HUNTINGTON — Finally taking advantage of one of several opportunities, Marshall was able to walk away with a win.

After starting in Rice territory for the third time in four drives, Tron Martinez’s 4-yard touchdown run with 1:42 to play gave the Thundering Herd a 24-20 win over Rice Saturday at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

Marshall (3-4, 2-1 Conference USA) got a much-needed conference win, keeping pace with East Carolina atop the East Division. Coach Doc Holliday went as far as calling it a “must-win game.”

They did so with quarterback A.J. Graham making his first career start.

Graham at least appeared to bring a new dimension to the Marshall offense. His 15-yard run for the first score of the game was the Herd’s first rushing touchdown of the season.

The Tallahassee, Fla., native added another in the second quarter and finished with 129 yards on 20 carries. He was the first Herd quarterback to run for 100 yards since Bernie Morris in an upset win over Chris Johnson and ECU on Nov. 10, 2007.

“It (the running game) looked a lot better, didn’t it?” Holliday said. “A.J. enabled our running backs and opened up the running game.”

Marshall entered the game eighth in C-USA at 85.5 rush yards per game but rolled up 217 against Rice (2-4, 1-2).

“I pretty much played pretty well,” Graham said. “I’ve got to get back in the film room and see what’s going on with my passing a little bit, but for the most part, I feel pretty good.”

As effective as he was with his legs, Graham struggled at times in the passing game. He completed 12 of 23 throws for just 110 yards. He did throw one interception, although it was tipped before Rice’s Paul Porras came away with it at the Owls’ 8-yard line.

Graham was starting in place of Rakeem Cato, who was benched after starting the first six games. Cato did play two series; he was a combined 2 of 4 for 1 yard.

One of the series Cato played started at the Rice 49 after Jermaine Kelson got a hand on a punt. But the true freshman threw a screen pass to Martinez that lost 5 yards and then threw incomplete on a pass that fell nowhere near an open receiver — or defender.

On the first play of Rice’s next drive, Sam McGuffie was stripped by Curry after an 8-yard gain. Monterius Lovett recovered at the 23, and Graham engineered his first game-winning drive.

It appeared at first that Marshall was playing for a tie, with short runs on first and second down. But Graham connected with Antavious Wilson for an 11-yard gain and first down at the 12.

Graham ran for 8 yards before Martinez ran for his first TD of the season.

The once-again inconsistent offense gave Rice time to get back in it.

The Owls scored on both of their third-quarter possessions. The first was a 49-yard pass from starting quarterback Taylor McHargue to Vance McDonald that made it a 17-13 game.

Rice went up 20-17 on McGuffie’s 4-yard run on an option pitch with 4:08 left in the third quarter.

With McHargue behind center, Rice had trouble moving the ball. McHargue was sacked on third down by Vinny Curry on each of the Owls’ first two possessions.

But Rice coach David Bailiff entered Turner Petersen in wildcat-like situations, and the offense looked more fluid in the second half.

But when McHargue was knocked out of the game after he was leveled at the end of a 4-yard gain in the fourth quarter, he was replaced by backup Nick Vanuzzi.

No contest against Curry and the Herd defense.

His first snap resulted in a quick throw-away on third-and-5 at the 16. He then tried to orchestrate a game-winning drive after the Martinez touchdown. He completed an 11-yard pass to Luke Willson on first down, but he threw incomplete on the next play, ran for a yard on third down and was sacked for a 4-yard loss by George Carpenter and — who else? — Curry on third down.

Fanuzzi’s fourth-down pass was dropped by McDonald, and the Herd had the win after a pair of kneel-downs by Graham.

Curry finished with nine tackles, including 3 1/2 sacks and four for loss. He also had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

“That was a hard loss when you have the ball late in the fourth quarter, and you talk about grinding it out and run the time off the clock, coming into town and trying to get out with a win,” Bailiff said. “We started slow, but we really had worked our way back into this football game.”

The final two seconds of the first half took an almost comical turn.

Wilson was initially ruled out of bounds as he made a catch on the right sideline. But officials changed their call without the benefit of a review, giving Wilson a 13-yard catch good for a first down at the Rice 28.

The play was then reviewed, and confirmed.

Tyler Warner came on to attempt a 45-yard field goal, but the Owls called both of their remaining timeouts. The second was granted as Warner missed wide left.

Warner got a gift second chance and nailed the kick for a 17-6 Marshall lead at the break.

Marshall will visit No. 25 Houston next Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time. The game can be seen on WSAZ-TV 3. The Cougars (6-0, 2-0) were idle this weekend.

— E-mail: gfauber@register-herald.com



Marshall 24, Rice 20

Rice    0    6    14    0    —    20

Marshall    7    10    0    7    —    24

First Quarter

Mar—Graham 15 run (Warner kick), 4:56.

Second Quarter

Mar—Graham 5 run (Warner kick), 13:17.

Rice—FG Boswell 35, 8:47.

Rice—FG Boswell 24, 1:12.

Mar—FG Warner 45, :00.

Third Quarter

Rice—McDonald 49 pass from McHargue (Boswell kick), 8:57.

Rice—McGuffie 4 run (Boswell kick), 4:08.

Fourth Quarter

Mar—Martinez 4 run (Warner kick), 1:49.

A—27,509.

    Rice    Mar

First downs    20    19

Rushes-yards    41-194    43-217

Passing    167    111

Comp-Att-Int    12-21-0    14-27-1

Return Yards    0    15

Punts-Avg.    6-40.8    7-40.1

Fumbles-Lost    2-2    1-0

Penalties-Yards    5-35    3-20

TOP    31:27    28:33

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Rice, McGuffie 10-70, Petersen 7-55, T.Smith 5-39, McHargue 17-33, Fanuzzi 2-(minus 3). Marshall, Graham 20-129, Martinez 12-58, Van 9-34, Team 2-(minus 4).

PASSING—Rice, McHargue 10-16-0-150, Fanuzzi 1-4-0-11, Petersen 1-1-0-6. Marshall, Graham 12-23-1-110, Cato 2-4-0-1.

RECEIVING—Rice, T.Smith 4-41, McDonald 3-68, Hull 2-44, Willson 1-11, Gautreaux 1-4, McGuffie 1-(minus 1). Marshall, T.Evans 4-22, A.Wilson 3-37, Kelson 3-18, Booker 1-32, Dobson 1-4, Hoskins 1-3, Martinez 1-(minus 5).