ALL THE high school champions have been crowned and there are "only" 89 days left before college football begins. Fewer than that before the beginning of camp.
ALL THE high school champions have been crowned and there are "only" 89 days left before college football begins. Fewer than that before the beginning of camp.
So let's take a stab at an issue today - Marshall's 2008 football schedule. Is it, as some would assert, too tough to handle?
No. End of column. See ya next Monday.
Not so fast, as some old guy who dons mascot heads might say. The question is legitimate: Should Marshall be loading up on Wisconsin, West Virginia and Cincinnati in the same year?
Some would argue not, but I say this: Those games aren't the most relevant at this point. WVU and Cincinnati are games No. 5 and 6 for the Herd, for instance.
Forget about those, for now. Three of the first four games will determine what kind of season Marshall will have, and Wisconsin isn't one of them.
The opener against Illinois State takes on more importance than most games against teams from the Football Championship Subdivision. And if you don't believe that, you should have been in the Shewey Building after New Hampshire laid that 48-35 pasting on the Herd last year. I've never heard a visiting team raise a bigger ruckus after an MU game.
To coach Mark Snyder's credit, the Herd didn't fly apart, but the stage was set for an 0-7 start, a 3-9 season and a growing number of grouchy fans. Snyder doesn't need another 3-9 and he really, really doesn't need another loss to an FCS team - particularly one that went 4-7 last year.
Not that the Redbirds are going to come in on Aug. 30, pick up the check and curtsy to the crowd. Among their 2007 accomplishments was a road win over Youngstown State, knocking the Penguins out of the playoff picture.
ISU will have some of its skill players back, particularly running back Geno Blow. Blow had five consecutive 100-yard games before his season ended with a hand injury. Eight of the top nine pass catchers are back, but the leading receiver is gone.
So are a bunch of others around the roster. The Redbirds must replace a three-year all-conference pick at quarterback, with senior Kevin Brockway, redshirt freshman Drew Kiel or maybe even Matt Brown, a 6,000-yard thrower in high school ball, the leading candidates. Tight end Kedric Meredith is a prolific blocker, but the Redbirds must replace three on the interior line.
ALL THE high school champions have been crowned and there are "only" 89 days left before college football begins. Fewer than that before the beginning of camp.
So let's take a stab at an issue today - Marshall's 2008 football schedule. Is it, as some would assert, too tough to handle?
No. End of column. See ya next Monday.
Not so fast, as some old guy who dons mascot heads might say. The question is legitimate: Should Marshall be loading up on Wisconsin, West Virginia and Cincinnati in the same year?
Some would argue not, but I say this: Those games aren't the most relevant at this point. WVU and Cincinnati are games No. 5 and 6 for the Herd, for instance.
Forget about those, for now. Three of the first four games will determine what kind of season Marshall will have, and Wisconsin isn't one of them.
The opener against Illinois State takes on more importance than most games against teams from the Football Championship Subdivision. And if you don't believe that, you should have been in the Shewey Building after New Hampshire laid that 48-35 pasting on the Herd last year. I've never heard a visiting team raise a bigger ruckus after an MU game.
To coach Mark Snyder's credit, the Herd didn't fly apart, but the stage was set for an 0-7 start, a 3-9 season and a growing number of grouchy fans. Snyder doesn't need another 3-9 and he really, really doesn't need another loss to an FCS team - particularly one that went 4-7 last year.
Not that the Redbirds are going to come in on Aug. 30, pick up the check and curtsy to the crowd. Among their 2007 accomplishments was a road win over Youngstown State, knocking the Penguins out of the playoff picture.
ISU will have some of its skill players back, particularly running back Geno Blow. Blow had five consecutive 100-yard games before his season ended with a hand injury. Eight of the top nine pass catchers are back, but the leading receiver is gone.
So are a bunch of others around the roster. The Redbirds must replace a three-year all-conference pick at quarterback, with senior Kevin Brockway, redshirt freshman Drew Kiel or maybe even Matt Brown, a 6,000-yard thrower in high school ball, the leading candidates. Tight end Kedric Meredith is a prolific blocker, but the Redbirds must replace three on the interior line.
The defensive line had a Marshall-like 2007, as it was plagued by injury. One defensive end, Brandon Wilson, moved to linebacker in the spring to fill a void there.
The Herd must start fast, new quarterback and all, and finish strong against this foe. Then the Herd needs to take its lessons from the Wisconsin game and apply them in the next two - Memphis at home on Sept. 13 and Southern Mississippi on the road the next week.
If Marshall players don't carry a bad taste into the Memphis game, I question their competitiveness. (And if the fans don't show up for this 7 p.m. start, they forfeit their right to complain on the issue of starting times.) Last year, I circled the Memphis game as Marshall's must-win and they found a way to lose. It should have never come down to the errant shotgun snap late in the game.
The Herd won't face quarterback Martin Hankins, but then again, it didn't see Hankins last year. Juco import Arkelon Hall and Will Hudgens are battling for the starting spot, and Hudgens was terribly efficient against MU last year at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Several studs return on the receiving corps, including Duke Calhoun, Stephen Black and Earnest Williams.
This game isn't just an early opening to Conference USA play, it will provide a barometer for coordinator Rick Minter's Herd defense, especially the secondary. Herd cornerbacks last year had tremendous problems with the taller, physical Tiger receivers.
And once again, it would be nice if quarterback Mark Cann (or whoever) and the Herd offense score in the opening quarter, take a lead and make the Tigers try to come from behind. Again, this is pretty much a must-win game.
The Southern Miss game is important, though getting out of Hattiesburg with a league win is a tough chore. It won't be any easier under new coach Larry Fedora, who arrives with sterling offensive credentials. He has to replace five starters on offense and seven on defense, but he has star runner Damion Fletcher and C-USA defensive player of the year Gerald McRath back.
Mark this down: The Herd must win two of the three games I am highlighting, with a strong showing at Southern Miss - or at least stronger than the 42-7 debacle of 2006. Do that and the Herd will carry enough momentum into the WVU-Cincinnati stretch to play credibly, perhaps even steal a game. And if not, a 2-4 start should still be parlayed into a bowl game, maybe even a division title run.
Those important early games have been a thorn in the Herd's side during the Snyder era. In 2005, the Herd laid an egg at Central Florida, snapping the Knights' 17-game losing streak. In 2006, it let UCF rally for a last-minute victory. Last year, it was that loss at Memphis.
If the Herd loses two of those important three games, I'm digging in for another long year.
To contact staff writer Doug Smock, send e-mail to dougsm...@wvgazette.com or call 348-5130.
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And enough about our "impossible" out of conference schedule...WVU and Cinci are certainly strong programs, but in 2004, we played OSU and Georgia on the road in back-to-back weeks, and almost won both of them with a team that would finish 6-6 and lose to a terrible Cinci team in a bowl.