I thought going into the season the 3 games in 19 days stretch of NC State/Georgia State/JMU would be the three toughest games of the season and as the season progressed that became more and more evident. Having said that, it doesn't necessarily get "easy" going forward as we have the defending East Champs in their house coming off a win at Boone and at Jonesboro. The health of 3-Time Sun Belt Player of the Year Grayson McCall is obviously going to be a big factor in the game.
For the third straight week we'll be playing an offense that does a good job of taking care of the football. However, McCall has been a lot more loose with the ball this year than years prior (9 INTs in his first 35 games but 6 already in 7 games this season including 4 INTs against Georgia Southern).
They're defense is soft. Soft against the run. Soft against the pass. The reasons their points allowed is not much higher is takeaways (12 in 7 games) and their Red Zone defense has been solid (30 RZ trips, 15 TDs, 8 FGs, 33rd best in the country).
I think our run defense will take another step forward this week in getting things shored up. However, the status of McCall is going to be huge for the back end especially with JJ out.
Playing with a lead (something it seems like we've rarely had this year even though we're 4-3) would also help as we could continue to be patient with the run game offensively and force teams to be a little more one-dimensional on defense.
For the third straight week we'll be playing an offense that does a good job of taking care of the football. However, McCall has been a lot more loose with the ball this year than years prior (9 INTs in his first 35 games but 6 already in 7 games this season including 4 INTs against Georgia Southern).
They're defense is soft. Soft against the run. Soft against the pass. The reasons their points allowed is not much higher is takeaways (12 in 7 games) and their Red Zone defense has been solid (30 RZ trips, 15 TDs, 8 FGs, 33rd best in the country).
I think our run defense will take another step forward this week in getting things shored up. However, the status of McCall is going to be huge for the back end especially with JJ out.
Playing with a lead (something it seems like we've rarely had this year even though we're 4-3) would also help as we could continue to be patient with the run game offensively and force teams to be a little more one-dimensional on defense.
| Marshall 4-3 | Coastal Carolina 4-3 | |
| PPG | 27.3 (74th) | 29.7 (57th) |
| Points Allowed | 27.3 (81st) | 22.7 (47th) |
| Total Offense | 384.9 (72nd) | 447.3 (23rd) |
| Rush Offense | 133.1 (93rd) | 154.7 (67th) |
| Pass Offense | 251.7 (46th) | 292.6 (18th) |
| Offensive Pass Effic | 133.91 (67th) | 152.52 (32nd) |
| 3rd Down Offense | 31% (119th) | 44% (31st) |
| Total Defense | 375.3 (71st) | 400.9 (100th) |
| Rush Defense | 183.1 (113th) | 149.6 (76th) |
| Pass Defense | 192.1 (24th) | 251.3 (107th) |
| Defensive Pass Effic | 111.96 (14th) | 130.76 (66th) |
| 3rd Down Defense | 29% (9th) | 41% (85th) |
| Turnover Margin Per Game | -0.43 (97th) | +0.43 (28th) |
| Penalty Yards Per Game | 53.1 (71st) | 61.9 (101st) |
