By Gary Fauber
Only three times since the Marshall plane crash of 1970 has the Thundering Herd played a football game on the anniversary of that tragedy.
No. 4 will happen Saturday, when Marshall hosts Southern Miss at 4:30 p.m.
Marshall won two of the previous Nov. 14 games, including the last time it happened, a 52-14 win over Tennessee Tech in 1992. The Herd went on to win the Division I-AA national championship more than a month later.
The first time Marshall played a game on the anniversary, it lost 38-28 to Western Carolina in 1981. Exactly six years later, the Herd turned the tables on the Catamounts, winning 47-16.
All three of those games were in Huntington.
As always, the 75 people who perished aboard Southern Airways Flight 932 will be remembered during a service at the Memorial Student Center Plaza. The water that flows through the Memorial Fountain will be turned off for the winter.
The service is set to begin at noon.
Joe Gillette, a 1973 Marshall graduate now living in Atlanta, will be the keynote speaker. A shoulder injury kept Gillette, a freshman in 1969, off the 1970 team.
Among other speakers will be Marshall athletic director Mike Hamrick, who played football at Marshall from 1976 to 1980.
At 4:30, everyone’s focus will shift to football.
The Herd (5-4, 3-2 Conference USA) will be coming off a bye week, trying to get past arguably the worst loss of the Mark Snyder coaching era. Marshall led UCF 20-14 before Knights receiver Rocky Ross had an island unto himself on a 1-yard touchdown catch with 23 seconds remaining.
The loss — more precisely, the way the loss happened — has opened Snyder to perhaps more criticism than he has endured during his tenuous five seasons as Marshall’s coach.
Meanwhile, Southern Miss (5-4, 3-2) has a realistic shot at the league’s East Division title. If the Eagles and leader East Carolina both win their next two games, then their meeting on Nov. 28 will decide the division champion.
“It’s good for us,” Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora said. “We’re sitting here in November and all of our goals are still sitting right in front of us. There are a lot of teams in this country right now that have no chance of reaching their goals. We feel very fortunate and excited about that opportunity because everything we’ve worked for is still sitting right in front of us.”
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Marshall kicker Craig Ratanamorn is one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award, it was announced Monday. The award is given to the top kicker in college football.
Ratanamorn, a senior from Wichita, Kan., is a perfect 11 of 11 on field goals and 22 of 22 on extra points this season. He is the only kicker in the nation with at least 10 made field goals who has not missed this season. He is also the only C-USA kicker to make the list.
Semifinalists will be voted on by all Division I head coaches and sports information directors, along with national, regional and local football writers and others who will select the three finalists. These finalists will be honored at the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Awards Banquet on Dec. 8 in West Palm Beach, Fla. The winner will be announced live on the nationally televised Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show Dec. 10.
— On the Internet: www.lougrozaaward.com
