It’s a crossover battle in the Sun Belt as a pair of conference rivals take the field to do battle down in the Yellowhammer State. The Marshall Thundering Herd are on the road as they make the trip to take on the Troy Trojans Saturday night. Marshall comes into this contest off a 34-31 overtime loss on the road to Bowling Green last Saturday in their previous game. Troy battled to the wire but ended up falling 32-28 on the road against Appalachian State last Saturday in their most recent game. In the all-time series between the programs, the Trojans own a 2-1 advantage and have won the last two meetings. That includes a 17-15 road win in the most recent matchup on September 4, 2004.
Marshall battled but ended up falling short in overtime on the road against Bowling Green in their last game. The Thundering Herd fell to 2-1 on the season and now look to open up conference play on a positive note as they travel to face Troy. Against Bowling Green, Marshall led 14-0 after the opening quarter and by a 21-7 margin in the second quarter before giving up 21 unanswered points. The Thundering Herd tied the game with under six minutes to play in regulation, kicked a field goal in overtime and then gave up the winning score on Bowling Green’s possession. Marshall piled up a 547-377 edge in total offense and a 23-19 advantage in first downs while losing time of possession by a 31:48 to 28:12 margin. Most importantly, the Thundering Herd turned the ball over three times while failing to record a takeaway.
The Thundering Herd are 71st among the 131 FBS teams to take the fiel d this season in passing offense as they average 244.3 yards per game through the air. Marshall is 6th in rushing offense as they average 263.3 yards per contest on the ground. The Thundering Herd is 41st in the FBS in scoring offense as they average 37.3 points per game but they have sparkled defensively. Charles Huff’s group is 44th in the country in scoring defense as they allow just 19.3 points per contest. Henry Colombi has connected on 63 of 81 passes for 688 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions plus 21 rushing yards this season. Cam Fancher (five of seven, 45 yards, TD) and Peter Zamora (zero of one, zero yards) have seen limited action this season. Khalan Laborn leads the team on the ground with 67 carries for 422 yards and five scores. Ethan Payne (18 carries, 126 yards, two TD), Fancher (eight carries, 96 yards), Maurice Jones (eight carries, 51 yards and A.J. Turner (six carries, 44 yards) have seen work as well. Meanwhi le, Rasheen Ali could return to action this week: he took time away from the program last month and returned to practice last week. In the passing game, Corey Gammage (12 catches, 142 yards, two TD) is the team’s leading receiver. Devin Miller (11 grabs, 82 yards, TD), Talik Keaton (11 receptions, 131 yards) and Caleb McMillan (six catches, 134 yards, TD) are good secondary options. Rece Verhoff has connected on 13 of 14 extra point attempts and five of five field goal attempts with a long of 38 this season.