If you could change one play

[A Cousin From Richmond]

Because it's summer and it's another 1.5 months before we can discuss anything of value I'll put this out to the board - if you could chance the outcome of one play in your program's history what would it be?

For me, I'd like to see what would have happened if Major Harris didn't get hurt against Notre Dame. That play happened early in the game IIRC so who knows what the could have happened if Major continued on unscathed.

 

[herdalicious]

Marshall/WVU 2010 - 4th quarter, 4th and 1 on our own 41. We punted, Geno drove the whole field and tied the game (like everyone in the world knew he would do). Literally, any call other than punt. We could still lose the game, that's okay. All that 35 yards or whatever of field position did was give WVU more first downs to milk clock and make sure we didn't have any time left to kick a winning field goal.

 

[HerdFan73]

Marshall/WVU 2010 - 4th quarter, 4th and 1 on our own 41. We punted, Geno drove the whole field and tied the game (like everyone in the world knew he would do). Literally, any call other than punt. We could still lose the game, that's okay. All that 35 yards or whatever of field position did was give WVU more first downs to milk clock and make sure we didn't have any time left to kick a winning field goal.

That is a good one as well, but I was going to say not putting the freshman in for his first career carry on the goal line up 16 with 8 mins left just needing a FG to ice the game .

 

[oldeherd]

Marshall/WVU 2010 - 4th quarter, 4th and 1 on our own 41. We punted, Geno drove the whole field and tied the game (like everyone in the world knew he would do). Literally, any call other than punt. We could still lose the game, that's okay. All that 35 yards or whatever of field position did was give WVU more first downs to milk clock and make sure we didn't have any time left to kick a winning field goal.

Yeah, herdalicious, and both Doc and his D Coordinator went totally 100 per cent chicken manure on defense. Went into a "prevent" type D, only rushing 3, and Geno had ALL DAY (Night) to pick apart the Herd D. Not the first time Doc has gone totally conservative and tried to sit on a lead and milk the clock, with disastrous results, IIR.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Yep, the fumble on that play killed us. We hold onto the ball - we either score a touch or kick an FG, game over!

 

[TDherd!]

Kansas state game where all we needed to do was run the ball or take a knee and attempt a game winning field goal

 

[GreenDuke]

* Ron Darby's fumble last drive in Pocatello
* Mike Barber's critical dropped pass late in the 88 quarter finals vs Furman
* Howie Lee Miller's punt from the end zone vs Quantico Marines in 1965. MU was undefeated and likely headed to the Tangerine Bowl before Miller, star qb and punter, had his knee blown up punting out of the north end zone of Fairfield.
* Nov 23rd 1963 vs Ohio. Would like to redo the whole weekend. Marshall needed a season ending win at home to get a possible Tangerine Bowl bid but before a small and eerily quiet crowd MU dropped a 10-0 decision.
Without question the most bizarre, unique sporting event I've attended, for obvious reasons.

 

[Sean Hammond]

Nugemt miss the 55 yard FG.

I know that would only preserve OT, but I still feel robbed.

 

[Y.A.G Si Ye Nots]

Kansas state game where all we needed to do was run the ball or take a knee and attempt a game winning field goal

If we had rushed the ball and ended up with a loss, no gain, or a short gain followed by a missed field goal, this board would have exploded with people complaining that we lost the game for being too conservative.

What everyone seems to not realize is that Marshall was 8-17 on field goals that year. Our kickers were awful. Even in the Kansas State game, we missed a 21 yarder and a 44 yarder. If we had ran the ball to get a better spot for our kicker to kick from (centering it), without any loss of yardage, we were looking at a 38 yard field goal. Again, we had already missed a 21 yarder and a 44 yarder that game. So, you would have been comfortable attempting a 38 yarder after your kicker had just missed a far easier and slightly harder kick? Not me.

Marshall missed nine field goals that season. Seven of the nine field goals were from shorter range than what we would have had to made to win that Kansas State game. Again, it seems like our staff knew what our kickers could and couldn't do, and they knew they needed to get a chunk of yards to give him a decent shot.

 

[TDherd!]

Yes I still would have felt more comfortable running the ball, attemp a fg. He was 8/17 on the year so almost fifty percent... He had already missed two so he was due to make one (lol). Plus who was our qb that year? Was it Skinner? He was terrible!!! Once again I would run and set up a shot at a game winning fg than let our qb throw an interception!

 

[Y.A.G Si Ye Nots]

Yes I still would have felt more comfortable running the ball, attemp a fg. He was 8/17 on the year so almost fifty percent... He had already missed two so he was due to make one (lol). Plus who was our qb that year? Was it Skinner? He was terrible!!! Once again I would run and set up a shot at a game winning fg than let our qb throw an interception!

I am not saying I wouldn't do the same as you. I just can't blame the decision to feel the need to get a chunk of yards in that situation. Knowing you have a bad kicker who just missed a 21 yarder and a 44 yarder, I wouldn't feel good about a 38 yarder with even more pressure on him. As you said, he would have less than a 50% chance. I would think seeing a soft coverage, as they should be playing in that situation, would allow for a 7-8 yard completion to give a much better shot at a field goal. I can't blame them for wanting to throw it.

 

[Tim Hensley]

Green Duke, I was at that Quantico Marines game. A bunch off us from Huntington High sat in the south end zone bleachers. When they were hitting harder in warm ups that we did in games, I knew the Big Green (that's what the Herd was called back then) was in trouble. We were 4-0 up until then; seems like we won 10-7, but when Howie's (he is still a big supporter, up in Pt.Pleasant) knee went out, that was the end of the season.

 

[GreenDuke]

Green Duke, I was at that Quantico Marines game. A bunch off us from Huntington High sat in the south end zone bleachers. When they were hitting harder in warm ups that we did in games, I knew the Big Green (that's what the Herd was called back then) was in trouble. We were 4-0 up until then; seems like we won 10-7, but when Howie's (he is still a big supporter, up in Pt.Pleasant) knee went out, that was the end of the season.

You are right on, I was also in the old wooden bleachers in the south end zone. When they hit him you could hear his knee blow up from 100 yards away, a sickening sound. You'll recall the QM roster was made up of 24-26(year old) grown men, most had played college football many at high level D-1. It was a different time when teams like this could play a regular college squad, this goes back to WW2 when military training bases had teams full of guys who left their college teams to join a service. Great Lakes Pre-flight had a powerhouse team, my father was a member.

 

[SrHerdFan]

Yup, I remember that game vividly. The Marines had a big defensive end, seems like his name was Ed Gail or Gale? that just dominated. That play spelled doom for the Herd the rest of the year, and didn't it eventually cost Charlie Snyder his job?

 

[oldeherd]

You are right on, I was also in the old wooden bleachers in the south end zone. When they hit him you could hear his knee blow up from 100 yards away, a sickening sound. You'll recall the QM roster was made up of 24-26 grown men, most had played college football many at high level D-1. It was a different time when teams like this could play a regular college squad, this goes back to WW2 when military training bases had teams full of guys who left their college teams to join a service. Great Lakes Pre-flight had a powerhouse team, my father was a member.

One other thing about Miller's injury. Remember at that time, ye Olde Fairfield, Ernie Salvatore's favorite term, had just a regular grass surface.

Jim Cure, a favorite target at end for Miller, along with Bobby Pruett, once told me that in a pregame warm up back then, either against Bowling Green or Xavier (O), a lineman for one of those teams was walking on the field and suddenly dropped about a foot. Apparently stepped into a hole in the Fairfield surface. Remember, the stadium was build on top of what at one time had been the city's garbage dump. Cure said you could hear the opposing coaches' cussing about what a sorry facility old Fairfield really was. Don't know if that was any factor in Miller's injury or not. I was at the Quantico game but don't remember the exact particulars of the play- -just remember him being carried off the field in what looked like a very serious injury.

 

[GreenDuke]

Yup, I remember that game vividly. The Marines had a big defensive end, seems like his name was Ed Gail or Gale? that just dominated. That play spelled doom for the Herd the rest of the year, and didn't it eventually cost Charlie Snyder his job?

Their star player was Mike Cotton a former all SW conference qb at Texas, a tremendous college football player.
That game was truly the beginning of the long slide for Charlie and the MU program From 62-65 Marshall played good, entertaining, winning football and had a lot of talent on the field.

 

[GreenDuke]

One other thing about Miller's injury. Remember at that time, ye Olde Fairfield, Ernie Salvatore's favorite term, had just a regular grass surface.

Jim Cure, a favorite target at end for Miller, along with Bobby Pruett, once told me that in a pregame warm up back then, either against Bowling Green or Xavier (O), a lineman for one of those teams was walking on the field and suddenly dropped about a foot. Apparently stepped into a hole in the Fairfield surface. Remember, the stadium was build on top of what at one time had been the city's garbage dump. Cure said you could hear the opposing coaches' cussing about what a sorry facility old Fairfield really was. Don't know if that was any factor in Miller's injury or not. I was at the Quantico game but don't remember the exact particulars of the play- -just remember him being carried off the field in what looked like a very serious injury.

I played a couple of games on that field and "grass surface" is being generous. I remember leaving the field and burning all over from small rocks and lord knows what else. Probably cinders from the track. It was either rock hard or a mud bath.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Curtis Jones fielding the punt against Toledo instead of letting it roll. We had it won.

 

[TheGreenhouseEffect]

Worst play ever....The approval of hiring horseteeth as AD. Cost the state millions upon millions while he parlayed the job to get into the NCAA. The state got used and abused.

Again why do eerbillys feel compelled to post on our boards yet refuse to play home and home?

 

[ARandomHerdFan]

I would change the fact that I went to the Akron game in 2004.

 

[oldeherd]

I would change the fact that I went to the Akron game in 2004.

Heck, RHF, a hell of lot of Herd fans could say the same thing about the 2016 Akron game!!

 

[A Cousin From Richmond]

Again why do eerbillys feel compelled to post on our boards yet refuse to play home and home?

Does it embarrass you that I, as a WVU fan, can start a thread that results in civil discussion on here while all of your posts are rightfully met by ridicule from fellow Herd fans?

Besides, despite Rifle asking you multiple times what your affiliation with Marshall is you can't/won't say. As an alumnus of Marshall I'd say I have as much of a right to post here as you do. But that's just my opinion.

Or, better yet, you can stop with the daily WVU obsession and just enjoy the discussion on here like most do.

 

[Rock98Dog]

I would have the ref throw the flag for the blatant hold in the endzone of the 2010 wvu game. Would have put us up by 10 with the ball and about 3 minutes left.

 

[goherdorgohome2]

If I could change one play... the play where doc hired bill legg as OC ...

 

[sluggo72]

the one play would be, when we played WVU up there the first time (recent) with Chad and Randy. Either Low Turner or Doug Chapman made a long run, but they got pushed out at like the 1 yd line. We didn't get in from there, I cant remember if we kick a FG or not, but I always thought that if they hadn't gotten pushed out at the 1 and scored, the game was over.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Worst play ever....The approval of hiring horseteeth as AD. Cost the state millions upon millions while he parlayed the job to get into the NCAA. The state got used and abused.

Again why do eerbillys feel compelled to post on our boards yet refuse to play home and home?

Can someone please get Green some alcohol and sedatives? I worry about the man.

 

[scuberman]

I would say the guy who hit litton in the Akron game last year would have been blocked. I think that one play defined our season as much as any. Marshall was up 21-7 and the were driving when that hit occurred. After that Litton was never the same. I feel the whole season was a house of cards and it started there

 

[sistersville]

Litton is not the answer

 

[Tim Hensley]

Back to Quantico, Green Duke you are right, I'd forgetten those guys were much more experienced and older, not to mention meaner and their Marine pyche. It was boys among men.

Also, at Huntington High, we were often detailed as a team to "sweep" Fairfield for glass and dangerous debris leftover from the dump before practice.

 

[Tonycried2]

Nugemt miss the 55 yard FG.

I know that would only preserve OT, but I still feel robbed.

Coupled with the fact that O'Connor missed a short FG attempt late in the 4th quarter that would have given us the lead and shanked a punt that allowed OSU to jack up the 55 yard FG from Nugent ( couldn't make XP's for the Bengals) to begin with. Tough loss, not many can claim to beat OSU in Columbus and that one slipped away!

 

[Tonycried2]

Yep, the fumble on that play killed us. We hold onto the ball - we either score a touch or kick an FG, game over!

I have relived that agony many times over the last seven years...if we had simply run 3 QB sneaks and didn't gain an inch, the clock would have run down to less than 5 minutes to play and providing we could have kicked a 20 yard FG, forced WVU to score 3 TD's in five minutes, on the road, to beat us. Hell, if the fumble had occurred on 3rd down rather than 1st down would have eaten another 2 minutes off the clock and forced them to score twice starting at their 2 yard line! But no use picking off the scab at this point in my life!

 

[GreenDuke]

Back to Quantico, Green Duke you are right, I'd forgetten those guys were much more experienced and older, not to mention meaner and their Marine pyche. It was boys among men.

Also, at Huntington High, we were often detailed as a team to "sweep" Fairfield for glass and dangerous debris leftover from the dump before practice.

Just to let you know you guys missed some. ;-)))

 

[sistersville]

I played a couple of games on that field and "grass surface" is being generous. I remember leaving the field and burning all over from small rocks and lord knows what else. Probably cinders from the track. It was either rock hard or a mud bath.

Did you wear helmets then greenduke

 

[GreenDuke]

Did you wear helmets then greenduke

Yes, leather with cardboard padding.

 

[Treadmill MUsic]

The end zone celebrating by (QB) Stan Hill at Tennessee. We were about to give the Vols that work. The touchdown pass was to (TE) Jason Radar from St. Albans.

 

[HaveYouHerd22]

The TD pass that Hill was hurt on went to Josh Davis that he broke down the sideline. Rader's TD was our first score of the game.

 

[Tonycried2]

The TD pass that Hill was hurt on went to Josh Davis that he broke down the sideline. Rader's TD was our first score of the game.

We were ahead in the game with about 2 minutes to play ..Klint Rose got off a short line drive punt that was returned to about our 40 yard line and we got tagged for a 15 yard Late hit penalty on top of that, Vols scored and we went into the break behind after outplaying them the entire first half.

 

[ohio herd]

We were ahead in the game with about 2 minutes to play ..Klint Rose got off a short line drive punt that was returned to about our 40 yard line and we got tagged for a 15 yard Late hit penalty on top of that, Vols scored and we went into the break behind after outplaying them the entire first half.

I don't mean to be arguementative but your memory is wrong. here is the boxscore of the game. That score brought us back to only 4 pts down in the 3rd quarter.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/boxscores/2003-09-06-tennessee.html

 

[Tonycried2]

I don't mean to be arguementative but your mrmory is wrong. here is the boxscore of the game. That score brought us back to only 4 pts down in the 3rd quarter.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/boxscores/2003-09-06-tennessee.html

It was 10-7 with the Herd on top when we got off the bad punt and penalty and they scored before the half to go up 14-10 , the box score seems to indicate that...but I'm old and that game is foggy in my memory but left proud of our effort. Not sure we could have won that game but we gave a great account of ourselves.

 

[ohio herd]

It was 10-7 with the Herd on top when we got off the bad punt and penalty and they scored before the half to go up 14-10 , the box score seems to indicate that...but I'm old and that game is foggy in my memory but left proud of our effort. Not sure we could have won that game but we gave a great account of ourselves.

my bad Tony for some reason I thought you said end of game. You said first half so you are correct