Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Football Travels to Tennessee Saturday
9/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Marshall will travel to Knoxville for only the second time in school history to take on SEC member and 15th-ranked Tennessee Saturday.
Tennessee held off a pesky Marshall squad for a 34-24 win in 2003 in the only previous meeting between the two schools. The crowd of 106,520 that day was the largest ever to watch Marshall play football.
The game will be televised live in West Virginia on WOWK-TV (Huntington/Charleston), Dave Weekley and John Gregory will have the call for the Marshall broadcast. The game will also be available on a tape-delay basis through CSS in the Southeast and available on pay per view in the state of Tennessee.
Marshall is coming off of a 23-7 loss at Big 12 member Kansas State last Saturday. The Thundering Herd could not get on track offensively against the Wildcats and managed only 142 total yards for the game. KSU limited MU standout running back Ahmad Bradshaw to only 55 yards rushing on nine carries.
The Thundering Herd's lone score of the game came from a blocked punt. With 9:16 to go in the scecond quarter, Marshall's Phillip Gamble managed to break free and block Tim Reyer's punt attempt. The Herd's J.J. Johnson quickly scooped up the loose ball and ran 17 yards for the score.
Tennessee (2-1) is ranked 15th in this week's AP poll and is ranked 19th in the USA Today Poll. The Vols are coming off of a heartbreaking 21-20 loss at home to SEC rival Florida. The Volunteers opened the season with a convincing 35-18 win over nationally-ranked Cal and followed that with a 31-30 win over Air Force.
The Vols are led offensively by quarterback Erik Ainge who has completed 52 of 70 passes for 807 yards and seven touchdowns so far this season. The UT signal caller is averaging 269 yards per game and boasts a quarterback rating of 170.74. His top target is Robert Meachem who has 17 catches for 344 yards and four scores.
Defensively, UT is let by Marvin Mitchell's 34 tackles and Jerod Mayo's four sacks for losses of 32 yards.
