How am I? We are. That's what I tell everybody who asks, from the folks at church to the night-shift nurses on my floor. Mercy Holderby here, green ribbon on my microphone, Marshall green in my closet and, I'm told, Marshall green in my baby pictures. I was born in Huntington and raised on the story of this program, and I'll be at Joan C. Edwards Stadium Tuesday night with my voice ready. We are... Marshall!
Part 1: The Week Off, and the Game That Stung
First, the honest news: Marshall did not play last weekend. The Herd had an open date after the Oct. 10 game against Coastal Carolina, and I spent mine the way a nurse spends a rare free Saturday: catching up on sleep, and watching every Sun Belt game with my clipboard.
That Coastal game still stings, so let's lance it and put a bandage on it. Coastal Carolina beat us 27-21 at The Joan in front of 23,029. And here's the strange part. We outgained them 505 yards to 308. We ran for 221 yards and threw for 284. We went 9-for-15 on third down. Coastal threw for just 73 yards.
So how did we lose? Turnovers. AP counted six of them: three interceptions and three lost fumbles. You can outgain a team by almost 200 yards and still lose if you hand them the ball six times. My grandmother would call that "setting the table and then giving the turkey away."
Coastal led 13-0 at halftime, and Dominic Lee-Knicely broke a 70-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second half. It was 27-0. Then the Herd showed its heart. Judah Price ran 50 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter. Zion Turner hit Price for a 9-yard touchdown with 2:52 left, and 38 seconds later Turner found Owen Sweeney for 19 yards. It was 27-21, and The Joan was rocking. We just ran out of time.
Price finished with 124 rushing yards on 12 carries. Turner completed 18 of 27 for 219 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Adrian Norton caught four passes for 77 yards, Javae Gilmore made 10 tackles, and Caleb Clark-Glover picked off a pass. We're 3-3 and 0-2 in the Sun Belt. But a team that scores 21 points in a quarter and a half is a team with a pulse. Trust a nurse on that.
Part 2: The Jaguars Come North
Tuesday night, 7:30 Eastern, on ESPN2, South Alabama comes to Huntington. A national TV game on a Tuesday night in October, at The Joan. Get there early, friends.
I'll be kind, because kindness is free and I hand it out like ice chips. South Alabama is 4-2 and 2-0 in the league. Keenan Phillips is a terrific back, with 444 rushing yards and five touchdowns, and in the Jaguars' last game, a 56-49 win at Arkansas State on Oct. 8, he returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. Their run game ranks 16th in FBS, per AP, and their turnover margin is plus-7, eighth. That's a healthy patient.
Now let's read the rest of the chart.
The Vitals on That Defense
AP's preview has South Alabama's defense 126th in FBS in yards allowed, at 429.0 a game. The pass defense ranks 127th, giving up 264.8 yards a game, and the scoring defense ranks 131st, at 34.5 points. Arkansas State's quarterback threw for 418 yards and four touchdowns against them. The Jaguars won that game 56-49, which means they gave up 49 and called it a good night.
Marshall throws for 247.8 yards a game, 50th in FBS. Xayvion Turner-Bradshaw leads us with 22 catches, 324 yards and four touchdowns, and we just threw for 284 yards against Coastal. Diagnosis: South Alabama's secondary is going to need a lot of fluids.
Our Own Chart
I'm a nurse. I don't hide the hard numbers. Marshall's turnover margin is minus-9, 136th in FBS, per AP, and our red zone offense is 129th. Our run defense is 123rd. Take care of the football, and that Coastal game looks very different. On Tuesday, the prescription is simple: hold onto it.
The Only Other Visit
CollegeFootballData.com lists one meeting, in 2023, a 28-0 South Alabama win in Mobile. I remember. I was not happy. But that was on the Bay, and this one is on the Ohio, at The Joan, where Wikipedia says Marshall went 192-45 through the end of the 2024 season. We are a different team at home.
A Young Program, Kindly Noted
And a gentle history note, with love. South Alabama started playing football in 2009, and according to Wikipedia, its first game ever was against Hargrave Military Academy, a prep school. Marshall has two I-AA national championships, in 1992 and 1996. I respect every young program. I just like to remind our guests that we were winning national titles when their first opponent was still doing homework.
Two River Towns, One Bay Town
Huntington. We sit on the Ohio River, and our city was built as the western end of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, finished in 1873. Wikipedia says the town is named for Collis P. Huntington, the railroad's founder. Before that, this land was known as Holderby's Landing, after a farmer named James Holderby, and his estate included the land gifted in 1837 to found what is now Marshall University. I share that last name, and I've decided to take that very personally. Huntington had 46,842 people in 2020, and every one of them knows the words "We Are."
And our story. On Nov. 14, 1970, a plane crash took 75 lives, including 37 players and five coaches, as the team returned from East Carolina. This town rebuilt the program from grief to glory, and you'll feel that history in the stands. It's why we say "We Are... Marshall" like a prayer.
Mobile. Now, Mobile is a lovely Bay town, and Wikipedia says it has the oldest organized Carnival celebration in the United States, first held in 1703. Bless them, they've been partying for more than 300 years. Wikipedia also says Carnival season there now runs with balls as early as November and parades starting after Jan. 5. Friends, that's not a celebration. That's a three-month shift with no breaks, and as a nurse, I'd like to check everyone's blood pressure.
Mobile's city has 187,041 people, about four Huntingtons. But a big crowd on a parade route isn't a crowd at The Joan on a Tuesday night. They throw beads. We throw green, all of it, from the student section to the end zone. And it's a long way from the Bay to the Ohio. I hope they packed jackets. October in Huntington doesn't care about your beads.
Discharge Instructions
Here's the plan, as clear as a chart. Marshall moves the ball. We outgained Coastal by 197 yards. South Alabama's defense allows 34.5 points and 264.8 passing yards a game. The Jaguars run well and protect the ball, so this one turns on two things: our ball security and our tackling. Hold onto it, and The Joan does the rest.
Herd up, friends. How are we? We are... Marshall!
My call: South Alabama Jaguars 34, Marshall Thundering Herd 32.