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Marshall Won by 13 Despite Losing the Game
A weekly, unique recap show for each college football team that played a game. This unique look at what occured has a forward-looking approach and gets you what you need to know. For hardcore fans, casual onlookers and the gambler looking for an edge. Check out the Depth Dossier!
This is the Depth Dossier: the Marshall Thundering Herd, Week 9.
Marshall found a strange way to win by two scores this week, losing the yardage battle and still coming away with a 36 to 23 victory over Old Dominion, thanks to four takeaways and a school record five made field goals.
Let's start with the cap on this one. Marshall's offense completed just eight of eighteen passes and converted only two of fourteen third downs, and it still won by thirteen points because the defense and the kicking game carried the day. Linebacker Kenyatta Hardge set the tone with a strip sack on the second snap of the game, and the defense turned four total takeaways into twenty points. Kicker Jorge Diaz Nicolas made all five of his field goal attempts, a school record. And defensive back Xayvion Turner-Bradshaw turned a short field goal attempt that fell well short into a hundred-yard return touchdown right before halftime. Running back TJ Lester scored twice, including a 49-yard run, on just eight carries. Three different quarterbacks combined for 142 passing yards and a pick six. Head coach Tony Gibson got the win and said the ceiling on this formula is real.
Dig a little deeper, though, and the gap between how Marshall played and how Marshall won is enormous. Old Dominion actually outgained Marshall 409 yards to 338 and won the per-play efficiency battle too, but lost by thirteen points because Marshall won the turnover battle four to one and consistently started drives with better field position. One advanced model still had Marshall's win probability sitting at just under 72 percent after the game, a reminder that this one was closer than the final score suggests.
That Turner-Bradshaw return is the wildest play Marshall's had all season. Old Dominion's 55-yard field goal attempt came up short, Turner-Bradshaw fielded it five yards deep in his own end zone, and a hundred yards later it was in the end zone, Marshall's fifth hundred-yard touchdown in program history.
The run game, meanwhile, was a mess up front even with the scoreboard working out. Marshall averaged just two and a half yards per carry before contact and got stuffed at the line on more than a fifth of its carries. Gibson admitted Old Dominion was, quote, "smothering us at the line of scrimmage at times." Lester's big day covered for it, but it's a small sample worth watching.
A couple more things worth knowing: Diaz Nicolas said he played through something that had him at, in his words, "50 percent," and still went five for five. And Marshall committed twelve penalties for 94 yards, drawing a pointed complaint from Gibson about undisciplined football.
Now to the depth chart, where no injuries were reported. For a game with four turnovers, three quarterbacks, and a dozen penalties, getting through clean on the health front is itself worth noting.
The real story remains the quarterback room, and this game didn't settle anything. Turner started and opened the third quarter, Carlos Del Rio-Wilson took the second quarter with his last snap coming midway through the third, and Khalil Wilkins added a series, completing his only pass for 23 yards and carrying nine times for 21 yards. Nothing is official, but the rotation looks unresolved going forward, and Wilkins' ability to run the ball keeps him relevant no matter who's starting under center.
Diaz Nicolas, after a perfect, record-setting day, looks like as safe a bet as anyone on this roster right now. Turner-Bradshaw is someone to track on both sides of special teams and offense after his return score and a 37-yard catch. Up front, Hardge's two sacks and seven tackles, along with a sack and three pass breakups from Braydin Ward, back up Gibson's excitement about where this defense is headed, and linebacker Brayden Hall's eleven tackles put him in that conversation too. If there's one number to watch going forward, it's the offensive line's performance up front, with four sacks allowed and that line yards figure, if the ground game doesn't get sorted out soon.
This was the depth dossier. For everything college football, be it depth charts, data or dossiers, head over to C F B Depth dot com. We will be back next week. This was an AI-generated podcast from content developed by real human beings passionate about college football.