— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall football is not used to the season ending in November.
That rarity became reality Saturday when Georgia Southern, playing for bowl eligibility just like the Thundering Herd, prevailed, 24-19, at Joan C. Edwards Stadium to secure the coveted sixth win and deny the home team of one.
Now, Tony Gibson, who finished his first year as coach sooner than he wanted is hoping to do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
“There’s going to be some changes made,” Gibson said. “We have to. Coaches, players have to get better. We have to attack the offseason.”
With two weeks left in this season, a largely new-look Herd roster from a 2024 team that won the Sun Belt Conference needed to win once to be bowl eligible. Instead, two close losses in games Marshall was favored to win at Appalachian State last week and then against the Eagles.
The near misses leave the Herd with a 5-7 record and 3-5 mark in league play. Marshall lost four of its last five starting with a 44-27 setback at Coastal Carolina that marked the team’s most lopsided defeat in the Sun Belt.
“We been through a full season now. We understand the expectations. We understand this league,” Gibson said. “And we haven’t gotten blown out all year. It’s been one possession games. What we have to do is find ways to win games instead of waste time to lose games. We’ve done that way too much this year. It’s going to be a long offseason for a lot of reasons. We have a lot of work to do to be able to get this team where I want to get it.
“It’s been hard. Nothing’s easy. Anything that’s worth anything is never going to be easy to get. I knew it was going to be hard when I took the job. Those guys believed in me, believed in this program. Making the leap to jump on board with us. The thing that bothers me the most is we were close so many times. Is that me being a failure? Is that us? Are teams just better than us? I have to get better, our coaches have to get better and our program has to get better We’re not going to give up. We’re going to keep fighting. That’s the only thing I know. We’re going to stick together and get this thing right.”
Update from HC @CoachTonyGibson
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— Marshall Football (@HerdFB) December 1, 2025
Quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson gave it a go against Georgia Southern and tried to play through injury, but was ineffective and replaced by Zion Turner.
“Once my number was called, go in and perform to the best of my ability,” said Turner, a transfer from Jacksonville State who also played at Connecticut. “Especially for the seniors. Some of those guys will never be able to play football again. I feel like I gave it all I had.”
Del Rio-Wilson set the single-season rushing record for a Marshall quarterback, surpassing Danny Wright’s 652 yards in 1978. He had just 2 yards rushing Saturday to finish with 661 yards.
“Whatever the percentage, without him being able to run, it takes away a big aspect of his game,” Gibson said. “No doubt about he wasn’t himself. Give him credit for going out and trying. He wasn’t healthy enough to get through it. Zion gets in and gets a little bit of a spark. We wake up and start playing football. Maybe we should’ve done it sooner.”
Del Rio-Wilson completed 9-of-16 with one pick for 136 yards before exiting.
Turner finished 13-of-19 for 172 yards and a touchdown.
“That’s from preparation, knowing I can’t turn the ball over. I’ve got to make plays,” Turner said. “I study them a lot. They’re giving up a lot of explosive plays, 1-on-1 plays. O told the receivers if you get pressed one time, go. I hit AD over the shoulder and he finished the rest. AD and I are best friends. AD came in the off season and got right to work. Got a lot to build on.
“I’ve got a lot of faith in coach Gibson. I played against coach Gibson. I know what his defenses are, his coaching style. Going into the offseason I wish I could have a lot of plays back. We can’t have them back. What we have to do is turn things around. There’s a lot of doubt in the community with how games went this season. We’ll turn things around. You get his with adversity. It’s how you respond to what comes up.”