A fourth-quarter collapse is the only thing standing in the way of Marshall and a 3-0 conference record.
The Thundering Herd had the ball and a 20-point lead over Georgia Southern with 7 minutes, 22 seconds remaining in the game. The wheels fell off, however, and Marshall allowed the Eagles to come back and steal the victory.
With the way the Sun Belt is playing out, that loss could come back to haunt the Thundering Herd.
Heading into the Week 10 slate, Marshall sits third in the Sun Belt East with a 2-1 conference record. It is 4-3 overall. Old Dominion and Georgia Southern are tied for first and are 3-1 in conference play while James Madison is fourth at 2-2. Things get even crazier in the West division where three teams have won three league games.
The Sun Belt seems to be anybody’s league right now. So what does that mean for the Thundering Herd?
College football betting odds have Marshall at +1300 to win the conference. Six teams have shorter odds.
If Marshall wants any shot at competing for a Sun Belt title, then it’ll start needing to win on the road. The Thundering Herd are 4-0 at home but 0-3 in away contests. Two of those losses were against Power Four programs in Virginia Tech and Ohio State, and the other was that loss to Georgia Southern.
Marshall has three more road trips this season. The first is in two weeks when it visits Southern Miss and the other two will be at Old Dominion and James Madison in the final two weeks of the season. Those two games might be why the Thundering Herd’s odds to win the title are so long.
They also host ULM and Coastal Carolina in the final five weeks of the season, starting with this week against the Warhawks.
Entering the win over Georgia State two weeks ago, there was uncertainty as to who would be Marshall’s starting quarterback. Would it be Stone Earle or Braylon Braxton?
One of the reasons the Thundering Herd lost that game to Georgia Southern was turnovers. Braxton fumbled the ball twice in the final five minutes of the game. Both led to Georgia Southern touchdowns, including the go-ahead score.
Earle entered the game on the final possession with 1:00 left but threw an interception. Earle actually started the contest before Braxton took over in the first half.
Prior to the tilt against Georgia State, Earle took all of the pre-game snaps with the first-team offense, but Braxton got the starting nod.
Braxton played the entirety of the game.
Marshall head coach Charles Huff has to have a lot of belief in Braxton to continue to lean on him despite those costly turnovers committed two weeks ago. One thing’s for sure: As a dual-threat QB, Braxton gives the Thundering Herd a completely different dynamic.
Braxton has 42 carries for 275 yards and two scores on the season and has gone 36-of-61 passing for 496 yards and eight touchdowns. His breakout game was against Appalachian State four weeks ago when he passed for 129 yards and three scores and rushed for 145 yards and two more touchdowns.
Marshall already has the leading rusher in the Sun Belt in AJ Turner and Braxton is another threat that can make life difficult for defenses. Turner is averaging 102.4 rushing yards per game.
The bad news is that three of Marshall’s final five opponents — ULM, ODU, and JMU — rank in the top half in the league in rush defense. That includes those road contests against JMU, which ranks first, and ODU, which is fifth in the conference defending the run.
I don’t know if the Herd will be able to grind out enough wins to finish above .500 in Sun Belt play, but they should win two more games to become bowl-eligible.
ULM-Marshall Football Prediction
I predict Marshall will win this contest but ULM will cover the spread at +10.5.
I expect this to be a slow, low-scoring game with both teams trying to run the ball. ULM is also likely still reeling from a loss it suffered to South Alabama last week. The Warhawks have fared better against run-first offenses this season.
