Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Others get spotlight, but Marshall QB has been great late in games
11/1/2019 8:28:00 AM | Football, Word on the Herd
Marshall travels to play Rice on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HOUSTON – After Marshall's comeback win against Ohio in September, the team's offensive line received praise. It was justified, especially after the Thundering Herd offense squeezed the final 5 minutes and 42 seconds off the clock on a 10-play drive – all runs.
In the come-from-behind win at Florida Atlantic on Oct. 18, sophomore running back Brenden Knox was the hero. Knox's 17-yard touchdown run – as part of a 220-yard game on the ground – came with 36 seconds left and put the Herd ahead for good.
Last Saturday, senior kicker Justin Rohrwasser became the end-of-game darling, striking a 53-yard field goal through the uprights as time expired to give Marshall a 26-23 win.
These were all remarkable individual or group performances that were key to team wins, all with the outcome undecided late in the fourth quarter. All three games also featured sophomore quarterback Isaiah Green leading the offense on drives that erased a deficit, broke a tie or iced the game for the good guys.
Green, who plays a position that often receives excessive credit or criticism, watched as his teammates receive the glory.
"Which is the way it's supposed to be at this position," said Tim Cramsey, Marshall's offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. "The quarterback room … you pass off all the credit; you take all of the blame. That's the way it should be."
But, as Marshall (5-3 overall, 3-1 in Conference USA) prepares to travel to Rice (0-8, 0-4) for a 3:30 p.m. (Eastern) kickoff, Green's performances merit a closer look. The 6-foot-2, 207-pounder from Fairburn, Georgia, has saved his best for when his team's outcome was in peril.
"The bigger the situation, the brighter the lights, the calmer he becomes," Cramsey said. "Nothing seems to faze him. He doesn't ever seem rattled."
Green has made 17 starts in two seasons. In 2018, he was 7-2 as the starting QB with losses to ACC programs N.C. State and Virginia Tech. This season, Green is 5-3 with losses to nationally ranked Boise State and Cincinnati, and at Middle Tennessee.
He has also led Marshall to four fourth quarter wins in two seasons, including three comeback wins. In three of those four games, the Herd offense has scored on its final possession to win. In the other, the MU offense exhausted the remaining clock before going into the Victory formation.
"When those situations come up," Cramsey said, "everything slows down for him."
The proof is in the numbers.
Marshall trailed Ohio, 31-27, in the fourth quarter when Green led a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 43-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Xavier Gaines. Green was 4-for-4 passing on the drive for 48 yards. On the Herd's next possession, the offense ran the ball 10 consecutive times, moving the chain four times before Green went to a knee. Green rushed three times for 37 yards on the drive.
Marshall trailed FAU, 31-30, late in the fourth quarter when Green engineered a 10-play, 77-yard drive that ended with Knox's go-ahead touchdown run. Green completed 2 of 3 passes for 26 yards, including a crucial 17-yard toss to freshman receiver Corey Gammage on third and 9 at the MU 24. Seven plays later, Knox ran it in.
Against WKU, the score was tied, 23-23, when Green led a 10-play, 51-yard drive with 81 seconds left of the fourth quarter. Marshall had only one timeout remaining. Green completed 4 of 5 passes on the drive, and then picked up 6 yards on the team's final offensive play to put Rohrwasser in range to attempt a career-long field goal. The Herd had no timeouts left, so getting out of bounds was imperative.
"The scramble last week that got us 6 yards, it took us from a 60-yard field goal – we probably don't even attempt it – to a shot," Cramsey said. "When I asked him why he did it, he had the exact right answer."
Overall, on the final two drives against Ohio and the game-winning scoring drives against FAU and WKU, respectively, Green was 10-for-12 passing for 98 yards, along with five carries for 49 yards. With the 2018 WKU go-ahead scoring drive added – which ended with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Tyre Brady with 1:44 left – Green is 14 for 17 with 188 passing yards and two touchdowns on those five drives, all with the game on the line.
"He's done a great job in those situations," Cramsey said. "There's a confidence on this team and there's a calmness on this team, that when you get in those situations it's still just another football play. You have to understand the situation, understand the clock and understand the down and distance. That's universal. With what we do with them in spring ball and what we do with them in fall camp, it's just another football play. Execute this football play, see where we're at and then go do the next one over again."
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and a seven-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).
