UCGrad1992
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RE: Let's talk Marshall
Another Marshall article...
Quote:Despite inconsistencies, Litton says offense is close to breakout
By GRANT TRAYLOR The Herald-Dispatch gtraylor@herald-dispatch.com Sep 27, 2017 Updated 11 hrs ago
Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch Marshall quarterback Chase Litton drops back to pass as the Herd takes on Kent State during an NCAA football game on Saturday, September 16, 2017, at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, W.Va.
HUNTINGTON — For Marshall quarterback Chase Litton, film study has played out like an emotion-evoking silver screen feature movie.
Watching that video has Litton all tied up in "nots."
"Not executing, not all on the same page, not where this team needs to be to do what we want to do," Litton said.
For Litton, it has most resembled a horror flick.
It isn't that the offense has been that bad, necessarily.
There have been the moments in which the offense looked cohesive in each game — the 98-yard drive against Miami (Ohio), the first 20 minutes at N.C. State and the fourth quarter of the win over Kent State. As a whole, however, the film was rated poor by Litton because of the inconsistencies that the team has seen.
After seeing the mistakes, Litton and his teammates realize that it is scary how good they could be if they shore up just a few things. That is both an eye-opening and frustrating aspect.
"You need all 11 on offense," Litton said. "You need all five up front doing their job. You need the quarterback, the running back, receivers, everybody to do their job for plays to work. It's not that we haven't been having that, but there's times where we will shoot ourselves in the foot. ...
"It's all there. Everything we want to do, the offense we want to be, is all there. It all comes down to the same thing we always talk about: It's execution. It's taking pride in what we do and getting the job done."
Marshall offensive coordinator Bill Legg equated the Thundering Herd's offense right now to a musical piece, saying all the pieces of the symphony are there, but right now they are playing in different times. Legg said it is on him to get everyone on the same beat so the rhythm within the offense is found. The Herd's veteran offensive coordinator also said that many of the errors being made are effort mistakes — as in, guys trying to do too much.
"Instead of just going out and doing the stuff they can do and they've done 1,000 times, they start pressing," Legg said. "The moment you start pressing, then everything starts getting in a rush and the timing of everything gets thrown off. Sometimes it's better to just take a deep breath, clear your mind, relax for a second and then go."
Legg and Litton both said they hope that the bye week was the deep breath that the offense needed.
The offense went into the bye week feeling good about themselves after a strong fourth quarter against Kent State that produced a pair of scoring drives, including one to ice the game for a touchdown late in the contest.
During that fourth quarter, Marshall found a spark in the rushing attack with Tyler King emerging, which helped build into the bye week also.
Legg said that no matter who is in the backfield, establishing the run will help to ease some of that pressure that the offense has experienced while trying to do too much.
At the end of the day, Marshall is sitting at 2-1 as it heads to Cincinnati for its final non-conference game of the 2017 season.
Litton heaped praise on his teammates for getting the Herd to that mark, and added that it's time for the offense to take the team to the next step.
"Special teams won us a game, defense won us a game," Litton said. "We've been riding coattails this season, and we can't do that. We've got to really step up and be that offense that we really need to be to win games. We're going to be put in situations on Saturday to have to do that."
Herald-Dispatch
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