— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — They were planning a victory party in Huntington on September 6, 2025.
That was the day of Herd head coach Tony Gibson’s first home game and the opponent was the Missouri State Bears.
Unfortunately Marshall faithful and Gibson alike, Missouri State ruined the party and left Joan C. Edwards Stadium with a 21-20 win.
Then-Bears head coach Ryan Beard is now at Coastal Carolina and was replaced by Casey Woods, who expects that game to be on the minds of Marshall players when the two teams clash at 6:30 p.m. Saturday inside Robert W. Plaster Stadium in Springfield, Missouri.
“After we beat them at their place last year, they’re going to be an angry bunch coming in here,” Woods said.
Woods assumed the Missouri State job after serving as offensive coordinator at SMU the past four seasons.
Beard will also face the Herd later this season when the Chanticleers clash with the Herd.
Woods is the son of veteran college football coach Sparky Woods, who was formerly head coach at South Carolina, Appalachian State and VMI, and most recently worked as an assistant to Mack Brown at North Carolina.
Sparky Woods now works for his son as Chief of Staff and the Bears’ special teams coach.
In preparing for the Bears, Marshall has dug into the background of Woods and his two coordinators — Mark Cala on offense and Jack Curtis on defense.
While Woods helped run the high-tempo spread attack that turned SMU into an ACC power in recent seasons, Cala was at UTEP, where the attack was more traditional. Curtis most recently helped run then defense at Auburn.
“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 came from behind last Saturday thanks in large part to quarterback Zion Turner, the third Herd signal-caller utilized and one who helped the team overcome a 20-14 fourth-quarter deficit in a narrow 28-26 victory over Middle Tennessee.
Woods is unsure if Turner or normal starting quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson will be behind center to start this week, but he knows what his team is up against.
Woods hopes his own defense continues to stand tall. The Bears (1-1) have allowed only two plays of 20 or more yards this season and compared to the Herd, Missouri State is allowing 55 fewer yards per game despite a 50-0 loss to Texas A&M in its season opener.
“They love to involve the quarterback in the running game, so you have to play assignment sound football against the Marshall offense,” Woods said. “Defensively, they fly around the ball and I thought they suffocated Middle Tennessee pretty good during that game.”
The Marshall-Missouri State matchup is one of three involving teams from the Sun Belt against Conference USA. The others are Coastal Carolina at Delaware and Georgia Southern at Jacksonville State. SBC team are 4-0 this season against C-USA members.