Thoughts on the day of the Marshall game

A couple (maybe three things)

First, I woke up this morning with a slight concern. The hype is really starting to get going for the Boise trip to the Doyt next Saturday. It is looking like we will sell out, and if the weather is good, the whole tailgate experience will be just awesome. I just hope that our guys (of all people) don't look past Marshall today in their anticipation of playing a Top Ten team on our field.

Second, I have been thinking about our history of playing Marshall. During UM one, we played a very good Marshall team very tough down there, and there was another year (1998) when the Falcons delivered a 34-13 pasting at the Doyt of a Herd team in their glory years.

I think most current Falcons fans remember the last game Marshall played as a member of the MAC. It was 2004, and underachieving year for our Falcon team. Omar was at QB, and the Falcons sent Marshall out in style, with a 56-35 defeat of the Herd. It was a very good day to be a Falcon, punctuated by Bowling Green having the ball on the Marshall 2 inside the last minute and going into victory formation...no better way to show your opponent who is really the boss.

These are highlights. In fact, Marshall has played very well against us and has won 3 of the last 4.

Marshall is an interesting chapter in the history of MAC football. We brought them in from I-AA (they were an early MAC member and were kicked out), and they brought people like Randy Moss and Chad Pennington with them. They were easy to hate--Pruett was like a character in Cannonball Run and their basketball coach was a dick too. They were from West Virginia, not the Great Lakes. It was just a toxic mix.

I don't know if we knew it at the time, but they were just in the MAC for a short time. They moved "up" to Conference USA, where their program has immediately languished. They were already fading before they left the MAC, and the fade simply continued. I guess I think they are a better fit for C-USA than the MAC, but I don't regret their admission into the conference as much as I do Central Florida's.

Anyway, it will be an interesting game, and a chance to see where things have gone.