— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — There were plenty of happy faces in Huntington last Saturday after Marshall hung on for 28-26 win over Middle Tennessee State when the Blue Raiders missed on what would’ve been a game-tying 2-point conversion in the last minute.
There was no one more relieved than second-year Herd head coach Tony Gibson.
“There’s nothing like a winning locker room,” Gibson said. “You want to win big every time, but I told them that it doesn’t matter if they win by one point or 50 points. They’re all the same, so for our kids to fight and be tested early shows how far we’ve come. We wouldn’t have won this game a year ago.”
Gibson says his team must build off last week’s effort as it prepares to hit the road or a Saturday game at Missouri State.
The contest kicks off at 6:30 p.m., and will be shown nationally on CBS Sports Network.
This is the second all-time meeting between the two schools and the previous one likely hasn’t been forgotten by either program. Missouri State ruined Gibson’s first home game with the Herd a season ago by prevailing with a 21-20 victory at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
After Ryan Beard left to be head coach at Coastal Carolina, the Bears hired a new head coach in Casey Woods.
Woods served as offensive coordinator at SMU the previous four seasons.
Missouri State (1-1) also won last week, defeating Lindenwood 48-14. The Bears suffered a lopsided season-opening loss at Texas A&M, 50-0.
Gibson noted his coaching staff has been busy looking at the Bears’ tendencies based on Woods’ time at SMU as well as the work of Missouri State offensive coordinator Mark Cala, who formerly worked at UTEP.
“They’re going to spread you out and go fast,” Gibson said. “They’re going to spread you out a lot like SMU was doing. We’ve had to watch a lot of tape from SMU to get an idea of what they’re doing. The quarterback (Skyler Locklear) does a good job and he was with the offensive coordinator at UTEP.”
Marshall (1-1) was only penalized five times for 35 yards against the Blue Raiders and was sound on special teams.
True freshman Cooper Heimbach averaged nearly 49 yards on six punts with a net average just south of 40.
There is an important decision hovering over the Herd this week as to which quarterback gets the nod.
Last week, starter Carlos Del Rio-Wilson threw for 92 yards and a touchdown, a 69-yard strike to Xayvion Turner-Bradshaw. Del Rio-Wilson also ran for 43 yards and a touchdown prior to suffering an injury in the second quarter.
Khalil Wilkins and Zion Turner were both then given opportunities, and Turner was instrumental in helping Marshall overcome a 20-14 fourth-quarter deficit as he threw for 66 yards and recorded a rushing touchdown.
“Football is hard to win,” Gibson said. “I’m never going to be disappointed in a win. We still have a lot of work to do, but what I love is the next man up mentality.”