Saturday College football and we will see the Marshall Thundering Herd take on the Miami Redhawks at the Fred Yager Stadium in Oxford, Ohio. The game has a start time of 3:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN. Current Vegas odds have the Thundering Herd listed as 24 point favorites, while the total is set at 59.5.
Analysis: The Marshall Thundering Herd had a very nice 2013, going 10-4 overall and 7-1 in Conference USA. Now with 59 lettermen back, including 14 starters, the Herd are set up for what may very well be a magical season for them. Marshall’s high powered offense put up 42.1 ppg last year and 40.9 ppg in 2012 and will be very strong again this year. 6 starters are back on this side of the ball, including Rakeem Cato, who is rated in the top 10 of QB’s in the nation. Cato has his favorite target back in Tommy Shuler, who had 106 catches for 1165 yards and 10 TDs last year, while RB Steward Butler is back after rumbling for 765 yards at 8.8 ypc last year. In 2012 the defense allowed 43.1 ppg, but last year they improved to 22.9 ppg allowed. This year with 8 starters back they could be even better. The DL is led by James Rouse, who had 14 TFL last year, while The LB corps is rated 23rd best in the nation and the secondary is rated 16th best.
After going 10-4 in 2010, the Miami Redhawks have gone just 8-28 the last 3 years, which includes an 0-12 mark last year. In steps former Notre Dame OC, Chuck Martin, with hopes of turning this program around. The offense was pathetic last year, putting up just 9.8 ppg, which was nearly 2 TDs less pg then they put up in their 4-8 season in 2012. New HC Chuck Martin brought with him two pieces from Notre Dame that may help, in QB Andrew Hendrix and TE Alex Welch. Hendrix does have the top 3 WRs back from last year, but none of them caught more than 28 passes. Spencer Treadwell looks to take over as the featured back, but just had 171 yards on the ground last year. The defense allowed 35.7 ppg last year, but should improve this year, with 7 starters back, including top tackler LB Kent Hern, who had 98 stops with 5 TFL and 2 PBUs last year and DE Bryson Albright, who racked up 5 sacks and 6.5 more TFL last year.
Pick: Gonna go with the Herd today. The Miami Redhawks are much improved over last year, but this Marshall team has a chance for a special season as I do see them going 13-0 this year. They have an unstoppable offense and a defense that should be rated in the top 25 this year. I just don’t them having a bad game out the gate, knowing that they have so much to play for this year.
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