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MARSHALL SPORTS
Herd focuses on itself
Cincinnati quarterback Chazz Anderson is sacked during the second half of the NCAA football game on Friday, Oct. 3, 2008, at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON -- UAB will come, but no mistakes made, Marshall is all about Marshall this week.
Coming off consecutive losses to Big East competition, the Marshall Thundering Herd football team (3-3, 2-0 Conference USA) regroups and refreshes for the football season's second half. Marshall's six-game C-USA run kicks off Oct. 18 at UAB (1-5, 0-2). Marshall is idle this week while UAB has a Thursday league game at Houston (2-3, 1-0).
Frustration from a 27-3 setback at West Virginia was compounded Friday by a confounding 33-10 home loss to Cincinnati. Thundering Herd head coach Mark Snyder briefly reflected on UC during his weekly Conference USA Coaches Teleconference on Monday, but quickly shifted to matters of the present.
"They played probably their best game of the year," Snyder said of the 4-1 Bearcats. "They brought their 'A' game and I have to give them credit. They were faster defensively than I thought watching them live.
"Offensively, I can't put my finger on it. We're so youthful; it's a different guy each time.
"We're going to go back to work this week and work on ourselves. We're going to get ready for conference play, especially defensively with the styles of offenses we're going to play."
Snyder and his coaching staff also will utilize the off week to manipulate personnel looks. Underclassmen and first-year players (Snyder mentioned defensive end Vinny Curry in particular) will receive added reps and Marshall's recently maligned offensive line can anticipate long looks this week.
Having faced non-conference opponents Illinois State, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Cincinnati and leading C-USA's East Division with wins over Memphis and Southern Miss, Thundering Herd coaches aren't lacking for film. This youthful team has absorbed a variety of schemes on both sides and disruptive, raucous crowds, segueing ideally into a midseason off week.
"We're going to go back to the fundamentals," Snyder said. "We're not going to be doing any schemes or anything else. We're going to work on ourselves.
"We've had a challenging out-of-conference schedule, and we didn't play as well as I'd liked. Now some of that has to do with the team we were playing.
"But we're still relatively healthy and we're going to get some of the young guys game-ready. It would be nice to get them 20 to 25 snaps where they have been getting 10 to 12. And we're going to give new offensive linemen some looks."
Specifically, backups Jimmy Rogers (right guard), Chad Schofield (center), Landis Provancha (left guard) and Daniel Baldridge (right tackle) stare at opportunity this week. Unsteady offensive line support has led to redshirt freshman Mark Cann's two-game slump. Both Cann and the front line will be addressed beginning with today's afternoon practice.
"He's going through some redshirt freshman growing pains," Snyder said. "Some of that has to do with the (pass rush), but I still think Mark's going to be very good.
"We've just got to get into sync. It's a different guy every time. Sometimes it's Mark and sometimes it's the speed of the game he's seeing.
"We're going to rest his arm for a couple of days and we're going to give other guys an opportunity."
