Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Football Hosts New Hampshire Saturday
9/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 12, 2007
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Marshall and New Hampshire will be in search of their first wins of the 2007 season when the two face off on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at Joan C. Edwards Stadium and the game will not be televised.
Marshall is coming off of losses at Miami (Fla.) and to #3 West Virginia at home, while UNH (ranked 12th) is looking to bounce back from a season opening loss at James Madison.
NCAA Football Championship Subdivision member New Hampshire has faced the Herd before and on a grand stage. The Wildcats served as Marshall's first opponent at the-then named Marshall University Stadium on Sept. 7, 1991. A then-record crowd of 33,116 watched as UNH battled Marshall to the wire with MU taking a close 24-23 win.
UNH was ranked 8th in the nation at the time and Marshall was just beginning its remarkable run as the winningest team of the decade. Marshall went on to finish 11-4 that season and drop a 25-17 decision to Youngstown State in the National Championship game in Statesboro, Ga. Of course, from there Marshall went on to win national titles in 1992 and 1996 before moving to Division I-A status in 1997. Marshall posted 114 victories in the 1990's. more than any other major college football program.
New Hampshire is a dangerous Football Championship Subdivision foe that features one of the nation's top quarterbacks in 2006 Walter Payton Award winner Ricky Santos. Santos has already thrown more than 100 touchdown passes in his career and last season led the Wildcats by passing for 3,125 yards and 29 touchdowns with only seven interceptions. He helped the Wildcats post an impressive season-opening 34-17 win over Big 10 member Northwestern last year.
Marshall will be looking to get on track after a strong showing against #3 West Virginia last week in Huntington. A Marshall record crowd of 40,383 watched as the Herd gave the heavily favored Mountaineers a stiff challenge. In fact, Marshall led West Virginia 13-6 at the half and trailed the Mountaineers by only four points in the 4th quarter before WVU scored three late TD's to take the 48-23 win in the annual Friends of Coal Bowl.
Among the many bright spots for Marshall last week was the outstanding play of quarterback Bernard Morris. Morris completed 19-of-29 passes for 256 yards and two scores against WVU. Junior receiver Darius Passmore recorded five catches for 76 yards and caught a 38 yard scoring strike and sophomore tight end Cody Slate added five catches for a team-high 82 yards that included an impressive 42-yard touchdown catch and run.
Among the other highlights: Marshall's Defense limited Heisman candidate Steve Slaton to just two yards rushing in the first half; Senior kicker Anthony Binswanger was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals and also punted eight times for a strong 40.6 ypp average.
Saturday's home game will be the last Marshall home game for more than a month. The Herd will travel to Cincinnati next Saturday, play at Memphis on Oct. 2 and travel to Tulsa on October 13 before returning home on Oct. 21 to host Southern Miss.
Stadium and University parking lots will open at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
