For just the third time in school history Ohio State will face off against the Marshall Thundering Herd Saturday in Ohio Stadium. This marks the first matchup between the two since 2010 when the Buckeyes dominated the Herd 45-7. 2004 was the first ever meeting between these two historic programs. In that meeting Ohio State escaped 24-21, behind the leg of Buckeye legend Mike Nugent and a school record setting 55 yard field goal as time expired.
Some would say with Marshall coming into this game with a record of 1-1 that the Herd won’t pose much of a threat to the third ranked team in the country. History has shown that Marshall is a tough opponent that has been known to pull some monumental upsets in the past. Most recently Marshall has upset wins over Virginia Tech in 2023 and Notre Dame back in 2022.
After knocking off Stony Brook 45-3 in the season opener, Marshall fell in week two at Virginia Tech, 31-14. Coming off a tough road loss will definitely spark some extra urgency and energy into this team. Fourth year head coach Charles Huff is the first Marshall coach to lead the Herd to a bowl appearance in each of his first three seasons since the school has joined the FBS. Spending a season under Nick Saban at Alabama as associate head coach in 2019 proves he’s invested into the concept of winning and doing it in a small town like Huntington, West Virginia.
Heading into the matchup coach Huff talked about going up against a stacked Ohio State roster, “I feel good about the track we’re on, trust me. I feel good about the players we have. Would love to have some of those guys from Ohio State too. So if they want to transfer on down on, we got a Tudor’s Biscuit NIL all-you-can-eat. So if any of those guys run really fast at Ohio State and they like Tudor’s Biscuits, I promise you all you can eat if you transfer here.”
Despite chuckling when he said that, Huff knows when Saturday comes and the talking is over, his team is in for a dog fight against a defense that has yet to surrender a touchdown through the first two games. “I’ll be honest, this is probably the best team I’ve ever seen on film.” Huff stated. Marshall and Ohio State are both coming off a bye week.
Leading the Thundering Herd under center this season has been red shirt Senior Stone Earle. Through two games Earle has thrown for 228 yards and three touchdowns. A lone interception against the Hokies in their loss was the only turnover from the quarterback. Marshall has been leaning on their red shirt sophomore running back AJ Turner. His season statline through two game looks efficient, rushing for 222 yards on just 14 carries and one touchdown. Defensively the Herd has given up 34 points all year but only averaging 29 points on offense won’t be enough if they want to upset the Buckeyes in Columbus. Marshall will more than likely try to control the tempo and keep the ball away from the Buckeyes as much as possible. What they can’t afford are mistakes defensively early and three and outs on offense which could lead to a similar pace the Buckeyes had against Western Michigan in their 56-0 win two weeks ago. The key to this matchup will be clock management and control in the trenches. Can the Herd do it? Remains to be seen.
The Thundering Herd are currently members of the Sun Belt Conference. Ohio State hosts Marshall in the third game of the season at Ohio Stadium at noon on Saturday. The game will be televised on Fox with Joel Klatt and Gus Johnson on the call.