Marshall's offense again had significant struggles in a primetime Sun Belt Conference matchup, with only two players on the entire unit posting grades above 70 PFF in a 23-13 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette Wednesday evening in Huntington.
Full grade breakdowns, by position, are below:
QUARTERBACKS:
It was another major struggle for Henry Colombi throughout the contest against UL-Lafayette, as Colombi completed nine of his 13 passes but only threw for 68 yards in the contest and had a pass picked off on the opening drive of the third quarter that directly led to a Rajun' Cajuns touchdown on the ensuing UL-Lafayette drive, giving the Rajun' Cajuns the lead for good.
Cam Fancher came on in relief of Colombi in the second half and went 7-of-9 for 69 yards -- completing five of his seven passes on a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that pulled Marshall within 23-13 with 6:52 to play in the fourth quarter -- but that was as close as the Herd got as Fancher fumbled the football and Louisiana-Lafayette's Courtline Flowers recovered to seal Marshall's fate.
Colombi's 43.3 overall PFF grade was, again, the lowest on the entire offensive unit. Fancher posted a much higher 65.4 in his 22 snaps on the field for the Thundering Herd.
RUNNING BACKS
From a PFF grade standpoint, the running backs outperformed every other offensive position group by a wide margin, with star running back Khalan Laborn posting the offense's highest grade at 82.1 and Ethan Payne and A.J. Turner adding in the offense's third and fourth-highest PFF grades in limited snaps at 67.9 and 65.1, respectively.
Laborn, who accounted for each of Marshall's two touchdowns on the night, ran for 126 yards on 20 carries. Nobody else who received carries ran for more than 10 yards on the night.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Because of the struggles of the aerial attack, it was another pedestrian outing for the Marshall wide receivers. Shadeed Ahmed posted a 61.3 PFF overall grade, but he had just one catch for nine yards in all. Charles Montgomery (three catches, 32 yards) and Corey Gammage (four catches, 58 yards) had low PFF grades, notching just 59.2 and 57 PFF marks, while Talik Keaton (51.6) and Jayden Harrison (49.1) struggled mightily.
TIGHT ENDS
The tight end combination of Devin Miller and Stacey Marshall, Jr. were not utilized much at all, with Miller collecting two receptions for 10 yards in the contest. Marshall wasn't targeted.
Miller and Marshall graded out at 57.5 and 57.2, respectively, but Miller did have the third-highest PFF pass blocking grade on the offense at 70.1.
OFFENSIVE LINE
As was the theme with much of the offense, the offensive line struggled as a whole, as well.
Dalton Tucker had a decent night for the Marshall O-line, grading out at a 71.4 PFF overall. His pass blocking grade of 82.6 was easily the highest mark among all players on the offense.
Outside of Tucker, Cedrice Paillant and Logan Osburn were the only other players to grade above 60 on the line, notching PFF's of 64.1 and 62.3, respectively. Paillant's pass blocking (64.9) and run blocking (63.3) grades were just so-so, as was Osburn's pass blocking (63.3) and run blocking (60.7).
Behind the duo, the remainder of the line struggled to establish footing in the trenches as Kendrick Sartor (57 PFF), Ethan Driskell (54.1 PFF) and Trent Holler (53.1 PFF) all performed below average. Only wide receivers Talik Keaton and Jayden Harrison graded before Sartor and Holler in run blocking as the pair just notched grades of 51.9 and 49.6 in that area, respectively, while Driskell graded out at just 58.1 in both pass blocking as well as run blocking.
| Player | Offense | Passing | Pass Blocking | Running Grade | Run Blocking |
|---|
| Khalan Laborn | 82.1 | 61.0 | 56.6 | 82.4 | 60.0 |
| Dalton Tucker | 71.4 | No Grade | 82.6 | No Grade | 69.7 |
| Ethan Payne | 67.9 | 73.2 | 74.6 | 64.6 | 60.0 |
| A.J. Turner | 65.1 | 61.3 | No Grade | 63.3 | 60.0 |
| Cedrice Paillant | 64.1 | No Grade | 64.9 | No Grade | 63.3 |
| Cam Fancher | 63.7 | 65.4 | No Grade | 58.3 | 60.0 |
| Logan Osburn | 62.3 | No Grade | 63.3 | No Grade | 60.7 |
| Shadeed Ahmed | 61.3 | 60.9 | No Grade | No Grade | 60.4 |
| Owen Porter (played FB for three snaps according to PFF) | 59.5 | No Grade | No Grade | No Grade | 59.0 |
| Charles Montgomery | 59.2 | 62.7 | No Grade | No Grade | 52.5 |
| Devin Miller | 57.5 | 56.8 | 70.1 | No Grade | 58.4 |
| Stacey Marshall, Jr. | 57.2 | 53.9 | 58.2 | No Grade | 61.2 |
| Corey Gammage | 57.0 | 57.2 | No Grade | No Grade | 56.3 |
| Kendrick Sartor | 57.0 | No Grade | 68.0 | No Grade | 51.9 |
| Ethan Driskell | 54.7 | No Grade | 58.1 | No Grade | 58.1 |
| Trent Holler | 53.1 | No Grade | 65.0 | No Grade | 49.6 |
| Talik Keaton | 51.6 | 53.8 | No Grade | 57.5 | 44.4 |
| Jayden Harrison | 49.1 | 57.8 | No Grade | No Grade | 39.4 |
| Henry Colombi | 43.3 | 45.1 | No Grade | 51.8 | 60.0 |
| Offense | Passing | Pass Blocking | Receiving | Running | Run Blocking |
| 61.7 | 52.9 | 66.4 | 56.9 | 75.5 | 54.9 |
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