By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON – After the University of Massachusetts won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, Marshall’s Brenden Knox broke off a 45-yard touchdown run on the fourth play from scrimmage setting the tone for the day as Marshall blew out the University of Massachusetts 51-10 Saturday afternoon.
“You want to go out and start fast,” Holliday said. “I knew after the first drive we’d be okay.”
Marshall was just fine. The Herd posted 495 yards of total offense with balanced attack through the air and on the ground. Grant Wells threw for 228 yards and three touchdowns while Brenden Knox paced Marshall’s rushing attack with 118 yards and a pair of scores. Marshall rushed for 267 yards total on the day.
Marshall was heavily favored coming into the game with the Minutemen, who were playing just their second game of the season.
Down 7-0 in the first quarter, the Minutemen showed an early flash with a six-play, 80-yard TD drive to tie the game at 7-7 with 7:01 left in the first period. The Herd helped with a face mask penalty and a pass interference penalty. UMass also executed a flea flicker pass. Quarterback Will Koch took a pitch and lofted a pass to wide open tight end Taylor Edwards for a 37-yard gain to the Herd 17, setting up the eventual 2-yard touchdown pass to Samuel Emilus.
“Penalties and a couple of trick plays,” Herd coach Doc Holliday said about the early UMass success. “I’m proud of the defense responsed in the second half. Obviously what great football teams will do is go out and take care of business and today we did that.”
Marshall responded with an 11-play, 82-yard scoring drive to regain the lead. Knox got the final 14 yards on a run for his second touchdown of the day.
Wells got the Herd on the board again later in the period on a 19-yard TD pass to Corey Gammage. On the next drive, the Herd marched to a field goal, a 43-yarder by Shane Ciucci for a 24-7 lead.
UMass would not go away. The Minutemen used trickeration again on a halfback pass where halfback Jared Cole connected with Josiah Johnson for 25 yards to the Marshall 30. Jeremy Martin came on to boot a 46-yard field goal to cut the lead to 24-10 with 2:31 left in the first half.
Marshall executed its 2-minute drill to perfection going 74 yards in six plays for the touchdown. Sheldon Evans got the score on a 11-yard run with 38 seconds showing on the clock.
Marshall extended its lead to 37-10 on its second possession of the third quarter, when it went 80 yards for the score. Wells hooked up with Naiver Gaines for a 13-yard score to finish things off.
Marshall’s defense, which was dominate all afternoon, came up with a turnover on the ensuing drive. Jamare Edwards forced a fumble and Darius Hodge scooped it up and returning it to the 16-yard line. Two plays later Wells found Gaines for a 16-yard score thanks to a nice one-handed grab by Gaines to extend the lead to 44-10. Gaines finished the day with seven catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns. Gaines was expecting his second touchdown catch to actually go to fellow tight end Devin Miller.
“They all shifted down to him,” he said. “I went to the post, then to the corner and ball comes to me. Hands out. Thank the gloves. Man I made the play.”
Marshall is back in action next Saturday at home against Middle Tennessee State. The game is on the same day as the 50th anniversary service for the Marshall plane crash (Nov. 14, 1970 when the plane coming back from East Carolina crashed and all 75 aboard died).
The service will start at 9 a.m. at the Memorial Student Center. Kickoff will be at noon on CBS Sports Network.