Marshall University Athletics
Herd Survives Scare From Penguins
11/25/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Herd Survives Scare From Penguins
11/25/2001
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Five seasons after moving up to Division I-A, Marshall still has trouble with Youngstown State.
Byron Leftwich threw three touchdown passes, including a 14-yarder to Josh Davis in the fourth quarter as No. 20 Marshall held off the Division I-AA Penguins 38-24 Saturday night.
Assured of a bowl appearance for the fifth straight year since re-entering the Mid-American Conference, Marshall (10-1) was caught off-guard heading into next week's MAC championship game at Toledo.
The Herd should have known not to overlook Youngstown State (8-3), which was one of only four teams to beat Marshall in the 10-year history of its stadium.
The teams played in the I-AA championship games in 1991-93. Youngstown State won in 1991 and 1993, the latter in Huntington.
"We came out flat, no doubt about it," Marshall linebacker Michael Owens said. "I speak for the team by saying we came out with no emotion."
Leftwich believes it was a matter of procrastination.
"We didn't jump on them guys like we were supposed to," he said. "We could have jumped on them guys and put a dagger in their hearts. We let them hang around, and the more they hung around, the more confident they got."
Marshall needed Roberto Terrell's 77-yard interception return with 11 seconds left to stop a Youngstown State comeback and avoid possibly becoming the first ranked team to lose to a I-AA opponent.
Fighting for a I-AA playoff berth, Youngstown State played a more physical game and its defense guarded against the long pass, making Marshall earn every yard.
Leftwich was held to 208 yards on 25-of-35 passing, 141 below his average and his second-lowest output of the season. Wide receiver Darius Watts, the nation's third-leading receiver with 1,292 yards, was held to three catches for 24 yards.
"Those guys came ready to play, ready to beat us to get to the playoffs," Leftwich said. "Sometimes I think they dropped back 11 guys. It's pretty tough to pass when you've only got three or four guys running out."
Leftwich will have to wait until next Saturday's MAC title game at Toledo for another chance to break the conference's single-season record for passing. He is 98 yards shy of the 3,799 yards in 1999 by his predecessor, Chad Pennington.
Marshall had to overcame Youngstown State's P.J. Mays, who rushed 30 times for 201 yards and three touchdowns. His 6-yard TD run on fourth down to start the second half gave the Penguins a 21-17 lead.
But after Youngstown's Jake Stewart kicked a 39-yard field goal on the next series, the Penguins failed to move the ball again until late in the game.
Marshall got a pass interference call in the end zone to keep alive a drive that tied the game late in the third quarter, 24-24. Brandon Carey scored from 2 yards out to cap the 13-play series.
Carey, a junior, rushed 20 times for 104 yards for his first career 100-yard game.
Davis, who had been quiet for most of the game, caught four passes for 49 yards on the drive that gave the Herd the lead with 12:43 left.
Youngstown State drove 70 yards to the Marshall 1 but was stopped on fourth down with 2:30 left when Chris Crocker tackled Mike Burns for a loss.
"They made a great defensive play," said Youngstown State coach Jon Heacock.
Marshall punted after three running plays and Youngstown State got the ball back with 1:04 left at the Marshall 49.
Quarterback Jeff Ryan scrambled for 12 yards on fourth down to the 29. On the next play, Terrell stepped in front of receiver Eugene Mintze at the 23, intercepted Ryan's pass and ran untouched down the left sideline.
"It was a bad read," Ryan said. "You can't take that back. You wish you could, but you can't."
Terrell said Ryan was looking at the receiver the entire time.
"Two plays before that they ran the same route and I was waiting on it this time," Terrell said.
The win tied Marshall's Bob Pruett with Cam Henderson for the most coaching victories in school history. Henderson went 68-46-5 from 1935-49. Pruett is 68-10 in six seasons.
