The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

College Sports

November 4, 2012

Cato throws 4 TDs in Marshall’s win over Memphis

From staff and wire reports For The Register-Herald

HUNTINGTON — Marshall quarterback Rakeem Cato threw four touchdowns to help the Thundering Herd defeat Memphis 38-28 Saturday at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

Cato, the nation’s leader in completions and passing yards, finished 34 of 44 for 341 yards. He completed passes to 11 wide receivers and connected with four different wideouts for touchdowns.

Antavious Wilson and Demetrius Evans each combined for a team-high seven catches, while Davonte Allen booked a team-leading 87 receiving yards.

Leading the NCAA in total receptions entering the game, wide receiver Tommy Shuler added five catches to his total and finished with 78 receiving yards.

Marshall’s three-headed ground game continued to share the load evenly. Kevin Grooms and Steward Butler each rushed seven times and totaled 47 and 35 yards, respectively. Remi Watson recorded the lone rushing touchdown after posting 32 yards on nine carries.

“Bottom line is our kids went into that football game and found a way to win it. That’s the important thing,” head coach Doc Holliday said. “It was sloppy at times, but I felt when they had to step up and make plays they did.”

The Herd defense limited the Tiger offense to 372 total yards and created two turnovers. Linebacker Billy Mitchell anchored the defense with 13 tackles, while forcing a pass breakup and quarterback hurry. Defensive back D.J. Hunter  followed with 12 tackles.

Marshall (4-5, 3-2 Conference USA) never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 7-0 lead after Gator Hoskins earned his ninth touchdown of the season on a 1-yard pass from Cato.

Starting at its own 43-yard line, Marshall used six plays for its next scoring drive. Justin Haig’s 41-yard field goal with just under three minutes left in the opening quarter made the score 10-0.

Memphis (1-8, 1-4) recorded its first points after using 14 plays to go 49 yards. The series culminated with a 5-yard touchdown run by junior back Jai Steib.

Marshall responded late in the second quarter and topped off a 75-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run from Watson, putting the Herd up 17-7 at halftime.

After forcing the Tigers to go three-and-out on the first drive of the second half, the Herd took the following possession 81 yards and used a 25-yard post pattern from Demetrius Evans to improve the lead to 24-7.

On the ensuing kickoff, Haig directed a squib kick at a Tiger player and Marshall’s Cortez Carter recovered the loose ball to give the Herd the ball at midfield.

“I’d like to say it was by design, but it wasn’t,” said Holliday on the kickoff recovery. “It was just a squib and we were trying to get it on the ground. We did a good job at getting it on the ground other times after that. We were fortunate to get the ball there and I’m not going to tell you that it was designed because it wasn’t.”

Using seven plays to march the ball 50 yards, Devon Johnson became the 16th Marshall player to catch a touchdown, giving the Herd 21 unanswered points and a 31-7 lead over the Tigers. The touchdown catch was only Johnson’s second reception of the season.

Memphis pulled a 21-point swing and scored three unanswered touchdowns in the last 16 minutes of the game.

The Tigers cut the Marshall lead to 31-21 after quarterback Jacob Karam completed a 1-yard touchdown to Jesse Milleson, then recovered an onside kick on the following play. Steib earned his second touchdown of the game with a 2-yard rush into the end zone.

Memphis cut the Marshall lead to single digits in the fourth quarter, using a 61-yard fake punt to set the ball up on the Marshall 5. Marshall’s defense forced a fumble on the edge of the end zone, but Memphis offensive lineman Jordan Devey secured the ball for a touchdown to trim Marshall’s lead to 31-28.

Marshall was forced to a fourth-and-6 on the following drive, but overcame the situation with a 28-yard touchdown grab by Allen to make it 38-28.

After allowing Memphis to go 6-for-6 on the day on fourth-down conversions, the Herd defense finally made a stop when Carter sacked Karam with just over two minutes left on the clock.

Marshall took a knee to end the game.

The Herd will travel to Birmingham, Ala., next Saturday to take on UAB. Kickoff will be 4:30 p.m. Eastern, and the game can be seen on WCHS-TV.

Text Only
College Sports
  • 052513 luck ‘I always thought the university was missing an opportunity’

    West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck has been on plenty of tours around the state. Now approaching his fourth year as AD, the former Mountaineer quarterback is used to fielding questions during the spring and summer months about the approaching football season and even a few about basketball.

    May 24, 2013 1 Photo

  • WVU baseball tops TCU, stays alive in Big 12 tournament

    In its second game of pool play at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, the West Virginia University baseball team trumped TCU, 10-3.

    May 24, 2013

  • Miners' roster has proven producers

    While the entire West Virginia Miners roster will be new — except for pitcher Kolin Stanley, whose arrival will be later than expected because of a bout with tendinitis — the players are definitely no strangers to high-caliber baseball.

    May 24, 2013

  • Howley considered best all-around WVU athlete

    Chuck Howley’s greatest fame came in football at West Virginia University and then with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

    May 24, 2013

  • Mountaineers drop Big 12 Tournament opener

    In its first game of pool play against Kansas at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship, the West Virginia University baseball team was defeated, 7-2.

    May 24, 2013

  • Months of waiting ends: Weeks signs with Marshall

    Adam Weeks probably could have helped usher in a historic first season for the Mountain East Conference at any member school he wanted. Instead, he waited — and waited — for the offer he really wanted.

    May 24, 2013

  • 052413 huggs WVU coaches looking for talent inside state’s borders

    At the West Virginia University Coaches Caravan Thursday at The Resort at Glade Springs, both head football coach Dana Holgorsen and men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins spoke about the Mountain State’s love for the state’s flagship university and its athletic teams.

    May 23, 2013 2 Photos

  • Six Concord baseball players selected for honors

    Six Concord University baseballplayers were recently honored with All-Atlantic Region accolades by either the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) or the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

    May 23, 2013

  • WVU baseball changes up pitching lineup for Big 12 Championship

    Randy Mazey’s attention has been on everything but baseball in recent days, as the West Virginia University coach has been out in front of his team’s effort to help the tornado victims in Oklahoma, where his team has been this week preparing for the Big 12 Baseball Championships, which begin today at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Okla.

    May 22, 2013

  • 1MUSGRAVE1.jpg Musgrave, WVU teammates see tornado devastation up close

    West Virginia University pitcher Harrison Musgrave has spent his entire life in the hills of West Virginia. He didn’t know what a tornado siren was — let alone the damage that can be done by swirling winds.
    “I didn’t even know that they were going off,” Musgrave said. “I didn’t even know that they had sirens. I know I feel like a total idiot, but I heard them go off and I just thought it was an alarm going off.”

    May 22, 2013 1 Photo 6 Stories