Win or otherwise, Marshall University football coaches insist that players have short memories.

Coming off Sunday night's hard-to-figure, 21-20 loss at UCF, such tunnel vision serves the Thundering Herd well. Both Marshall (5-4, 3-2 Conference USA) and Southern Miss (5-4, 3-2) enjoy a week off before their annual East Division clash. Kickoff is 4:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at Edwards Stadium.

"It's a good thing to have a bye to get everybody healthy and get in the film and really study the film while we have time to pick up on stuff we're doing wrong and get ready for this next game," Marshall linebacker Mario Harvey said.

Southern Miss is also healing wounds, literal and in the what-if category, following last week's wild 50-43 loss to Houston. Martevious Young's mid-field heave to the end zone, which could have forced overtime, was knocked down, securing a shootout victory for the No. 13 Cougars. Young threw for 334 yards and added 70 rushing.

His No. 1 target, wideout Gerald Baptiste, produced repeated big plays in a game that produced 1,358 total yards, totaling a career-high 186 yards receiving and three scores. Southern Miss tailback Damion Fletcher added 136 rushing yards and a touchdown.

"I thought that Martevious Young played really well," Southern Miss Larry Fedora said during his weekly press conference. "I thought Gerald Baptiste had quite a few opportunities to make plays and he made plays. The style of defense they were playing, they took away some of our outside guys and gave us things on the inside and that's why our inside slots had some catches.

"We ran the ball like we thought we would be able to and thought we did a pretty good job of taking care of the football."

A bye week, coming off final-minute losses, will prove challenging for each program. Marshall placekicker Craig Ratanamorn, perfect this season both on field goals and extra points, didn't dodge the obvious disappointment from Orlando.

"This is going to be on our minds but we have to shake it off," the senior said. "It was quiet (on the sideline after UCF rallied late for the win). "It was like, 'Dang, one more play and it could made it happen for us.'

"A one-point loss, it doesn't get any worse than that. We led the whole game. ... We felt we had it. We led the whole game and then we let it slip away in the fourth quarter.

"We wish we could have it back but we just have to shake it off and work real hard."

While acknowledging Sunday's loss was the most frustrating of his career, Harvey insisted he and teammates will take advantage of the coming week. Harvey led the team in tackles against the Knights and notched a sack, but UCF senior quarterback Brett Hodges calmly avoided the sack total from swelling, avoiding several rushes and making pivotal plays, particularly on third down.

"We tried to get a lot of pressure on him and at the last second he would get it off," said Harvey, who isn't concerned about a letdown next week against the Golden Eagles. "We're going to come out ready so don't worry about that."

Thundering Herd defensive end Vinny Curry equally was to the point.

"We're fighting for a conference championship so it's back to the drawing board we go," Curry said.

SOME RESERVE ACTION: Marshall plays a sub-varsity game against Hargrave Military Academy at 3 p.m. Thursday in Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Gates will open at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free.

Anthony Hanshew covers Marshall football for The Herald-Dispatch. He can be reached at hanshew@herald-disptach.com.