The 2010 West Virginia Mountaineers Preview: Marshall

In early September, the Mountaineers will travel to Cabell County, where they will be met by a green haze coming from the city of Huntington.

As the team buses take Route 60 into Herd territory, the players will start to hear a familiar chant echoing from the stands at Joan C. Edwards Stadium to welcome the visiting team.

West Virginia, with “We Are Marshall” in their ears, will face off with their in-state rival the Thundering Herd of Marshall University for the fifth time in their Friends of Coal Bowl series.

The Mountaineers have dominated their matchups with the Herd since their first meeting.  Since 1911, the Mountaineers have squared off with the Herd in nine games while outscoring Marshall an amazing 393-95. The Herd’s offense was stagnant during the matchups in 1914, 1915, and 1923 when WVU ran up the score to 193-6 as Marshall was shut out twice.

Some will bring up the bit of information that the Herd has been at distinct disadvantage in that the team has only played at home twice in the previous nine games. The Herd will have home field advantage this year as the Mountaineers will travel to Huntington.

As an extra added incentive to this rivalry, former West Virginia assistant John “Doc” Holliday was named the 29th head coach at Marshall University in mid-December 2009. Holliday spent more than 20 years with the Mountaineers in two stints as main recruiting coach in the state of Florida while serving a multitude of position coach roles during his time.

Mark Snyder, who resigned his role as head coach in November 2009, led the team from 2005 to 2009 to a disappointing 22-37 record after the team‘s scholarships were limited due to NCAA sanctions.

Despite the poor leadership of Snyder, the Herd made the college football postseason for the first time since 2004 with a game against the Ohio Bobcats in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit. Marshall won the game by a 21-17 score for its first bowl game win since the GMAC Bowl held at the same venue in 2002 against Louisville by the score of 38-15.

For the 2009 season, the Herd offense failed to produce as it ranked toward the bottom of Conference USA and FBS football. For conference play, rushing offense ranked seventh while the passing game came in 10th in the 12-team league. In FBS, Marshall’s rushing was a lukewarm 65th in the nation, while the passing offense was nearing ice cold—77th out of the 120 college football teams.

From an individual offensive standpoint, returning senior Brian Anderson ranked 43rd overall with more than 2,600 yards through the air with 14 touchdowns but a near identical number of interceptions, with 13 going to a member of the opposing defense. The leading receiver, Antavious Wilson, caught 60 passes from Anderson for 724 yards and three touchdowns.

In the ground game, Darius Marshall has departed, but sophomore Martin Ward will take over, as he ran nearly for 400 yards and three scores in limited action toward the end of the season.

The best way to describe Marshall’s defense last season would have to be astonishing as a group. In Conference USA, the Herd defense ranked no worse than fourth in any defensive category in 2009.

Mario Harvey will return for his senior season at linebacker as the top player on defense. Harvey was named to the 2010 Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list this year as the top defensive player in the nation.

The defensive line should be the best in the league with returning C-USA honorable mentions in Vinny Curry and Michael Janac at defensive end. The honorable mentions spread to the defensive backs, as DeQuan Bembry was recognized for his sophomore season for the Herd.

With the guidance of new coach Doc Holliday and more than 25 returning juniors, the Herd should be able to improve on their poor 7-6 2009 win record, but it's doubtful that favorite Southern Mississippi gets knocked off the top of the East division of C-USA. Holliday should bring in new talent with his knowledge of recruiting in Florida and surrounding areas and bring Marshall back to what they were early this decade.

As for the 10th edition of the WVU-Marshall series, I see West Virginia coming out on top 31-17 on a Friday night in Huntington.

NEXT GAME: Maryland vs West Virginia, September 18th 2010