— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — It will be a festive weekend in Huntington as Marshall celebrates its 2026 Homecoming by welcoming Gardner-Webb to Joan C. Edwards Stadium for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. contest.
The Herd (2-1) and Bulldogs (1-3) are meeting for a third time, and the contest can be seen on ESPN+.
Marshall won each of the two previous meetings, including a 28-7 triumph in 2022.
Gardner-Webb is being guided by an interim head coach in Pete Bennett, who replaced Kris McCullough following the team’s season-opening loss at Austin Peay. McCullough, who was in his first season at Gardner-Webb, was fired after the university conducted an internal investigation.
Here are three things to look for in Saturday’s game:
Be prepared for a motivated opponent
Chad Pennington is one of the most accomplished players in Marshall history and the quarterback led the Herd to an undefeated record in 1999 and a top 10 national ranking at season’s end. Pennington has given time and finances to the Marshall program since his retired following an 11-year career in the National Football League.
His son, Cole, had high hopes of following in his father’s footsteps when he came to Marshall three years ago. Those hopes did not turn into consistent playing time under former Marshall coach Charles Huff, and after Huff departed Huntington, so did Cole Pennington.
The younger Pennington ended up at Gardner-Webb and has found a home with the FCS program out of Boiling Springs, N.C.
Pennington has a trio of 300-plus yard games this season and his 1,185 passing yards are second nationally among all FCS players.
Marshall head coach Tony Gibson is impressed with Pennington’s development and said this week he can “sling the ball all over the field.”
The Herd defense will be challenged in its effort to prevent Pennington from showing Marshall faithful what they have missed out on.
Defensive improvement
The Herd has won two straight close calls, but Gibson knows the defense needs to deliver more.
An inability to generate a pass rush has been problematic and Marshall has two sacks in three games.
The lack of pressure and sacks has led to some tough times on the back end, with coverage breakdowns also an issue in all three games.
In last week’s 30-24 win at Missouri State, the Herd defense gave up nine plays of 21 or more yards.
Missed tackles and penalties have also plagued the Herd.
Gibson was especially upset last week with a pair of facemask penalties that allowed the Bears to prolong drives.
More fundamentally sound technique was emphasized this week, and t’s important that the defense take a positive step on Saturday before the start of Sun Belt Conference play next weekend at James Madison.
Better ball security for continued offensive progress
Marshall’s offense took a step forward in the win at Missouri State.
The Herd showed an effective run game that heavily involved quarterback Calos Del Rio-Wilson and tailbacks Jo’Shon Barbie, Judah Price and T.J. Lester. Quarterback Khalil Wilkins also contributed to the rushing totals and picked up a game-sealing first down.
Del Rio-Wilson spread the ball to eight receivers on the way to a 176-yard passing performance that included a touchdown pass to tight end Toby Payne.
The 464 yards gained at Missouri State was noticeable progress, but there are still areas of concern, including ball security.
Marshall fumbled three times last week, two of which were from Del Rio-Wilson. The second fumble by the Herd quarterback came inside the Bears’ 10-yard line and stopped Marshall’s effort to put the game away.
That then forced Gibson’s team to make a late defensive stand in the red zone to preserve the victory.
Gardner-Webb isn’t without capable defenders. The Bulldogs’ top defensive weapon is linebacker Tre Yanez, who had his third double-digit tackle game of the season with 12 stops in last week’s win over North Carolina Central. Yanez ranks 10th nationally with an average of 10.8 tackles per game and 13th in tackles for loss per game at 1.75.
Yanez was named as the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week.