Saturday afternoon on the College gridiron and we will see the Sun Belt Conference square off with a team from the Independent Ranks as the Mashall Thundering Herd take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This contest will take place at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
Marshall enters this game off of a 55-3 home win over Norfolk State, while the Fighting Irish are off a 21-10 road loss to Ohio State. This will be the first time these teams have ever faced on the gridiron.
Marshall has made the jump from Conference USA to the Sun Belt Conference and they have been picked to finish 2nd in the East Division. Marshall had a cupcake in their first game as they beat Norfolk State by a score of 55-3, but now we will see what this team is really all about as they take a huge leap up in competition. They were favored by 4- points last week, but are now dogs of 20.5. That is a huge swing. Marshall has just 11 starters back from last year's team that went 7-6, but still, they were not fazed in game one.
Five starters are back from an offense that put up 33.0 ppg a year ago, but they grabbed some much-needed confidence in their opener by rolling up 612 yards and 55 points on the Spartans. I can say that it will not be that easy against this Notre Dame defense. The running game was impressive as they rank for 380 yards on 51 carries, with Ethan Payne leading the way at 113 yards and two TDs. He nry Colombi had a strong game as he hit 24 of his 26 pass attempts for 205 yards and a TD, but he must now face one of the best secondaries in the nation.
If Marshall hopes to stay in this game, it will have to come from their defense. They have six starters back on that side of the ball from a group that allowed just 23.8 ppg and 394 ypg a season ago. The defense this year will be their strength and it could be the best in the Sun Belt Conference. Marshall allowed just 114 yards against the Spartans and they will be facing a Notre Dame team that may take some time to get their offense going.