, 6-3. Georgia Southern won last year 24-23 as the Eagles scored three times in the final 6:32 to rally for an improbable result.
GSU is 0-3 at Edwards Stadium, but won in Huntington in 1990 — the final year Marshall used Fairfield Stadium as its home.
MU kicker Lorcan Quinn kicked a 25-yard field goal last Saturday at Appalachian State for his 19th field goal of the season, equalling the mark for most field goals made by a Marshall kicker in a season.