Published: November 22, 2009 12:18 am      

Marshall finally becomes bowl eligible with win over SMU

HUNTINGTON — Mark Snyder entered the postage press conference a drenched and cold man.

But, he was a happy man.

On its third try, Marshall finally attained bowl eligibility — albeit provisional — Saturday. A 34-31 win over SUM gave the Thundering Herd its sixth win for the first time in Syndic’s five seasons.

The win doesn’t guarantee a bowl appearance, but most projections have the Herd playing in the EagleBank Bowl Dec. 29 in Washington, D.C. The bowl is supposed to pair Army with the eighth seed from the ACC, but Army will not get the required six wins and the ACC probably will not have eight eligible teams.

“We’ve got to go out and get another win so we can be guaranteed a bowl,” senior defensive end Albert McClellan said. “Not just wait for somebody else to lose or somebody else to win.”

After the team ran out the clock on its three-point win, Snyder was given the traditional Gatorade bath on the sideline. The last time Snyder received the dunking was when he was an assistant at Ohio State, after the Buckeyes had defeated Michigan to secure a spot in the national championship game during the 2002 season.

This was his first as a head coach.

“And it felt pretty daggone good,” he said.

It was Senior Day, but Marshall caught a glimpse of its future.

Freshman running back Martin Ward scored his first career touchdown as part of a 100-yard day. He teamed with sophomore Terrell Edwards-Maye to give the Herd two 100-yard rushers in the absence of Darius Marshall, who sat out with an ankle injury.

Ward finished with 136 yards, while Edwards-Maye had 113 and a score. It was the first time two Marshall players rushed for over 100 yards in the same game since Ahmad Bradshaw had 152 and quarterback Bernie Morris 151 against Hofstra in 2006.

“I thought those two young tailbacks stepped up and played extremely well tonight,” Snyder said. “It didn’t shock me. They’re fresh-legged, they’re big and they have speed. They showed that tonight. I thought those kids played well.”

Marshall (6-5, 4-3) ran for a total of 262 yards. The Mustangs were allowing 163.9 rush yards per game going in.

The Herd outgained SMU 475-331.

“Physically, we were not as good as we needed to be, on both sides of the ball,” SMU coach June Jones said.

Freshman receiver Aaron Dobson had a breakout game. The South Charleston native had four catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns. His first score came on a 40-yard flea flicker in the third quarter. Ward took a handoff from quarterback Brian Anderson and tossed it back, and Dobson outleaped a SMU defender to catch the high pass at the goal line.

Dobson’s 16-yard TD catch made it 34-24 with 2:01 to play.

The Herd was playing not only without Marshall, but also tight end Cody Slate.

“We had some adversity after the last game, losing a big, big part of our offense in Cody Slate and Darius Marshall,” Snyder said. “All year long — losing Courtney (Edmonson) early in the year, Troy Evans — it has created opportunity for other guys. I think those other guys have stepped up.”

Penalties were nearly the undoing of the Herd, which was flagged 15 times for 144 yards. Several of those penalties were committed by special teams.

One penalty cost kicker Craig Ratanamorn his run at perfection. The senior was wide left on a 36-yard attempt with 2:59 left in the second quarter, one play after he nailed a 31-yarder. But, left tackle Brandon Campbell was flagged for a false start and the kick was negated.

Ratanamorn had been perfect on 14 straight, including a 50-yarder that put the Herd ahead 10-7 early in the second.

He actually was good from 50 twice, but the Herd called timeout as the play clock was winding down on the first attempt.

Ratanamorn rebounded from his first miss with a 42-yard field goal to make it 27-17 with 8:55 to play in the fourth quarter.

He was successful on all four of his PATs, leaving him 28 for 28 in that department.

Things got interesting in the fourth quarter, with much help from the Marshall penalties.

Dobson’s second touchdown was sandwiched between a 12-yard TD pass from SMU quarterback Kyle Padron to Aldrick Robinson and a 9-yard TD run by Zach Line with 40 seconds remaining. Both brought the Mustangs (6-5, 5-2) within three and capped off drives aided by Marshall penalties.

SMU came in eighth in the country with 26 takeaways, but the Herd did not turn the ball over. Meanwhile, Marshall’s Omar Brown had an interception and fumble recovery.

Padron, a true freshman, completed 18 of 32 passes for 225 yards and two TDs, but he was also sacked five times and was hurried eight times.

“We didn’t do a good job of protecting him tonight,” Jones said.

Marshall can solidify its bowl standing with a win next Saturday at UTEP. Kickoff will be 3 p.m. Eastern time.

“We’ve got to stay focused and stay humble,” McClellan said.

“We’re conditionally eligible,” Snyder said. “To put it in concrete, we’ve got to go out and win another game.”

— E-mail: gfauber@

register-herald.com



MARSHALL 34, SMU 31

SMU (6-5) 7 3 7 14 — 31

MU (6-5) 7 3 14 10 — 34

First Quarter

SMU—McNeal 1 run (Szymanski kick), 9:36.

Mar—Ward 2 run (Ratanamorn kick), 3:27.

Second Quarter

Mar—FG Ratanamorn 50, 13:26.

SMU—FG Szymanski 25, 7:47.

Third Quarter

Mar—Edwards-Maye 8 run (Ratanamorn kick), 10:14.

SMU—Sanders 43 pass from Padron (Szymanski kick), 8:41.

Mar—Dobson 40 pass from Anderson (Ratanamorn kick), 5:42.

Fourth Quarter

Mar—FG Ratanamorn 42, 8:55.

SMU—A.Robinson 12 pass from Padron (Szymanski kick), 5:33.

Mar—Dobson 16 pass from Anderson (Ratanamorn kick), 2:01.

SMU—Line 9 run (Szymanski kick), :40.

A—19,646.

SMU Mar

First downs 21 24

Rushes-yards 30-106 51-262

Passing 225 213

Comp-Att-Int 18-32-1 13-22-0

Return Yards 36 35

Punts-Avg. 5-44.8 5-43.8

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-0

Penalties-Yards 5-47 15-144

Time of Possession 25:36 34:24

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—SMU, McNeal 20-82, Line 2-32, Padron 8-(minus 8). Marshall, Ward 25-136, Edwards-Maye 22-113, Anderson 3-14, Team 1-(minus 1).

PASSING—SMU, Padron 18-32-1-225. Marshall, Anderson 13-22-0-213.

RECEIVING—SMU, Sanders 8-94, Beasley 6-94, A.Robinson 3-28, Wilkerson 1-9. Marshall, Dobson 4-127, A.Wilson 4-30, Smith 2-46, C.Walker 1-6, Edwards-Maye 1-2, Ward 1-2.