Marshall snaps losing streak with win over Georgia Southern

Rasheen Ali rushed for a game-high 165 yards and three touchdowns while Cole Pennington started his first game at quarterback, passing for 201 yards. DeMarcus Harris was Pennington’s favorite target catching a team-high four passes for a game best 147 receiving yards.

The win moved Marshall to 5-5 overall, and 2-3 in the Sun Belt leaving the team one victory shy of the six triumphs needed to qualify for a bowl game.

While bowl eligibility was a question that was addressed to head coach Charles Huff, he was more satisfied with a win in the game so close to the anniversary of the plane crash.

“Hopefully, the 75 in heaven were smiling today,” Huff said. “I thought today was probably the first time all season that we played a complete game.”

Huff defined that complete game as all three phases – offense, defense, and special teams – playing a role.

The latter phase got things started.

Jayden Harrison returned the opening kickoff 98 yards to give Marshall a 7-0 lead. Place kicker Rece Verhoff was perfect on extra points and connected on a 22-yard field goal.

The Herd defense limited Georgia Southern’s rushing attack, which came into the contest averaging 134.4 yards per game, to 77 yards.

MU’s offense which had struggled to score points – going 11 quarters without the unit scoring a touchdown at one point this season – got a boost from the “Wildcat” formation.

Ali took direct snaps for big gains including a 55-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter with the Herd trailing that put Marshall in the lead for good. Caleb McMillan added a 21-yard score on a wide receiver reverse to give the MU offense four touchdowns in the game.

Pennington, starting for injured starter Cam Fancher who did not dress for the game, completed 15 of 20 attempts with one interception. The redshirt-freshman was unable to pass for a touchdown in his first start.

A 9-yard rush by Ali with 2:41 to play all but sealed the victory for Marshall.

Georgia Southern (6-4, 3-3) and its “Air Raid” passing attack surpassed its per game average of 306.4 yards with 307 against the Herd along with three touchdowns from quarterback Davis Brin.

Brin’s 2-yard TD pass with 50 seconds remaining set the final score, but Marshall recovered the ensuing onside kick that allowed it to run out the clock to secure the win.

“It feels as good a win as I’ve had in a long time,” MU defensive lineman Owen Porter said. “We got a lot of pressure tonight. We knew they were a good throwing offense so putting a lot of pressure on them, a lot of pressure on that quarterback, the (defensive backs) did a good job of taking away his first read which allowed him to hold the ball a little longer and allowed us to rattle him a lot.”

Marshall won its sixth straight game against Georgia Southern to improve to 6-2 all-time against the Eagles. All the Herd’s wins in the series came when the two teams were in the Southern Conference except the last two which have come in the Sun Belt.

The last GSU win in the series came in 1990.

GEORGIA SOUTHERN 3 17 6 7 — 33

MARSHALL 10 7 7 14 — 38

MU – Harrison 98 kickoff return (Verhoff kick).

GSU – Lantz 35 FG.

MU – Verhoff 22 FG.

GSU – Barden 9 pass from Brin (Lantz kick).

MU – McMillan 21 run (Verhoff kick).

GSU – Cobb 47 pass from Brin (Lantz kick).

GSU – Lantz 38 FG.

GSU – Lantz 40 FG.

MU – Ali 2 run (Verhoff kick).

GSU – Lantz 21 FG.

MU – Ali 55 run (Verhoff kick).

MU – Ali 9 run (Verhoff kick).

GSU – Burgess 2 pass from Brin (Lantz kick).

GSU MU

First downs 18 14

Rushes-yards 24-77 33-169

Passes 29-56-0 15-21-1

Passing yards 307 201

Total yards 384 370

Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-1

Penalties-yards 7-45 9-74

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: (GSU) White 17-67, Brin 6-6, Cobb 1-4; (MU) Ali 24-165, McMillan 1-21, E. Payne 2-1, Team 3-(-6), Pennington 3-(-12).

PASSING: (GSU) Brin 29-54-0, 307 yards; Hood 0-1-0, 0 yards, Team 0-1-0, 0 yards; (MU) Pennington 15-20-1 201 yards; Keaton 0-1-0, 0 yards.

RECEIVING: (GSU) Burgess 8-63, Hood 7-46, Barden 6-96, Cobb 3-80, White 2-18, Dirrim 2-2, Upshaw 1-2; (MU) Harris 4-147, Ali 3-9, Coombs 2-14, Keaton 1-15, Robinson 1-9, Montgomery 1-4, Mottillo 1-3, Harrison 1-1, McMillan 1-(-1).