Getty Marshall Thundering Herd running back Brenden Knox.
The Marshall Thundering Herd football team will host the UMass Minutemen at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, WV, on Saturday.
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The game (2:30 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on regular national TV anywhere, but anyone in the US can watch UMass vs Marshall live on ESPN+ right here:
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UMass vs Marshall Preview
The Thundering Herd rose from No. 19 to No. 16 in The Associated Press’s poll on Sunday despite not playing last week. For the third time this season, Marshall had a game postponed because of an opponent’s struggles with COVID-19, as the FIU Panthers called off an Oct. 30 contest due to a shortage of available scholarship players.
“We’ve really handled the situation well,” Thundering Herd running back Sheldon Evans said, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. “Everything has been getting canceled or sudden change has been happening. We’ve just been adapting to it and just trying to move forward.”
He added: “The mindset doesn’t change. Whoever steps in front of us, they are in the way of our goals that we set forth coming back. As long as we keep that mentality, every game is going to be that championship game, that championship mindset.”
Marshall had games against the East Carolina Pirates and the Rice Owls postponed in September. On Oct. 24, their last time out, they bested the FAU Owls 20-9 at home to improve to 3-0 in Conference USA play and 5-0 overall.
“We’ve got really high expectations and standards and goals,” Marshall head coach Doc Holliday said, per the Charleston Gazette-Mail. “I think this year our kids are so damn happy when they get a chance to play a game. They are excited when they get a chance to play. This Saturday, we’ve got another opportunity and I’m sure they’ll be excited to go play again.”
Saturday will mark the Thunder Herd’s fourth matchup against a squad with fewer than two games under their belt.
“Early on in that game, there’s going to be a lot of adjustments that are going to have to be made on both sides of the ball, so we have to make sure we do a great job of doing that,” Holliday said, per the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
In their lone test, the Minutemen get trounced by the Georgia Southern Eagles 41-0 on the road on Oct. 17.
Points will be even harder to come by against Marshall — the Thundering Herd surrender just 9.4 points per game and 265 yards from scrimmage per game, ranking first and second among FBS teams that have played at least three games.
Defensive lineman Darius Hodge leads Marshall with 5 sacks and 6 tackles for loss. Defensive back Steven Gilmore, the younger brother of New England Patriots star cornerback Stephon Gilmore, has a team-high 4 passes defended.
“There’s a reason they’re one of the top defenses in the country right now,” UMass head coach Walt Bell said, according to The Boston Globe. “They’re a long, seasoned bunch.”