BOWL STREAK CONTINUES

Rainy weather and an opponent playing on its home field couldn’t stop the Marshall football team from winning yet another postseason bowl game.

Marshall used balanced offense and opportunistic defense in defeating the South Florida Bulls 38-20 on December 20th in the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl at Tampa, Florida’s Raymond James Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It’s also USF’s home field.

The win extended Marshall’s bowl win streak to seven games, extending back to the 2009 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit.

Herd Coach Doc Holliday is 6-0 at Marshall in bowl contests and the Herd’s been able to pick up those wins in bowls in Florida, Maryland and New Mexico.

It seems like Holliday, his coaching staff and teams have a knack to be able to beat anyone if you give them three weeks to prepare a postseason contest.

Marshall came into the Gasparilla Bowl with plenty of momentum, winning three of its last four regular season games, while the Bulls were headed in the other direction, losers of five straight.

The early portion of the game showed that momentum would stay on the Marshall side of the field, as the Herd scored the game’s first two touchdowns in the first quarter on a ten-yard run by redshirt freshman quarterback Isaiah Green, followed by a one yard run by senior back Anthony Anderson.

South Florida was able to dent the scoreboard late in the first quarter with a gadget play in which receiver Tyre Mc- Cants threw a 38-yard pass to fellow receiver Randall St.

Adam Gue

Felix which completed fooled the MU defensive backs.

The Herd quickly recaptured momentum with two second quarter touchdowns, an eight-yard run by freshman Brenden Knox and five yard touchdown scamper by senior back Keion Davis.

USF was only able to answer in the quarter with a 22-yard Coby Weiss field goal, setting the Marshall halftime lead at 28-10.

The Bulls tried to rally in the third quarter as Weiss kicked a 31-yard field goal and Randall St. Felix grabbed his second touchdown pass, a 33-yarder toss from Blake Barnett.

Marshall limited the damage in the quarter as Justin Rohrwasser kicked a 28-yard field goal.

The Herd showed that it would be “the closer” in the contest as Keion Davis capped off an 11-play, 64-yard drive with a 16- yard touchdown run.

Davis, who had been battling injuries throughout his senior season which limited his playing time, ended his MU career on a strong note as he rumbled for 94 yards and two touchdowns.

He earned the Gasparilla Bowl Most Valuable Player award for his efforts.

Knox, who didn’t play in the second half due to a hand fractured, chipped in with 93 yards and a touchdown.

Anderson ended his Marshall career with 43 yards and a score.

The performance by Green may have been his most complete of the season as he ran for 36 yards and a touchdown and threw for 221 yards with no interceptions.

Herd senior receiver Tyre Brady enjoyed his Florida homecoming and showed he is ready for the next level as caught five balls for 88 yards, including an acrobatic 42 yard grab in the first quarter which led to a touchdown.

Adam Gue

Strong efforts by Obi Obialo, Xavier Gaines and Artie Henry showed that there is plenty of returning talent among Marshall receivers as the trio combined for nine catches and 104 yards.

Special teams were truly “special” in the game as Marshall punter Robert Lefevre averaged over 44 yards on three punts and placed two of those punts inside the 20.

Marshall ended its 2018 season with a 9-4 record and was won of four Conference USA teams to pick up bowl wins.

Florida bowls usually bring images of beaches and sun, but the bowl week didn’t start off that way for Marshall as the Herd’s travelling party left Tri-State Airport in the late afternoon of December 16th, seven hours later than planned due to weather problems. Because of the delay, the Herd football team missed out on a chance to visit Treasure Island, Florida beach, although the USF team did enjoy some beach time.

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Marshall was able to get in two pre-bowl practices while in Tampa, utilizing outstanding facilities at Tampa Catholic High School, where the host just happened to be athletic director and Marshall alumnus Don Dziagwa.

The Herd and Bulls were finally able to get together on Tuesday at a riverfront park in Tampa as the two squads took part in an effort to build bikes to be given to Tampa-area children at Christmas. Representatives from both squads also visited to local children’s hospitals on Tuesday afternoon.

It wasn’t just the Herd football squad enjoying the bowl trip as the Marching Thunder, MU Dance Team and Herd cheerleaders took part in a “Battle of the Bands” with their USF counterparts on Tuesday at Treasure Island beach. There was lots of music and dancing as the groups tried to raise the pep level of their fans. There were even some fun contests for the cheerleaders and band members including a tug-of-war and doughnut-eating contest.

Adam Gue

Rainy weather on the day before the bowl put a damper on planned pre-game activities, but the bad weather allowed the Herd football team to concentrate on positional meetings as the final game plan was prepared. Wednesday was also a much-anticipated day for the players as they visited the bowl gift suite and picked up some unique items, a sort of early holiday present to themselves.

Coach Doc Holliday considers bowl trips as “business trips” and, once again, the Herd took care of business in a most effective way.