Buckeye Sunday- Marshall

Marshall University

Where: Huntington, West Virginia

Mascot: Thundering Herd

Enrollment: 10,000 approx.

Conference: Conference USA

Record Last Year: 7-6

Head Coach: Doc Holliday

That won't be done with every opponent, but I'll do it for the 3 lesser-known, small conference opponents this season.*

Ok, insider information. I went to a Marshall football game last year. In fact, I'm a bit of a fan of this team.

This season, Marshall has a new football coach, Doc Holliday. He's been an assistant to Urban Meyer at Florida and most recently an assistant at West Virginia. Last year Marshall was coached by a lost** Tressel disciple, Mark Snyder. So, Marshall will be making a offensive transition under Holliday to a spread look.

Marshall's starting quarterback will most likely be Brian Anderson. There is some competition, but it appears that he will at least be the starter at the beginning of the season. Anderson isn't a great quarterback and has major constituency issues. He is experienced though and will likely be improved from last season. Marshall has a young wide receiver group that could potentially be pretty good. If the questions about the the Buckeye secondary, especially at the safety position prove to be true, Marshall could potentially expose them.

In the rushing game, Marshall lost it's star from last season in Darius Marshall. He had rushed for over 1,100 yards and 11 Touchdowns and made an poor decision to go pro. He didn't get drafted. His likely replacement will be Martin Ward. He's a quick young player who has shown some promise. I witnessed last year him getting cock-blocked by an official getting in his way as he was breaking a run to the end zone.

Defensively, Marshall has major issues, particularly in the secondary. The secondary was pretty shaky last year for the Thundering Herd. Add to that, two important pieces of Marshall's secondary were dismissed from the team and it looks like Marshall may have some series issues in their back line. I think Marshall solution will need to be blitz, blitz, blitz and then blitz some more, because the secondary will need to be exposed as little as possible.

Ok, that's what I got on Marshall.

Prediction

Ohio State 45
Marshall 7

Yea, I don't see this one being close at all. Sorry, Patrick.

Thanks for reading and please comment. Maybe give me a guess as to what you think will happen.

-Michael

*If you want I'll do it for all the school. I just think it's unnecessary and patronizing with schools like Miami(FL) and Penn State.

**By lost, I mean really shitty coach.