— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Where oh where has the Marshall offense gone? That part of the Thundering Herd game is missing in action, and as a result Marshall’s season is on a downward spiral.
On the other side, Louisiana’s Ben Wooldridge made his first start and threw for 230 yards with a pair of touchdown tosses and Kenneth Almendares added three field goals to lead the Rajun’ Cajuns past Marshall, 23-13, Wednesday night before 19,905 fans at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Louisiana (3-3, 1-2) was the preseason pick to win the Sun Belt West and got its first league win in a contest delayed for lightning during what became an extended halftime.
Louisiana has now beaten the Herd twice in the past 10 months. The Rajun’ Cajuns won the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl last December with a 36-21 win over Marshall.
For Marshall, it was a “Blackout” game for the Sun Belt home opener with the Herd in all black, including helmets, for the first time. However, the offense never truly got going, producing one scoring drive through three periods, as Marshall fell to 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the Sun Belt. The Herd is off until October 22 when it plays at James Madison, ranked No. 25 in the latest AP poll.
Quarterback Cam Fancher led the Herd to a fourth-quarter TD on a 1-yard run by Khalan Laborn. Fancher had a 10-yard run and found Devin Miller for 10 yards during the nine-play, 75-yard drive.
Laborn finished with his sixth straight 100-yard game, totaling 126 yards on 26 carries with two scores.
As a team, Marshall had just 276 total yards with 139 on the ground and 137 through the air. The Herd went 1-of-11 on third down.
“That’s a championship team we just lost to. They’ve got that championship DNA,” Marshall coach Charles Huff said. “They showed up in the second half. The first half we stayed in the game. The second not so much. On offense we’re lopsided with the run. We’re not able to pass consistently. Go back and take a look at everything we do.”
Wooldridge had 224 yards passing and led in rushing with 46 on 10 carries. The visitors had 339 total yards.
In the first half, the Herd put together a scoring drive that covered 87 yards in 10 plays and took 5:26 off the clock.
Marshall had two big plays on the march. The first was a 42-yard pass from Colombi to Corey Gammage down to the 26 of the Rajin’ Cajuns. Later, Marshall had a third-and-3 inside the 10-yard line and Colombi threw an incomplete pass, but Louisiana got hit with a roughing the passer that moved the ball to the 4.
Laborn then carried for 3 yards and the final yard on the TD for a 7-3 lead with 4:09 left in the second quarter.
Earlier the Herd’s Rece Verhoff had missed left on a field-goal try from 45 yards.
Following the delay, the game resumed at 9:50 p.m. Play was halted for 37 minutes.
On its first possession of the third quarter, the Rajin’ Cajuns drove 60 yards in seven plays. They converted on a fourth down to keep the drive going, then got a 34-yard pass from Wooldridge to John Stephens Jr. for a first down at the 11. After a penalty on the Herd, Wooldridge found Dontae Fleming on a 6-yard scoring toss for a 10-7 lead.
On its next possession, Wooldridge connected with Neal Johnson for 43 yards to the Marshall 34. Wooldridge also hit Johnson for 12 yards and Louisiana had to settle for a 33-yard field goal by Almendares for a 13-7 lead with 4:44 left in the third period. That score was set up by defensive back Bralen Trahan’s intereception.
Almendares then connected on a career-best 52-yard field goal on the fial play of the third period for a 16-7 advantage.
On their first possession in the fourth period, the Rajin’ Cajuns helped seal the outcome with a touchdown drive that featured Wooldridge’s 15-yard run to the Herd 32, before he threw to Michael Jefferson for a 32-yard TD and 23-7 cushion with 9:59 to play.
Following Laborn’s second TD, Marshall went for two to cut the deficit to 8, but Fancher was stopped short on a designed quarterback run. The Herd then forced a three-and-out to get the ball back, but MU was unable to pick up a first down and Fancher lost a fourth down fumble on what proved to be its final offensive play of the night.
Of the Herd’s 137 passing yards, Fancher had 69 and Colombi 68, with the duo combining to complete 16-of-22 attempts through the air. Marshall has 400 total passing yards over its last three games and since beating Notre Dame on September 10 to improve to 2-0, the Herd has dropped three of four.
The win over the Irish also marks Marshall’s lone victory over an FBS opponent this season in four tries.
Since the divisional format was introduced in the league in 2018, Louisiana is 16-2 against West Division members and 26-8 overall. Since 2019, the Rajin’ Cajuns are now 17-3 in road games in the Sun Belt.