What a horrendous performance by Marshall on ESPN. The MAC keeps spinning on it's downward spiral from last week. 1:00 left or so and Marshall calls time out down several touchdowns? And I don't want to hear, "Gee, they were practicing their 2 minute drill for their backup QB". Just down the ball and end the game.
Marshall is an embarrassment. First, it was "watch us beat West Virginia" in '97. Didn't happen. Then it was "watch us take out Michigan State" in '00. Didn't happen. The next week: "watch us take out UNC." Didn't happen. Last year it was "watch us beat/stay competitive with Florida. Again, didn't happen. Yes, all of these games were on the road, but the way Marshall fans talk, you'd think they'd blow out their opponents by 20 on the road.
And spare me the comments about Marshall beating a very mediocre Clemson team in '99 (I think it was), and a poor South Carolina team in '98. Fact is, Marshall hasn't beat any big/half-way decent programs. You think with all of those partial qualifiers they take in, they could beat somebody....

Come on, give Marshall a break. They haven't done any worse than every other MAC team against a Top 10 opponent. I also like the fact that their offense did NOT give up, win or lose, and scored 3 TDs in the last quarter. Coupled with the fact they could have easily scored 10 - 17 points in the first half, that's a pretty darned good offensive team they have. Their defense let them down; but I bet the Tech O-line is gonna man-handle lots more teams this year.

Also, how many teams in the past five years have had two Heisman trophy finalists, with the likelyhood of a third? Mmm...

Au contraire, Marshall is hardly the disgrace of the MAC, but has led the conference to a higher level of play on the football field and exposure in the national media. Toledo and others have also had their shining moments, but have had their tribulations as well. It's how you bounce back from the tribulations.

Hey! If you talk to most Marshall fans home field advantage doesn't mean a thing! LOL!

Tough loss for Marshall and the MAC. I guess we (WMU) didn't do to shabby against VT last year when we lost 31-0.

We should have a better defense against the run than Marshall. We'll also need to get some big time breaks to beat this Virginia Tech team -- Hey, Syracuse caught them off guard last year and stranger things have happened. We'll give the Hokies a warm welcome to Kalamazoo come September 28th! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Face it: Marshall is an embarrassment. They should be lucky that the MAC doesn't give them away to the Sun Belt Conference. <img border="0" alt="[Goldfish]" title="" src="graemlins/goldfish.gif" />

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> It's how you bounce back from the tribulations. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I think UCF's in for a rough ride. The Herd will be hunting for bear now...

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Face it: Marshall is an embarrassment. They should be lucky that the MAC doesn't give them away to the Sun Belt Conference. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Shall we remind you of that statement after the Florida game...? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

As for the Bulls ever facing the Gators, let's hope that doesn't happen. As for my younger brother's RedHawks, let's hope they lose to every MAC team except beat Marshall and (maybe) UCF. Marshall probably couldn't even beat Rutgers, like UB did.

We lost to a very good Hokie team!! They are #9 in the nation for a reason.
I don't know how any team in the nation can stop Suggs and Jones. They just keep pounding away at the defense until they find a hole.
As far as the blabbermouth from Ohio talking smack. That won't get much of a reply from me. I saw the embarrassment last week against NortEASTERN (NOTE: Not NorthWESTERN)

Well, at least if you are going to lose...make it an OOC game. We still get to play for the EAST crown. Next up....UCF.

I wouldn't call Marshall's performance so much as embarassing as disappointing. Their inability to compete with V-Tech really hurts the conference's credibility (in terms of having ranked teams), which will reflect poorly now on all of us.

My problem with Marshall isn't their team, but their (many) smack-talking fans (we take 15K to every away game, no one else in the conference has done anything, we're going to C-USA, the MAC sux, etc., etc., etc.) In fact Marshall has still never beaten a top 25 BCS program on the road, and has found out how difficult that is to do. I don't knock them for losing such games, but I do get real tired of their fans dissing other MAC programs like UT and Miami who have "got it done" against top BCS competition over the last 10 years.

I disagree. It is embarrassing. They have put their media machine into overdrive, to the point that the uninformed believe that they are the MAC champs and have dominated this league. Despite the fact that they aren't MAC champs, and were far from the MAC's best team the last time they were the nominal champs, the media has crowned them as our best. Our "best" not only can't hang, they don't even belong on the same field with a top team. They've embarrassed the whole conference. Again.

<small>[ September 13, 2002, 10:11 AM: Message edited by: Oddball ]</small>

Well, Oddy, the "silver lining" is that they don't think they're in our conference anyway!

No matter what word you prefer....embarassing vs. disappoining......the fact is that this blow-out did set the conference back in terms of credibility. And you make a very good point about the media forgetting who was our MAC champion last year.

"Come on, give Marshall a break. They haven't done any worse than every other MAC team against a Top 10 opponent."
I think what he is trying to say is that some Marshall people think tah they are too good for the MAC. However, they are not ready to run with the big dogs of college football yet. Nobody in the MAC is.
Will any team ever?? Probably not. What hurts is that Marshall was our best hope to gain some major national reognition for a team in the confrence.
The herd will probably run the table the rest of the season. 11-1 is nothing to look down upon. But the pollsters will only say, "Hey all therewins came against teams from the MAC." I wish that some of these people could watch a confrence game or two and realize taht we are a lot closer to the boys in the power confrences (other non BCS team included) then they are willing to give us credit for.

If Marshall plays Va. Tech 10 times, they win four or five of them.

GO FLASHES!!!

I think Oddball has a point. Marshall makes every effort to announce their "superiority", genuine or not.

But the media are ready to accept those Marshall claims all too readily. Maybe that's the fault of other MAC teams and their SID's.
Or maybe it's the media's desire to promote Marshall's rise from the ashes story.
Maybe it's even yet another dis at the other "mid-majors" b/c a Div IAA team can move up and past these teams in a couple of seasons.

I don't put the whole blame on Marshall, but there is far less cooperation from that camp than is good for everyone.

<small>[ September 13, 2002, 10:25 AM: Message edited by: DrTorch ]</small>

Radioboy: Not sure why you would say that......Miami has beaten 3 legitimate top 10 type teams in their history......#10 Purdue in 62, #8 LSU in 86, and Big Ten champ Northwestern (only ranked 25th when we played 'em early but ended up top 10 with only one regular season loss...to us....in winning the B10) in 95.

Granted, it's difficult to play such powerhouse teams in an unfriendly environment on the road, which is why is hacks Miami fans off so much when Marshall disses our team (along with the rest of the conference). H#ll, it's tough to beat any decent BCS team at their stadium........that's why the home team winds over 65% of the time!

I am just as frustrated about our performance; dropped balls, zero running game (expected). However, the front line did do a good job of protecting Byron. That's a plus. However, these problems need to be corrected if MU has any hope of winning the division this year. But I will say that we will not see any team with running backs as good as Suggs and the other dude.

I have never been a cocky Herd fan. I'm always realistic, but I did expect a closer margin. As far as Marshall being an embarrassment, I would be careful to judge so quickly. Keep in mind that we did not play a mediocre UNC or Minnesota team...This team was 7 spots ahead of us in the rankings at #9. Plus, if Marshall does wind up winning the division (and possibly) the MAC, what are you now saying about your teams? I will concede that MU was overrated, but I'd wait until the end of the season to make such brash judgments.

There were two things I noticed in that game last night that may keep Marshall out of the top 20, Leftwich from winning the Heisman, and maybe winning the MAC.

1. The Marshall receivers could not hang onto balls that Leftwich put on the money. He is the real deal. If they hold on, MUg scores in the first half and maybe a different game.

2. The MUg defense is a liability. Against the all of the MAC, maybe not so much, but against some teams, probably. On the right day and the right offense, it could cost them a conference game (UCF,MUr,KSU?)

That said... BEAT UCF!

<small>[ September 13, 2002, 11:36 AM: Message edited by: The Flash ]</small>

This was disappointing for the MAC, but it was embarrassing for Marshall, only because of the way they were talking prior to it. It put the MAC in a bad light, but I think you could argue that a great deal of our RECENT national press has revolved around Marshall, so without them we may have never had it.

But this is no different a RESULT from many MAC teams playing top 15 teams.

Thunderstruck, your post is reasonable but then you go and refer to Miami's win over a "mediocre" UNC team. Well, didn't UNC come back the next weekend and beat Syracuse of the Big East? My point is that although MUr did benefit from lots of UNC turnovers on a sloppy field, the fact is that we found a way to beat them at their place. It's a good win, and UNC's win the subsequent week at the Carrier Dome suggests that that UNC is a pretty decent team after all.

<small>[ September 13, 2002, 12:01 PM: Message edited by: exCincy Kid ]</small>

Eck,

My reasoning for my comment on that issue was simply because I don't think that UNC will finish with a winning record (6-6). I could be wrong about this, though. I think it was a good win for you... I did not mean to downplay that win. It was definitely good for the conference, but UNC is not a top 25 team IMO...Perhaps we aren't either right now...

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It was definitely good for the conference, but UNC is not a top 25 team IMO...Perhaps we aren't either right now... </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You think there is a question about it?