HUNTINGTON - Albert McClellan and Darius Passmore showed Saturday that, yes, they are back. And Emmanuel Spann showed how dangerous he can be in the punt return game.
HUNTINGTON - Albert McClellan and Darius Passmore showed Saturday that, yes, they are back. And Emmanuel Spann showed how dangerous he can be in the punt return game.
And yes, Darius Marshall and Co. are stronger. And his fellow backs aren't exactly weak.
And yes, Marshall's defense is deeper, and can stare down a little adversity.
Those elements, along with a workmanlike debut from freshman quarterback Mark Cann, led to the Thundering Herd's 35-10 season-opening victory over Illinois State. A crowd of 25,661 attended at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Passmore struck the biggest blow with an 88-yard touchdown catch from Cann with 25 seconds left in the first half. The Redbirds were playing a defense designed to prevent the deep call, but Passmore beat the coverage anyway, taking a perfect Cann bomb.
"That was a great ball," said Passmore who was hampered by a knee injury late last season, and also had a hernia. "I didn't even have to break stride; that was the good thing about it."
The play turned a 7-7 tie into a 14-7 halftime lead. More important, it breathed life into the Herd at the end of a difficult first half.
The Redbirds did much of what they wanted to do against a team with 22 more scholarships to work with. They hogged the ball for 21 of the first 30 minutes, scoring a touchdown on a 17-play drive that devoured 9:38 of the first quarter. They forced two turnovers and scorched a hyperactive defense with three screen passes.
In fact, they briefly thought they took the lead late in the second quarter, but a 33-yard screen was negated by an illegal block.
"We were in a 'cover four' right there," said Illinois State coach Denver Johnson. "Great players make great plays. We were in a coverage where we felt like we shouldn't get beat deep, and I think our kid just got out of his backpedal a little bit late, and [Passmore] can really run.
"At that point, we feel like, gosh, we ought to be up maybe 10-7 or 14-7, or maybe even 17-7 or, who knows, even 21. Right before that play, we feel like we've left some points on the field, and we played fairly good defense after the first series. And they hit us on that play. It was just a huge, huge emotion swing there."
"It was a game of big plays," said Marshall coach Mark Snyder. "And we knew going in that they were going to stack it up and try to stop our run, and we were going to hit 'X' amount of big plays."
After halftime, the Herd was more dominant, holding Illinois State to 31 rushing yards and a field goal. Passmore caught the second of his two touchdowns, Marshall broke several tackles on an impressive 10-yard TD run and Terrell Edwards capped off the scoring with a 49-yard dash in the final minute.
The Herd rushed for 229 yards, with Marshall gaining 115. That was the first Herd running back to top 100 yards since Ahmad Bradshaw's big games in 2006.
Spann averaged 17 yards on four returns, and McClellan had both of the Herd's sacks, for minus-20 yards. Those stats weren't nearly as impressive as what those plays set up.
Spann's first return, 26 yards, set up Chubb Small's 16-yard run 4:14 into the game. His first return of the second half was a 24-yarder, paving the way for Passmore's 13-yard TD pass from Cann. Later in the third quarter, with the Redbirds punting from their back line, he took a return 18 yards to the ISU 20, and the Herd moved half the distance to the 10, setting up Marshall's run.
Those runbacks punctuated a solid special-teams game. The Herd also averaged 31.3 yards on three kickoff returns and true freshman Kase Whitehead averaged 41.2 yards per punt, placing four balls at the 15-yard line or closer.
HUNTINGTON - Albert McClellan and Darius Passmore showed Saturday that, yes, they are back. And Emmanuel Spann showed how dangerous he can be in the punt return game.
And yes, Darius Marshall and Co. are stronger. And his fellow backs aren't exactly weak.
And yes, Marshall's defense is deeper, and can stare down a little adversity.
Those elements, along with a workmanlike debut from freshman quarterback Mark Cann, led to the Thundering Herd's 35-10 season-opening victory over Illinois State. A crowd of 25,661 attended at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Passmore struck the biggest blow with an 88-yard touchdown catch from Cann with 25 seconds left in the first half. The Redbirds were playing a defense designed to prevent the deep call, but Passmore beat the coverage anyway, taking a perfect Cann bomb.
"That was a great ball," said Passmore who was hampered by a knee injury late last season, and also had a hernia. "I didn't even have to break stride; that was the good thing about it."
The play turned a 7-7 tie into a 14-7 halftime lead. More important, it breathed life into the Herd at the end of a difficult first half.
The Redbirds did much of what they wanted to do against a team with 22 more scholarships to work with. They hogged the ball for 21 of the first 30 minutes, scoring a touchdown on a 17-play drive that devoured 9:38 of the first quarter. They forced two turnovers and scorched a hyperactive defense with three screen passes.
In fact, they briefly thought they took the lead late in the second quarter, but a 33-yard screen was negated by an illegal block.
"We were in a 'cover four' right there," said Illinois State coach Denver Johnson. "Great players make great plays. We were in a coverage where we felt like we shouldn't get beat deep, and I think our kid just got out of his backpedal a little bit late, and [Passmore] can really run.
"At that point, we feel like, gosh, we ought to be up maybe 10-7 or 14-7, or maybe even 17-7 or, who knows, even 21. Right before that play, we feel like we've left some points on the field, and we played fairly good defense after the first series. And they hit us on that play. It was just a huge, huge emotion swing there."
"It was a game of big plays," said Marshall coach Mark Snyder. "And we knew going in that they were going to stack it up and try to stop our run, and we were going to hit 'X' amount of big plays."
After halftime, the Herd was more dominant, holding Illinois State to 31 rushing yards and a field goal. Passmore caught the second of his two touchdowns, Marshall broke several tackles on an impressive 10-yard TD run and Terrell Edwards capped off the scoring with a 49-yard dash in the final minute.
The Herd rushed for 229 yards, with Marshall gaining 115. That was the first Herd running back to top 100 yards since Ahmad Bradshaw's big games in 2006.
Spann averaged 17 yards on four returns, and McClellan had both of the Herd's sacks, for minus-20 yards. Those stats weren't nearly as impressive as what those plays set up.
Spann's first return, 26 yards, set up Chubb Small's 16-yard run 4:14 into the game. His first return of the second half was a 24-yarder, paving the way for Passmore's 13-yard TD pass from Cann. Later in the third quarter, with the Redbirds punting from their back line, he took a return 18 yards to the ISU 20, and the Herd moved half the distance to the 10, setting up Marshall's run.
Those runbacks punctuated a solid special-teams game. The Herd also averaged 31.3 yards on three kickoff returns and true freshman Kase Whitehead averaged 41.2 yards per punt, placing four balls at the 15-yard line or closer.
And then there was McClellan, who made the most of his four tackles.
His first sack of Kevin Brockway came with 58.9 seconds left in the first half, giving Herd coaches the motivation to call a timeout and plot for a quick shot downfield - which turned out to be the 88-yard Cann-to-Passmore bomb.
His second sack came on Illinois State's first drive of the second half, forcing a punt. After Spann and Passmore worked their magic - Passmore started the drive with a 13-yard run and finished with his 13-yard catch - the Herd went up 21-7.
It was McClellan's first two sacks since being voted Conference USA defensive player of the year in 2006. He missed 2007 with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and showed the byproducts of his rehabilitation. He always had a lightning-fast first step, but also showed an ability to bully a tackle.
"It's good to have him back, I can tell you that," Snyder said. "I don't know how many plays he made, but what's almost a sack when he isn't in there, is a sack. There's a difference. He's got that extra little burst, and those are big plays."
The Herd defense made life ugly for the Redbirds early. Brockway flirted with a safety on his first second-down play, avoiding Mario Harvey to throw the ball away. But he paid the price, as Ian Hoskins knocked him to the carpet and out of the game for a quarter. Brockway needed seven stitches in his chin.
Redshirt freshman Drew Kiel got an early introduction to college football, but survived. He even erased the 7-0 lead by directing the marathon 76-yard march, throwing a 4-yard TD pass that Eyad Salem caught despite pass interference by T.J. Drakeford.
The key was a 16-yard "jailbreak" screen to Parrish Fisher on third-and-9, thwarting a vicious pass rush. In the second quarter, he hit Fisher for 20 on another screen, and Geno Blow for 33 yards and a touchdown on fourth-and-6. Fortunately for the Herd, Salem was flagged for an illegal low block on the edge, and the Redbirds had to come back and punt.
Herd coaches laid off the blitzing and the defense thrived after halftime. The finest moment came with Marshall up 21-7, after Brockway hit James Rourke for 39 yards to the Herd 4.
Fisher was stopped for runs of minus-1 and zero yards and Brockway misfired on a pass to tight end Kedric Meredith. The Redbirds had to settle for a 22-yard Zach Kutch field goal, making it 21-10.
Illinois State had to start its next possession at its 1, and never got past the 2. That led to a short punt, Spann's final big return, the penalty and Marshall's TD to make it 28-10.
"We kind of took away their screen game in the second half, and it helped us take away their running game," Snyder said.
Cann, who went 11-of-22 for 161 yards, had his struggles in the first half. He was handed the ball on the Illinois State 13 after a Harvey interception, but threw an interception on third-and-5 at the 8. He went for E.J. Wynn in the end zone, but lobbed it. Tom Nelson recorded his fifth career pick against major-college competition.
Cann had one 33-yard pass to Passmore, which went to the ISU 1, negated by a holding call on Matt Altobello. It was the Herd's only holding penalty, and MU eventually was stopped on downs.
But the bomb to Passmore made up for all that and made life easier for Cann and the Herd.
Reach Doug Smock at 348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.
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