Marshall's defense had seven players over a 70 PFF grade, but had its fair share of struggles with a season-high 14 missed tackles in the Herd's 23-13 setback to Louisiana-Lafayette Wednesday evening.

Full grade breakdowns, by position, are below:

DEFENSIVE LINE:

The defensive line was a missed bag of results for the Thundering Herd, with Immanuel Bush, Owen Porter and Koby Cumberlander all grading above 70 PFF to head up the defensive front.

Bush, in 27 snaps, pressured the quarterback three times. He had Marshall's best pass rush grade (73.8) and the defense's second-best run defense grade (77.7) en route to a 75.5 PFF overall mark.

Porter, who posted a 73.3 grade, notched five tackles and two quarterback hurries. His 75.3 run defense grade was the third-best mark on the unit. Cumberlander, who posted a 71.0 PFF, had two tackles, two quarterback hurries and a sack, while posting the fourth-best tackling grade on the defense.

However, the remainder of the defensive line struggled. Esisas Carpenter (62.9 PFF), Anthony Watts (53.4 PFF), Damion Barber (53.1 PFF), Emmanuel Balogin (52.5 PFF), Elijah Alston (51.3 PFF), Isaiah Gibson (49.7 PFF) and Sam Burton (49.6 PFF) combined for just six tackles between them.

LINEBACKERS:

The linebacking core proved to be the best performing position group of the defense, as all four of Marshall's linebackers who played against UL-Lafayette (Jace Bobo, Charlie Gray, Abraham Beauplan, and Eli Neal) posted a PFF grade of 67.4 or better.

In 14 snaps, Bobo posted the highest grade of the group, notching five tackles in all while posting a 75.2 PFF grade. Charlie Gray notched four tackles, including one for a loss and a quarterback hurry, en route to a 73.6 PFF grade. The aforementioned duo tied for the second-highest tackle grade on the defense at 79.4.

Beauplan, who led the way with 11 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry in 57 snaps, collected a 70.3 PFF grade while Eli Neal's 67.3 mark rounded out the defense. Neal posted seven tackles, a sack, and a quarterback hurry and had the highest run grade (80.1) on the entire defense. The linebacking core did miss five tackles between them, however.

DEFENSIVE BACKS

For Isaiah Norman, it was a very solid performance as Norman's 71.2 overall PFF grade in 62 snaps -- including a team-best 81.6 tackle rating -- led the way. However, Norman's four tackles and quarterback hurry could not overshadow the remainder of the defensive backfield, who struggled against Louisiana-Lafayette Wednesday.

E.J. Jackson, who played just seven snaps, had a low 64.2 PFF rating while Steven Gilmore (62.9 PFF), Micah Abraham (60.2 PFF), Jadarius Green-McKnight (59.3 PFF) and Andre Sam (54.8 PFF) allowed 14 receptions between them on 19 combined targets, with UL-Lafayette racking up a total of 224 yards passing on the quartet of their 230 in all. Abraham and Sam also combined to miss five tackles by themselves.

In this week's edition of the Runnin' With The Herd Podcast, our Aaron Coleman and Josh Stowers of Herd Nation spoke with Eric Dillow from 5th Quarter Louisiana to break down the Wednesday night matchup between the Thundering Herd and the Ragin' Cajuns.

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Email from Big Green today announcing two events:
Big Green Member,



There are two upcoming events that I wanted to make you aware of:

1. Big Green / Season Ticket Holder Appreciation Event
   1. When? October 15th from 3-5pm
   2. Where? Heritage Station

Details: This event will feature giveaways, food, soft drinks, and a special beer tasting. (Be on the lookout tomorrow for a special announcement). Feel free to also bring your favorite tailgate dish for others to enjoy.



This event calls for an RSVP so please do so here: https://marshallathletics.wufoo.com/forms/qtkrec21m3tkan/

RSVP closes noon on Wednesday for this event!

1. Marshall Baseball Golf Outing
   1. When? October 28th
   2. Where? Guyan Golf and Country Club

Details: A fundraiser that directly supports the Marshall Baseball program. Shotgun start at 1pm. Food and drinks to follow the event.



Don’t golf or can’t make it to the event but want to help? Consider donating to the program or purchasing a hole sign to show your support of the program.



PDF attached to this email with more information or complete online here: https://herdtickets.evenue.net/www/ev_marshall/ss/ev/SpecialEvent?specialEvent=DUGGOLF&siteId=ev_marshall&locale=en_US&linkID=marshall





Please reach out to me with any questions!



Thank you,

Going to put this together so everyone has one source to reference to keep up with all of the incoming transfers:

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DB Isaiah Norman from Austin Peay: https://letsgopeay.com/sports/football/roster/isaiah-norman/9438

S Andre Sam from McNeese State: https://mcneesesports.com/sports/football/roster/andre-sam/8644

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Some highlights:

Football

The expanded Sun Belt will be a step up in football competition from Conference USA. Current C-USA's 4-year FPI average (2017-20) + incomplete 2021 results (2017-20) is 100 --- bottom of FBS. A Sun Belt with USM, Marshall, JMU, and Old Dominion is 3rd in the G5 behind the AAC and MWC and within striking distance of both for top conference in the G5. The Sun Belt has done a good job in producing elite G5 teams despite the lack of a NY6 bowl appearance in the conference. 6 Sun Belt teams (App x3, ULL x2, Coastal x1) have finished top 45 nationally in FPI since 2018 while C-USA has had none in that span. Coastal and App State are in position to finish in the top 45 in 2021.







So, initially, the East will be the tougher of the two divisions by a bit. The 2017-21 average of the East is 86.3 compared to the west having an average of 100.1. 4 of the top 5 programs from 2017-21 will be in the East while 3 of the bottom 4 programs will be in the West. This spreadsheet also supports the idea that James Madison can be competitive immediately. Couple this with quality facilities, a robust budget, and good fan support (they'd be top 3-4 in football attendance in the new league at 23,000+), you see why they were added.

Basketball

C-USA 3.0 was a 1-bid league every year and this will be the case in an expanded Sun Belt unless one team were to put together a gaudy profile and land an at-large bid. The 4-year KenPom average (2018-2021) in C-USA is 0.08 --- i.e. a very slightly above average D1 conference. The 4-year KenPom average in Sun Belt without Little Rock and UT-Arlington and with Southern Miss, Marshall, ODU, and JMU is -1.79 --- a slightly below average D1 conference. But the reality is both are one bid conferences. The new Sun Belt will just be a touch easier one than C-USA in current form.



Budget

Here is the USA TODAY budget link for 2020: https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances

Like you all gave a shit about Powell. Your side hated him 30 years ago. Hated him later when the WMD thing came about. Hated Bush too. Then, these years later act like they like them because they came out against Trump or conservatives.

Liberals are the Kings of Hypocrites. That shit gets old and tiresome. They do it all the time. Lecture people about masks, then get caught with out. Lecture people all the time with virtue signaling. At least Trump is honest about how he feels. Powell screwed Trump over and would flip on Republicans. Even supported Obama just because he was black. Good general, respect him for that. But, he did do that other stuff in politics.

Why should Trump kiss these guys asses? They were always against him. The other establishment folks were against him and never included him even in the beginning because he was an outsider who spoke the truth.

Now these damn liberals act like they loved Powell, Bush, etc. Hypocrites on this subject and many others. Like always.

Was informed yesterday that long-time HN poster Herdalicious passed away very unexpectedly on Saturday night.

I don't know much about what happened and no arrangement information has been released yet.

I do know he had twin seven-year-olds; which is absolutely gut-wrenching to think about.

'Licious was an HN all-time great. The guy was funny and incredibly witty.

​

Wow this guy is awesome! I don't think I have ever heard a coach answer the phone for an interview like that. This dude is a force of nature.

I understand the world we’re currently living in is politically charged but HN and/or Old Fairfield are not the the places for that kind of discussion. Moving forward I’m going to delete posts and give automatic timeouts for offenders.

If you want to chat about politics we have very robust and active forum called Pullman Square, where you can talk about politics as much as your heart desires.

For some reason I cant post a picture... 10 mins to kick... Maybe 900 people in the stands.

We all could have come in a few buses.

At this point it is on the leadership at whatever that level it is to revive Marshall Football. It is their job and their duty to do so. If they won't go above them or remove them as well. I am to that point. The program is stale and stagnant. I just sat in the rain and watched Marshall, with a chance to win the division, lose to a team playing in a glorified high school stadium that just a few years ago didn't even have a program. In the near past that same team that just beat Marshall was playing the likes of Campbell(when they were non scholarship), Elon, other lower divisions and they were losing to them or struggling against them. The same Marshall program that has played football much longe and Heisman candidates, Top 10 ranking, many great players and championships.

It is Mike Hamrick's job to ensure the program is where it should be and it is not. If Mike Hamrick won't take care of it then it is Jerome Gilbert's job to do it or mandate Mike Hamrick to do it. If Gilbert won't do it, then it is the Board of Regents job to ensure it. The program is at that point.

We may get to a point that it is too far gone and we slip into eternal stagnation. The pseudo nepotism with the football program needs to end. We need a change at the top and that should happen now. If Mike Hamrick won't do it then he can go to for all I care. There are other athletic directors and football coaches out there.

The time has come to move on.