— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Although the postgame flight from State College, Pa., to Huntington took approximately an hour, Marshall football coach Tony Gibson says there was plenty of time to ponder went wrong last Saturday in a 45-0 loss to No. 18 Penn State at Beaver Stadium.
Positives for the Thundering Herd were few and far between.
“The expectations for us were to go up there and win,” Gibson said. “We were excited and we wanted to go and play our best and we did just the opposite. We were outmanned and never recovered. We got punched in the mouth and couldn’t recover from it.”
How Marshall responds to the poor performance could be an indication as to whether a good season or signs of lingering doubt are ahead. The first opportunity to bounce back comes Saturday when Marshall welcomes Middle Tennessee to Joan C. Edwards Stadium for a 7 p.m. contest that can be seen on ESPN+.
The Blue Raiders won their season opener at home last weekend, defeating FCS program Murray State, 38-14, in a game plagued by weather delays.
Marshall leads the all-time series with Middle Tennessee, 7-5, and a loss in 2018 is the only Herd setback in the series over the last six games.
“We can’t let this one beat us two times, so we have to learn from our mistakes where it’s on film now and people can see what we’re all about,” Gibson said. “We have to come out this week and simply play better.”
Middle Tennessee is led by veteran head coach Derek Mason, who is in his third season and has a 7-18 record with the Blue Raiders.
Mason brought in 50 newcomers this season and a revamped offensive line includes four new starters. Early results were favorable as MT amassed 196 rushing yards against the Racers.
“We have to focus this week and stop Middle’s run game,” Gibson said. “They use their quarterback as a runner at times, but he didn’t run a lot against Murray State. They have two really good backs.”
Those backs to Gibson refers to are Antonio Martin and Terrence Brown and that duo combined for 170 rushing yards last week.
While the Herd offense never got into a rhythm in the opener, Marshall struggled with missed assignments on defense at Penn State, an aspect that led to explosive plays.
“You can’t win football games no matter who you’re playing when you give up 10 explosive plays, including three that turned into touchdowns,” Gibson said. “We have to tighten everything up and be better.”