South Alabama (4-2, 2-0 Sun Belt) at Marshall (3-3, 0-2 Sun Belt). Tuesday, Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m. ET, Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Huntington, W.Va.
Your hosts are Mercy Holderby, a Huntington nurse and the daughter of two Marshall grads, and Azalea Fairhope-Grice, a Mobile Mardi Gras float-builder with a whistle in her purse.
Mercy: We Are... and on Tuesday night, we glow.
Azalea: Pull up a lawn chair, honey. The parade's coming to Huntington, and it brought a run game.
Players to watch
South Alabama runs, and it runs well. The Jaguars average 220.3 rushing yards per game, 16th in FBS, and score 38.8 points per game, 15th. Keenan Phillips leads the way with 444 yards and five touchdowns on 80 carries. Phillips and PJ Martin have combined for 867 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. Quarterback Jared Hollins has 855 passing yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Wide receiver Brendan Jenkins has 355 receiving yards, and safety Cole Blaylock leads the team with 42 tackles.
For Marshall, wide receiver Xayvion Turner-Bradshaw has 22 catches for 324 yards and four scores. Jo'Shon Barbie leads in rushing with 230 yards. Carlos Del Rio-Wilson is the passing leader with more than 1,000 yards. Defensive back Caleb Clark-Glover leads the Herd with 44 tackles.
What happened last week
South Alabama last played Oct. 8 and won 56-49 at Arkansas State, the highest-scoring FBS game of the season at that point. The Jaguars ran 50 times for 296 yards. Phillips ran for 157 yards and three touchdowns and returned a kickoff 100 yards. Hollins scored two short rushing touchdowns 21 seconds apart.
Azalea: Throw that man some beads.
Marshall lost 27-21 to Coastal Carolina on Oct. 10. The Chanticleers forced six turnovers and led 27-0 early in the third quarter before the Herd scored three straight touchdowns. Zion Turner threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns. Judah Price, in his first college start, ran for 124 yards on 12 carries, including a 50-yard score. Linebacker Javae Gilmore had 10 tackles and blocked a field goal.
Mercy: Twenty-seven down, and those boys never quit. That's Marshall.
Injuries and availability
No official conference availability report has been published for this game. No injury news has surfaced for either team. Marshall hasn't named its starting quarterback: Turner led the team against Coastal, but Del Rio-Wilson is the season passing leader.
What the coaches are up to
Tony Gibson is in his second season at Marshall, with an 8-10 record there. He graduated from Glenville State in 1994 and was previously defensive coordinator at West Virginia and NC State. The turnover numbers are this week's homework: Marshall has 14 giveaways and five takeaways, and that minus-9 margin ranks 136th in FBS.
Major Applewhite has led South Alabama since 2024. He was Houston's head coach in 2017 and 2018 and played quarterback at Texas from 1998 to 2001. His team leads the Sun Belt in turnover margin at plus-1.3 per game.
Player storylines
Price is the story in Huntington, going from first career start to 124 yards in one night. For South Alabama, Phillips is a two-way threat as a runner and a returner, as his 100-yard kickoff return showed. This is also Marshall's first crossover game this season against a West Division opponent.
What's happening on campus
Marshall has billed the night as the "Herd House Party," with themed lighting, music and an LED wristband giveaway meant to fill the stadium with green and white lights. It's also Blue Collar Night, saluting the region's manufacturers, trades and crews, plus Green & White Night for prospective students and Greek Night. Mercy says the whole stadium is going to look like a Christmas tree with a defense.
Azalea: Darlin', Mobile threw America's first Mardi Gras. We know a party.
Mercy: Then bring your beads. We'll bring the wristbands.
Anything else fun and true
South Alabama leads the series 1-0, from a 28-0 win in Mobile in 2023. This is the first meeting in Huntington. Joan C. Edwards Stadium opened in 1991 and is one of two Division I stadiums named for a woman. Its record crowd is 41,382, set against West Virginia in 2010. Marshall's 2014 team went 13-1.
Mercy: We Are... ready.
Azalea: And we're rolling. Lawn chairs up, y'all.
The Cover Window
My call: South Alabama Jaguars 34, Marshall Thundering Herd 32.