Marshall University Athletics
BOGACZYK: Emotions, Seniors Lift Herd to Special Triumph
11/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Final Stats
Holliday Press Conference
Quotes
Notes
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERDZONE.COM COLUMNIST
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- It was tears to cheers for Marshall football on a sunny Saturday of significance.
There was the annual Memorial Fountain remembrance for 75 lives lost 45 years ago to the day in the 1970 team plane crash, followed by Senior Day ceremonies celebrating the careers of 18 Herd players -- and with the Herd wearing the `75' memorial decal on their helmets.
But Coach Doc Holliday's team was anything but emotionally spent.
Coming off a difficult triple-overtime loss at Middle Tennessee a week earlier, the Herd was focused and crisp throughout in a 52-0 Conference USA pummeling of FIU before 26,572 at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
On "Blackout Day" in the seats, Marshall got something that had been very elusive -- its first shutout of a major college foe since it finished the 2003 season with a 28-0 home blanking of Ohio. The scoreboard difference also was the Herd's largest margin of victory in 11 seasons of C-USA games.
"It's hard," Holliday said of Nov. 14. "It's a hard day, but every time we put that 75 on our helmets the last three years I've been here, we've really played our tails off. Our guys played extremely well, and that was probably the best overall performance I've seen since I've been here. These kids are resilient. They know what it all means, and they played extremely hard."
A whole lot of people in the stadium also noticed that when Remi Watson scored on a 1-yard run for Marshall's first touchdown, the scoreboard numbers were 11:14 and 7-0 on a day of remembrance of 11-14-70.
And for the Herd (9-2, 6-1 C-USA), it was appropriately a "senior special."
Seniors Deandre Reaves and Watson scored two touchdowns apiece -- one by the former coming on an electric, jets-ablaze, 69-yard punt return, with Watson getting one of his on a 62-yard gallop. Davonte Allen and Reaves shared the game-leading receptions honor with five each.
With his first-quarter punt return score, Reaves became the first Marshall player to have kick return and punt return touchdowns in the same season since College Football Hall of Famer Troy Brown in 1991. Reaves' 93-yard kick return TD came in the double-overtime win at Kent State on Sept. 26.
On defense, cornerback Keith Baxter got his first career sack and linebackers Evan McKelvey and D.J. Hunter split 14 tackles evenly. And Ricardo "Rico" Williams got his first career start at nose tackle, replacing injured fellow senior Jarquez Samuel.
"So many seniors -- all of `em -- it's a great bunch," Holliday said. "Now, we've got to find a way to get another home game (the C-USA Championship on Dec. 5). They're great kids, changed the culture of our program, made a difference around here, and I'm so proud of `em."
When Marshall goes to Western Kentucky (8-2, 6-0) on Thanksgiving Friday, the Herd is seeking to become not only Holliday's third straight team with double-digit victories, but also the first team to play in three consecutive C-USA Championship Games since the league went to divisional play following realignment and expansion in 2005.
The Herd-Hilltoppers victor gets the East Division slot in the title game, against Louisiana Tech or Southern Miss. WKU visits FIU (5-6, 3-4) this coming Saturday, while Marshall finally gets its open date after playing 11 consecutive weekends.
Against the Panthers, Marshall matched its season-high tackles for loss with 11, and the Herd pressured FIU quarterback Alex McGough into an 11-for-25 passing day, with only 98 yards. It was the fourth time in six home wins this season -- Marshall has won 20 of its last 21 at "The Joan" -- that the MU defense has held a visiting QB to fewer than 130 yards.
"They're hard to get," Herd defensive coordinator Chuck Heater said of the first shutout of an FBS foe in 12 years. "You're subbing and maybe someone scores late, or our offense subs and can't always move the ball and then defense is back out there. Maybe someone kicks a field goal.
"So, getting it is great. It's very satisfying. Our guys have done a great job all year and it's a nice thing for it to happen today.
"There was a lot going on today. You had the 75 (on the helmets), you had the (Fountain) Memorial, you had last week's loss, you had the opportunity to remain in the championship race, and your cup's overflowing with emotion.
"But you've got to channel that and play good football. The focus was there, the emotion was high and the energy was good."
Herd true freshman quarterback Chase Litton continued his impressive play, throwing for three scores to give him 20 TDs to go with only five interceptions in his nine starts. He was 16-for-23 for 169 yards. Watson rushed 11 times for 97 yards to lead four Marshall running backs as the Herd rolled to 289 ground yards. The team's 7.4 yards per carry was the best in 2015.
Watson nodded when asked about dealing with the emotions of Nov. 14.
"We really just kind of combined it all into one," the senior from Lakeland, Fla., said. "We understood what our mission was and that was to win a ballgame. It was a tough day, but it would have been a much tougher one if we didn't go out there and handle business and win the game.
"Losing last week, it lights a fire under you. You practice harder. You focus a little more. You look back and think, `If I had done this on this play, it might have been different.' You take all of that into the week of the game and make sure you go out and don't make mistakes."
Mistakes were few. Cornerback Rodney Allen got the only pick of McGough, then fumbled the ball away on a 29-yard return on the first play of the second quarter. But that was Marshall's first lost fumble since running back Tony Pittman coughed it up at 9:40 of the first quarter in an Oct. 3 win over Old Dominion.
Holliday's team went 24-plus quarters without losing a fumble.
"After talking about everything all week, we were just juiced up, ready to come out and play," Baxter said. "It might be our last time playing in this arena so we just wanted to go as hard as we can. It wasn't really hard to focus. Not really.
"Coach Holliday keeps us focused. Coach Heater keeps the defense focused. The coaches are always on us about staying in the moment, so we were focused. It was an emotional day out here and we just wanted to come out and represent those people who died (in the crash) in the right way."
Reaves' punt return score gave Marshall an early three-touchdown lead, but it set the tone for the rout and highlighted a big day for the Herd seniors. His punt return TD was Marshall's first since Oct. 12, 2013, when Devon "MooMoo" Smith went 77 yards for a runback score at FAU.
"We worked on it all week, that scheme," Reaves said of his return. "Their punter, he put it up in the air for a while, and I was thinking, `Man, these guys are probably coming down,' but I caught it and I had a little bit of space.
"My blockers were trailing so I kind of just set it up a little bit and put on the speed down the middle. I had to make a couple of moves, but really the credit goes to those 10 (blockers). They bust their butts. And we worked the scheme as we did all week and all I had to do was run and make a couple of people miss."
As for the emotion of the day, Reaves said the Herd carried a reserve tank, too.
"Again, it came down to us having to play a football game and taking care of business," said Reaves, who has 3,289 all-purpose yards in his college career. "Yeah, it was emotional and it was tough at times to kind of stay on track but we know it was this home game -- a kind of do-or-die type of game -- so we took that into consideration and played the game with emotion and just tried to not let it get the best of us.
"It was a heckuva day. What day to have a better day than on the anniversary of the crash! I mean, it was an emotional game, but it was just exciting to get out there. It was a lot of emotion for the 75, and the credit goes to all of them for looking down on us and blessing us and letting us have a day like this."
SEEN `N' HERD: The FIU-Marshall game was the sixth played on the anniversary of the Nov. 14, 1970 team plane crash that took 75 lives. Five of those have bene home dates. The Herd is 4-2 on the anniversary ... Junior safety Tiquan Lang's nine tackles led the defense ... Hunter and safety Taj Letman made their team-leading 38th career starts. Guard Sebastian "Swede" Johansson leads the offense in career starts, with 36 ... Allen's 71 yards on his five receptions moved the senior to 1,629 career reception yards and past four players on the Herd all-time list into 19th place. His next catch will be the 100th of his career ... Litton's 20 TD passes are a single-season record for a Herd freshman. The old mark was 15, by Chad Pennington (1995) and Rakeem Cato (2011) ... Marshall has won 23 of its last 26 games and 28 of its last 32, and is 23-7 in games played after Oct. 28 in Holliday's six seasons, including 13-1 at Edwards Stadium ... The previous Herd margin-of-victory high was 48 points, in a 61-13 triumph over Southern Miss in 2013.
