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Herd comes close again

November 15, 2009 @ 12:00 AM

ANTHONY HANSHEW

The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON -- A dizzying run of odd circumstances ended Saturday evening with Marshall University football again on the wrong side of close, confounding game.

Staring at another opportunity to secure bowl eligibility, the Thundering Herd fell just short, losing 27-20 to Southern Miss before an Edwards Stadium crowd of 21,036. Marshall (5-5, 3-3 Conference USA), ended the game with its top two offensive threats on crutches and all but eliminated from East Division championship contention. Leading receiver Cody Slate, among the nation's top tight ends, and tailback Darius Marshall, one of NCAA Division I-A's leading rushers, both suffered leg injuries.

"At this point it does not look good for Cody," Marshall head coach Mark Snyder said. "We will know more about Darius in a couple of days. I was standing there when Cody took a shot and the defender's helmet hit right on the knee."

Southern Miss safety Justin Wilson intercepted a pair of Brian Anderson passes in the final 2:06, securing the Golden Eagles' first road win this season. Martevious Young's 36-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Brown with 6:54 remaining locked down the final margin for Southern Miss (6-4, 4-2), which remains in a divisional title chase with East Carolina and UCF.

"I'm still trying to recover and figure out what happened down there," Southern Miss head coach Larry Fedora said, referencing his team's first road win, despite the back-and-forth miscues. ". ... We made a lot of mistakes in every area but we feel very fortunate to come out here with a win.

"I thought Marshall played well, well enough to win. We just made one more play than they did."

Saturday's opening half could be defined as unusual at best. Along with the loss of Slate, Marshall trailed, 14-13, through two quarters despite outgaining Southern Miss, 220-91, in total yards and possessing the ball one second short of 21 minutes.

Tory Harrison capped the Golden Eagles' initial drive -- lasting 13 plays and extending 80 yards -- with a 1-yard touchdown run. Marshall kicker Craig Ratanamorn countered with his 12th made field goal in as many attempts this season, this one from 27 yards, to narrow the deficit to 7-3.

Marshall assumed its first lead on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Anderson to Aaron Dobson. The true freshman wide receiver from South Charleston leaped near the end zone's back line for his first career score.

Anderson completed 29 of 52 passes for a career-best 337 yards, finding redshirt freshman Antavious Wilson 13 times for 153 yards. The junior quarterback was sacked seven times, however, and drilled to the turf at least as many times.

"It's something you've got to expect playing quarterback," Anderson said. "You have to step up in the pocket and still make the throws with them coming in and hitting you."

A 10-7 Thundering Herd lead lasted all of 13 seconds when Tracy Lampley returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards untouched, returning the advantage to USM at 14-10 and providing the Golden Eagles' final memorable first half moment.

Because in equal parts of a ball control offense, a roughing penalty on a Kase Whitehead punt and a pass interference call, Marshall proceeded to snap 24 consecutive plays from scrimmage and 40 of the next 43, but couldn't separate from its divisional rival.

The Thundering Herd netted just a 46-yard Ratanamorn field goal, upping his season perfection to 13 for 13, pulling within 14-13 at halftime.

Special teams gaffes continued to define an uneven matchup. Each team roughed the other's punter in the first half, Marshall allowed a kickoff return to the end zone and midway through the third quarter, DeQuan Bembry muffed a Southern Miss punt at the Thundering Herd 39-yard line.

One play later, Young, who threw for 191 yards and two scores, found tailback Damion Fletcher alone down the Marshall sideline for a touchdown. Michael Janac blocked the extra point attempt, but Southern Miss owned a 20-13 advantage.

"They ran play action on us," Thundering Herd linebacker Mario Harvey said. "We've got to respect the run first. ... and he just snuck behind us and they made a good play on us."

All involved agreed that Harvey and the defense played well enough to earn a sixth win, but the game's third phase proved the difference.

"Our special teams really hurt us tonight," Snyder said. "It's really the first time it's reared its ugly head. We've been pretty good on special teams this year and tonight it cost us at least 14 points.

"We get some stops and get a score and then we give up a kickoff return.

"We underestimated (Lampley) a little bit. He's a pretty good player. We talked about and thought about pooching away from him to somebody else.

"In the eight games we had seen, he looked pretty good, but he looked real good tonight. That kid is fast. He outran our kickoff coverage team."

Marshall continues its regular season stretch run with another 4:30 p.m. Edwards Stadium kickoff Saturday against SMU, which has assumed Conference USA West Division control. Coupled with No. 15 Houston's 37-32 loss at UCF, the Mustangs (6-4, 5-1) took over divisional lead with a 35-31 victory over UTEP.

"There were a lot of positives today," Snyder said. "We know we have a good football team, and we've been through the buzzsaw of our league with ECU and UCF and Southern Miss.

"That was a good football team we just played."

Mark Webb/The Herald-Dispatch

Southern Miss wide receiver Freddie Parham breaks away from Marshall defender Kellen Harris during the C-USA football game on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009, at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

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