Polar opposites from Washington, D.C. met in a quarterback showdown at Kent State's Dix Stadium Saturday.
Marshall's Byron Leftwich led the MAC's best passing team (427 yards per game) against Kent State's Joshua Cribbs and the MAC's best rushing team (265 yards per game).
When the dust cleared it was Leftwich and the Thundering Herd (3-1, 2-0 MAC) standing tall with a 42-21 victory. It was KSU's (2-4, 0-3 MAC) seventh straight loss to Marshall dating back to 1980.
"It's great to win," Marshall Head Coach Bob Pruett told the Huntington Herald-Dispatch. "This has been a hard place for us to play forever."
Leftwich had another excellent game as he completed 31 of 45 passes for 377 yards. He had two touchdown passes along with a rushing touchdown despite two early interceptions.
"We blitzed more today than in four years," Kent State Head Coach Dean Pees told the Herald-Dispatch. "The problem is when you aren't getting to him, it's like Russian roulette. We hit him a couple of times early, but you may confuse him for a second. Then he'll come off of it and just gun it in there."
Marshall was able to match Kent State's 262 rushing yards with 268 of their own. The Golden Flashes' 145 passing yards however, were not even close to the Thundering Herd's 377. Marshall's ability to match the Golden Flashes' running game proved to be the difference.
Cribbs led the Flashes in a career high effort with 199 yards on 22 carries and three touchdowns. His poor passing game, however, in which he went 12-19 with two interceptions for 145 yards and no touchdowns, was a severe handicap for him and his team.
"A lot of people will say we played a good game, and we did," Cribbs told the Herald-Dispatch. "But it doesn't matter. We didn't win."
Marshall dominated the game through the use of a wide range of eligible receivers. Denero Marriot led the team with nine receptions for 101 yards. Five out of the six receivers that Marshall incorporated into plays had 59 or more yards.
The lone receiver who had less than 59 yards, Josh Davis, was playing through the pain of arthroscopic knee surgery that he had the week before. But he still managed to catch a 12-yard touchdown pass from Leftwich.
Running back Franklin Wallace led Marshall with 15 carries for 149 yards with a 32-yard touchdown run. Running back Brandon Carey had 18 attempts for 89 yards and a touchdown, as well as seven receptions for 59 yards.
64-yard Punt Return Seals the Deal For NIU
The Northern Illinois Huskies have now put together a string of four consecutive victories against the Ball State Cardinals.
The Huskies took advantage of their four interceptions and superb play by their special teams unit to improve their record to 3-3 (2-0 MAC) against the 2-3, (0-1 MAC) Cardinals in Muncie, Ind. before 14,499 fans as they defeated Ball State 41-29.
"I think we saw a football game that featured two very evenly matched teams," said Ball State Head Coach Bill Lynch. "When two teams like Ball State and Northern Illinois are so similar, it usually comes down to turnovers and special teams . Northern Illinois came up with some big plays. We really have so much respect for Northern Illinois. They are a very opportunistic team that took advantage of those opportunities today."
NIU did indeed take advantage of every chance they were presented. The Huskies had four interceptions for 96 yards, a 64-yard punt return, and 160 return yards. Ball State, meanwhile, netted zero interceptions, and had two punt returns for 16 total return yards.
Finding themselves down by one, 29-28, late in the third quarter NIU scored two consecutive field goals to take the lead for good. Kicker Steve Azar nailed two kicks - a 47-yarder with 2:09 left in the third quarter and a 24-yarder with 4:52 left in the fourth quarter - to put the Huskies ahead.
Sophomore wide receiver Dan Sheldon then put the final nail in the coffin when he returned a punt 64-yards for NIU's last touchdown of the game. Returning punts for touchdowns seem to be turning into a habit for Sheldon, as he ran back a school record 90-yard punt return last week against Kent State.
NIU Head Coach Joe Novak was ecstatic about Sheldon's punt return.
"That was a big play, no question about that . Dan is a great weapon," Novak said. "They've got a bigger coverage team and we thought if they gave him some room he could do some things."
NIU held the lead at halftime, 28-16, but was unable to hold it after a strong third quarter by the Cardinals.
BSU running back Marcus Merriweather rumbled into the end zone with a one-yard run to record his second touchdown of the day, bringing the Cardinals within five early in the third quarter. Fellow running back Larry Bostic then caught a 16-yard pass from quarterback Talmadge Hill, but the subsequent two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful. The Cardinals found themselves up 29-28 . they could not score for the rest of the game.
NCAA Division I-A leading running back NIU's Michael Turner had 34 carries for 130 yards, but did not score a touchdown in the game.
Merriweather ran for 136 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns. Hill went 20-46 for 233 yards and two touchdowns.
The Cardinals travel to Toledo this week to try to even out their MAC record. The Huskies hit the road to face Miami of Ohio.
Around the MAC
Miami (OH) defeated Cincinnati 31-26 as the RedHawk defense sacked Bearcats' quarterback Gino Guidugli four times and intercepted him twice. Holder Josh Betts found receiver Tyler Vogel 13 yards down the field for a touchdown on a fake field goal play . Bowling Green crushed Ohio 72-21 behind quarterback Josh Harris' four touchdown passes and two touchdown runs. BGSU managed 687 total yards of offense to Ohio's 200 . The Akron Zips are still winless as they lost to Eastern Michigan 42-34. EMU receiver Kevin Walter fell just 16 yards short of setting a school record for yardage in a single game with 225 yards and two touchdowns on the day. Eastern Michigan's running back Ime Akpan ran for 158 yards on 40 carries and quarterback Troy Edwards threw for 25-39 with four touchdowns and 390 yards.
