Published: October 06, 2008 11:52 pm         

Bye week at good time for Herd

After back-to-back flops against Big East teams, an open week could not have come at a better time for Marshall.

The Thundering Herd will take this week to regroup after losses of 27-3 at West Virginia and 33-10 at home against Cincinnati. Facing more athleticism in those two matchups, coach Mark Snyder said, forced the Herd (3-3) into several mistakes and turnovers.

“It was a challenging out-of-conference schedule for us,” Snyder said Monday on the Conference USA coaches teleconference. “A lot of that has to do with the two teams we were playing.”

It’s strictly league play from here on out for the Herd, starting with a trip to Alabama-Birmingham next Saturday, Oct. 18.

Marshall (2-0 C-USA) leads the East Division as its only unbeaten team in league play. These next three days will be used to get focused on what needs to be done to remain on top of the division and secure a spot in the league title game.

Specifically, that means getting the younger players more adjusted to game speed.

“Our goals are still in front of us,” Snyder said. “We’re still relatively healthy.

“Those (young) guys are getting 12-to-14 snaps a game right now. It would really be nice to get them to 20, 25, especially on the defensive side of the ball.”

Snyder also said the week in practice will be used to get some looks at some new offensive linemen. He mentioned junior college transfer Jimmy Rogers, a 6-foot-4, 302-pound junior; 6-4, 316-pound sophomore Chad Schofield at center; JUCO product Landis Provancha (6-5, 305) at left guard; and 6-9, 310-pound junior Daniel Baldridge at right tackle.

Breakdowns at different times by basically everyone has slowed down the offense, Snyder said.

“It’s just a different guy each time, so it’s not like there is a glaring weakness there (up front),” he said. “Cincinnati was faster on defense than I anticipated. They are faster than we are, and I think we are pretty fast on defense.”

Snyder again pledged his confidence in quarterback Mark Cann, who struggled against WVU and Cincinnati.

“We are going through some redshirt freshman growing pains,” Snyder said. “He has had some good games and some not so good. We just have to get in synch offensively.

“It’s a different guy each and every time, and sometimes it’s Mark. Sometimes when you see the speed we have been seeing the last couple of weeks, it has a tendency to do that to you when you are young.”

The team will practice today, Wednesday and Thursday before taking Friday off. Preparations for UAB will begin Saturday.

Snyder said he, offensive coordinator John Shannon, defensive coordinator Rick Minter, offensive line coach Mike Cummings and defensive line coach Jerry Azzinaro will remain on campus the whole week. The rest of the staff will hit the recruiting trail after today’s practice.

— E-mail: gfauber@

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