s p o r t s
By Keith Morehouse
A Hopeful
HERD
College Football Preview Calls MU Football the Most Improved Team in the Country
S
omeone dig the inflatable Ronald McDonald that used to lord over Edwards Stadium out of storage. Maybe it’s time to recreate Mycroft’s, order a Nitty Gritty Grinder and reminisce a little bit. The preseason prognosticators have awakened the echoes on 20th Street and 3rd Avenue to bring more summer vitality to a fall football season than Herd fans have seen in a long time. Phil Steele’s magazine, College Football Preview, is widely respected in the college football world, and he started Herd fans thinking about a hopeful fall by trumpeting Marshall’s chances this season, ranking The Herd at #38 in the nation in his magazine, and blaring: “Add it all up and MU
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gets the elite designation of my #1 Most Improved Team in the country.” Coach Doc Holliday sat in his office on a summer morning very much in the mood to talk about the upcoming season, though in his welldisguised sense of humor, he chuckled at the magazine hype. “All I can think of is Phil Steele must be David Steele’s brother.” He grinned at his own joke as he referenced Marshall’s Assistant Athletic Director David Steele. Then Holliday quickly went into coach mode, remembering the old axiom that players shouldn’t believe all the press clippings, and neither should he.
