HUNTINGTON -- Marshall's final-minute football loss last weekend at UCF only added to the frustration of its fans.

Marshall led the game throughout, but a late fumble led to a Knights touchdown with 23 seconds remaining and a 21-20 victory, shocking Thundering Herd fans in Orlando for the game and others watching on ESPN.

The Herd was idle Saturday, but plays its next two games at home in Joan C. Edwards Stadium, where a crowd of only 18,878 turned out for the last game. Attendance for that Oct. 24 game against UAB was the smallest Edwards Stadium crowd since 2001.

Head coach Mark Snyder is keeping things in perspective. Marshall has a 5-4 season record, 3-2 in Conference USA, and is one win removed from bowl game eligibility with three left to play.

Snyder urged fans to look forward to Saturday when Southern Miss comes to town.

"Nobody's more down than myself and these players," Snyder said. "We're the ones out here working every day.

"But we have to get past it. We're still 5-4 right with UCF, Southern Miss, ECU and Marshall all bunched together and then you have Houston on that side (the West Division).

"So we're right in the thick of things. Bowl eligibility is sitting right there for four teams in the East, and Houston's already met it."

Marshall is averaging 23,183 in home attendance at four games this season, down 1,583 from last season's six-game average of 24,766. East Carolina leads C-USA at 43,171 in home attendance. Marshall ranks ninth among 12 league programs in home attendance, although some numbers are skewed by varied factors, including counting each university student among the total, whether or not they attend.

Following Saturday's matchup against Southern Miss, Marshall will host SMU on Nov. 21. Marshall athletic director Mike Hamrick frankly said "it will be interesting" to learn of Saturday's attendance figures.

"Having a bye week gives fans time to digest what unfortunately took place last week in a great game between two great teams in the East Division," Marshall ticket manager Aaron Goebbel said. "It was definitely tough to swallow, but for the first time in a while Marshall is playing a meaningful game in November."

Team captain and All-America candidate Cody Slate spent much of this week mentoring underclassmen on the importance of moving on. The playmaking tight end trusts Marshall fans are doing the same during the regular season stretch run.

"The younger guys are a lot more mature than in the past, even when I was younger," the senior said. "They're a lot of the guys we're counting on. They know we have three games left, and yes that loss hurt, but we have to go back to work.

"Having a big crowd is real important. We're hoping for a big crowd. It helps us out a lot on defense and offense, knowing they're behind us.

"We're hoping we can get a good crowd out here. They make a lot of noise, and they make it sound louder than the amount of people who are here. That's a big advantage for us."

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