In The Dig: The Rush takes a look at an impresive selection of Marshall sites, more Tulane postmortem, tons of basketball links, and UAB players might be taking too much away from their win against UTEP.
The "Stumbling' Herd
Marshall is off to a disappointing 1-6 season, but after losses to 1-5 UAB and 2-4 Tulane, UTEP has proven an ability to lose to anybody. Marshall and the Miners have a lot of similarities.
First off, their offense is struggling.
Now we get to this season, in which the new spread attack is faring even worse. After handing ECU's depleted defense its best game of the season, MU's total offense still isn't averaging 300 yards a game. It's at 298.7, ranking 110th of 120 teams.
Despite Marshall's 1-6 record, the Herd are the favorites to beat UTEP. The Miners are 2-6 all-time versus East Division teams.
Tell me if this sounds familiar. Marshall has a fifth year senior QB, and team captain, who is having problems with interceptions.
Marshall's fifth-year senior, a starter for 20 consecutive games and a team captain, let three of those pass attempts fall in enemy hands. All resulted in points. The final two came in a 2-minute, 54-second span with intermission on the horizon and the host team on its heels.
At Herd Haven, the fans seem to be questioning why Marshall's defense is struggling so much despite the presence of some serious talent. And, the Herd are talented.
3. Why was Coach Rippon hired? I don’t understand how a defense with players such as Vinny Curry, Michael Janac, Delvin Johnson, Mario Harvey, Kellen Harris, Omar Brown and Donald Brown can be giving up plays like they are. Where is Michael Janac? Why is he not being used like he was the past few years in games such as the one against ECU or Houston?
State of the Fans: I am seeing at least four distinct groups of posters and fans. The first group is Mad, the second group is Rationalizing, the third group is Accepting, and the fourth group believes that Team Spirit is the answer.
I want to stress this; Marshall has more quality fan sites than anybody in the C-USA that I've come across. Perusing the commentary and articles, I have to say their fans are knowledgeable and passionate. If you are going to Huntington, I think it will be a good time.
On the Turf
Maybe Trip Wire? Mike Price held his press conference yesterday, Duke Keith has the full video here at That Will Do. Mike Price stressed the importance of stopping the run.
"If we're outscoring them, scoring touchdowns, moving the ball, they're not going to have the confidence to go 80 yards in 10 plays," Price said. "It's a combination. The offense hasn't scored and made plays. The center position has been a real trouble area, for us to lose three centers and have a quarterback with a bad ankle."
He Deserved It: Tulanes Casey Robottom has been named the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week after shredding UTEP for 10 catches, 151 receiving yards, and two touchdowns. Robottom got the best of Antwon Blake and Travaun Nixon and sadly I have to agree that he deserved this award.
Skunk'd: Duke Keith captured a video of a random skunk raiding the trash outside the Sun Bowl. So, attendance was actually 25,008.
Even Tulane fans were shocked at how they outplayed UTEP up front.
The Hardwood:
Bob Stull has another article up in El Paso, Inc. and this time he'stalking about Tim Floyd.
Rivals has a C-USA Basketball preview here.
And Beau Bagley of KTSM had some nice quotes from CTF on adjusting to the players he has.
Floyd said, "I think it is much easier for 14 guys to adjust to one guy than one guy adjust to 14 guys. We are going to build an offense that we feel fits their skill level."
It sounds like practice has been very intense.
Oh, Shut Up: The UAB Blazers are 2-5. Yes, they played Tennessee (who's having their worst season in how long?) and Mississippi State who they played very well against. But, they also played Troy (who they beat by 1) and Florida Atlantic (who beat them). Now the Blazers are blaming their schedule for making it impossible to make a bowl game. With 5 games on their schedule, at 2-5, aren't bowl games the last thing UAB players should be talking about.