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MARSHALL SPORTS
Cann efficient in debut
Marshall quarterback Mark Cann looks to hand off during the first quarter Saturday at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON -- Coaches are all about detail, cleaning up off-the-radar elements that can decide games.
Marshall University's football staff wasn't available for comment on Labor Day, but safe to say coaches were more than pleased with a certain stat line from Saturday's 35-10 victory over Illinois State. Penalty-plagued throughout 2007, the Thundering Herd was flagged just once for 10 yards.
Particularly impressive was the handling of the new 40-second play clock, which rolls when the ball is spotted. The game clock shifts to 25 seconds on changes of possession, a rule change that resulted in delay of game penalties throughout college football's opening weekend.
Marshall redshirt freshman quarterback Mark Cann, under the tutelage of first-year offensive coordinator John Shannon, was delay-of-game free in his debut. Limiting penalties will be a must Saturday when the Thundering Herd (1-0) travels to nationally ranked Wisconsin (1-0). Kickoff at Camp Randall Stadium is noon (EST) and the Big Ten Network will televise the game.
"Being my first game there were some nerves," Cann said. "You've got some butterflies or whatnot every game, but I was able to calm down. We played penalty-free, which was key for us."
It also wasn't by happenstance. Shannon, who also serves as quarterbacks coach, stressed clock management throughout preseason camp. Preparation, combined with Shannon's no-huddle attack, essentially made new game clock rules a non-issue in the season opener.
"We were snapping the ball with 15, 20 seconds (remaining) until we started milking it at the end, but it shouldn't be an issue for us," Cann said. "If we're having to check here and there, it may get kind of low, but it shouldn't be an issue."
Wide receiver Emmanuel Spann agreed that the rule change that bit so many teams in openers wasn't a distraction.
"We worked on it in the spring and the summer and one thing we try to do is tempo, tempo," Spann said. "We go a lot faster in practice so when the game comes it seems like it gets a lot slower with the 40-second clock.
"The way coach Shannon and (head) coach (Mark) Snyder pushed us as an offense and we pushed ourselves, it kind of prepared us so we didn't have to deal with the delay of games.
"I think that's the advantage of having the no-huddle system that we have now."
The fifth-year senior wideout also noted the relative poise of Marshall's new quarterback, who completed 11 of 22 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns against one interception while operating a fast break system.
"He did a great job of managing the clock," Spann said. "I think as a quarterback, especially being a freshman, sometimes we lose sight of that, but with the system we're running and the way we're practicing the system, we shouldn't have any problems with a delay on the clock.
"That's what the scrimmages are for -- to get those things cleaned up. (Snyder) was surprised that we didn't have more penalties.
"He talked about that the night before the game and during the week - holding penalties, he can deal with the aggressive ones. But penalties like offsides, jumping -- he can't deal with things like that because those are penalties we can control.
"But penalties we can control, we did a great job with that."
Redshirt freshman tailback Terrell Edwards largely watched from the sideline against Illinois State, but preseason camp acclimated him to the new-look attack. Like Spann, Edwards watched up close as Cann adjusted to the 40-second clock, designed to speed the pace of games.
"We practice situations a lot so Mark's been in that position in practice where at first he kind of struggled to maintain the 40-second clock," said Edwards, who scored on a 49-yard run in his debut. "But now, it's just whatever to him.
"It's tiring at times in practice, because you're going back and forth but in the game you have adrenaline and everything else pushing you, so it really wasn't that bad."
