Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
7-4 , 5-2
Charlotte
6-5 , 4-3
MCGILL: Herd football’s East control slips away at Charlotte
11/23/2019 7:06:00 PM | Football, Word on the Herd
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Marshall entered the penultimate game of the regular season in control of its destiny in the Conference USA East Division.
That slipped away in the rain.
Charlotte rallied from a second half deficit on a historic day for its program, extending its win streak to four games and gaining bowl eligibility for the first time with a 24-13 win against the Thundering Herd. Although Marshall is not eliminated from C-USA East contention, Saturday's loss means the Herd needs help to reach the conference championship game.
This week's FAU game at UTSA was pending at the end of the Marshall-Charlotte game, but the Owls, with only one league loss, are no longer on the wrong side of a tiebreaker in the East. Marshall hosts FIU next Saturday in the regular season finale, but would need FAU to lose against UTSA or in its regular season finale at home against Southern Mississippi to bring the tiebreaker back into play.
That significant change in course for Marshall's season happened here at Richardson Stadium on Saturday, where heavy rains drenched the region in a game that ended the Herd's five-game winning streak. Marshall (7-4 overall, 5-2 C-USA) gained a 230 yards of total offense – 86 passing and 144 rushing – and squandered leads at halftime and in the fourth quarter.
The Herd's hopes were all but dashed on a seven-play, 77-yard drive by Charlotte (6-5, 4-3) early in the fourth quarter, which was punctuated by a 5-yard touchdown run by receiver Victor Tucker. 49ers quarterback Chris Reynolds, the key to Charlotte's win streak, had rushes of 12, 10, 17 and 11 yards on the drive, which gave the hosts the lead for good with 10:47 left of the game.
Tucker scored again – this time on a 25-yard pass from Reynolds on fourth down – with 48 seconds left to arrive at the final score.
The Thundering Herd entered Saturday's game with a 12-game winning streak when scoring first – including 6-0 this season – and opened the scoring with 3:02 left of the first quarter. With Charlotte backed up on its own end of the field, sophomore Darius Hodge broke through the line on a punt and blocked it, and the ball was scooped up by junior Joseph Early and returned 16 yards for the touchdown to give Marshall a 7-0 lead.
That was the third consecutive Charlotte possession that ended in either a turnover or a score for the visitors. On the 49ers' first two drives, senior defensive back Chris Jackson intercepted Reynolds and returned it 35 yards, and then junior linebacker Tavante Beckett forced a fumble and recovered it to thwart another 49ers drive in MU territory.
Charlotte entered Saturday's game with two lost fumbles on the season – fewest in C-USA – and hadn't lost a fumble in four consecutive games. The Herd, however, could not convert either turnover into points.
But Marshall was able to add to its lead when senior kicker Justin Rohrwasser kicked a 31-yard field goal through a driving rain to make it 10-0, Herd, with 11:11 left of the first half. On that possession, Marshall covered 86 yards on 10 plays, including a crafty dump off by sophomore quarterback Isaiah Green to sophomore running back Brenden Knox that turned into a 40-yard gain – his career long reception – and run plays by senior receiver Joey Fields (9 yards) and junior tight end Xavier Gaines (14 yards) to put the Herd offense in scoring position.
The Marshall defense held Charlotte off the board for five possessions until Reynolds engineered an eight-play, 86-yard drive late in the half. Reynolds capped that drive with a 15-yard keeper for a touchdown to trim the deficit to 3 points, 10-7, with 4:25 left of the second quarter.
Sophomore kicker Jonathan Cruz missed a 39-yard field goal for the 49ers at the end of the half that would have tied the game.
Cruz made amends on the opening possession of the second half, capping an 11-play, 69-yard drive with a 23-yard field goal to tie the game, 10-10, with 9:46 left of the third quarter. The 49ers' offense chewed five minutes and 14 seconds off the clock with that drive, which was halted when Reynolds rolled to his left and slipped and fell on the wet turf at the 6-yard line.
Marshall regained the lead on the ensuing possession, a 12-play, 60-yard drive that was capped by a 31-yard field goal by Rohrwasser to give the Herd a 13-10 lead with 4:02 left of the third quarter. On that drive, Green became the 13th player in Marshall football history to eclipse 5,000 yards of total offense in a career.
The MU defense again intercepted Reynolds – this time by safety Nazeeh Johnson – to give the Herd the ball and the lead, but the offense punted twice and Green was intercepted on the team's final three possessions.
Knox led Marshall with 92 rushing yards on 22 carries. Beckett finished with a career-high 15 tackles to lead the Herd defense.
Team Stats
MAR 7, CLT 0
MAR - EARLY, Joseph 16 yd blocked punt return (ROHRWASSER, J. kick)
MAR 10, CLT 0
MAR - ROHRWASSER, J. 31 yd field goal 10 plays, 86 yards, TOP 3:50
MAR 10, CLT 7
CLT - REYNOLDS, Chris 15 yd run (CRUZ, Jonathan kick), 8 plays, 86 yards, TOP 2:58
MAR 10, CLT 10
CLT - CRUZ, Jonathan 23 yd field goal 11 plays, 69 yards, TOP 5:14
MAR 13, CLT 10
MAR - ROHRWASSER, J. 31 yd field goal 12 plays, 60 yards, TOP 5:44
MAR 13, CLT 17
CLT - TUCKER, Victor 5 yd run (CRUZ, Jonathan kick), 7 plays, 77 yards, TOP 4:00
MAR 13, CLT 24
CLT - TUCKER, Victor 25 yd pass from REYNOLDS, Chris (CRUZ, Jonathan kick) 11 plays, 62 yards, TOP 5:36
