Oct. 25, 2005
 
Mistakes Doom Herd in 31-3 Loss to UTEP
 
By Grant Traylor
Huntington News Network
 
El Paso, Texas (HNN)—Marshall’s offensive problems in the first half continued on Saturday and spilled into the second half as they fell 31-3 to UTEP in El Paso.
 
Marshall ran its streak of consecutive games without points in the first quarter to five while falling behind 10-0 early on.
 
“We’re just not executing when we get down here,” Marshall coach Mark Snyder said. “We had some third down problems today, which we hadn’t been having. That combined with red zone inefficiencies, it needs to get fixed in a hurry.”
 
Oddly enough, Marshall controlled the ball for 32:10 and ran for 215 yards on the afternoon, but still only came away with three points on the afternoon.
 
Marshall went into UTEP territory on six possessions, losing the ball on downs twice, punting twice, and attempting two field goals with one being successful.
 
The Thundering Herd’s bugaboo on Saturday was converting on third-down. At one stretch of the contest, Marshall failed to convert 10 straight third-down opportunities, finishing 2-of-15 for the game.
 
Nine of the 15 third-down opportunities were from long-distance situations, meaning over seven yards or more. The offensive inconsistency made fort long situations that resulted in seven punts by Marty Biagi.
 
While Marshall could not capitalize on its opportunities Saturday, UTEP took full advantage, scoring 14 points off of Marshall miscues.
 
One momentum change in the contest occurred at the 4:24 mark of the first quarter when Biagi’s punt hit off of UTEP’s Emeri Spence and into the arms of Donte Newsome.
 
The situation gave Marshall possession at the UTEP 39, trailing only 3-0. However, Marshall gained only four yards in three plays and Ian O’Connor’s 51-yard field goal sailed left, giving UTEP possession at the 35-yard line.
 
Seven plays later, UTEP quarterback Jordan Palmer hit Marcus Thomas on a 22-yard screen pass to put the Miners up 10-0 and get the 51,500 fans at the Sun Bowl back into the game.
 
“We have a turnover, they score a touchdown,” Snyder said. “We have a punt muff recovered, we get no points out of it. We get an interception and we get no points out of it. That is very deflating to a football team. It has got to get fixed.”
 
Once again, Marshall had an opportunity to answer the Miners call, but the Thundering Herd had to settle for a 27-yard O’Connor field goal after failing to convert on third-and-1 from the UTEP 11.
 
Trailing 10-3, Marshall got possession back with the opportunity to tie the game, but quarterback Bernie Morris was intercepted, giving UTEP the ball on Marshall’s 40-yard line.
 
Palmer, the younger brother of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer, then made Marshall pay when he hit Johnny Lee Higgins for a 29-yard touchdown just over the out-stretched fingers of freshman nickel back J.J. Johnson.
 
“We had double-coverage on it,” Snyder said. “Where the other guy was, I have no idea. That was the call—‘Double Higgins’—there should have been a safety over the top, but the safety was not there.”
 
The score gave UTEP a 17-3 lead at the half and the momentum carried through the third quarter with the Miners scoring two touchdowns to finish off Marshall.
 
The third quarter looked similar to that of Virginia Tech in which mental mistakes gave the opposition an opportunity to capitalize and put the game out of reach quickly.
 
Within a span of six minutes, Palmer hit tight end Jamar Hunt for a touchdown and Matt Austin scored on a 2-yard run to set the final score.
 
Ahmad Bradshaw led the Marshall offense with 133 yards on 17 carries. Bradshaw did not have a carry for a loss in the contest.
 
“I’ve been noticing the leadership out there during the game and I don’t see a bunch out there,” Snyder said. “Ahmad is the guy that is providing that for us.”
 
Marshall missed much of their leadership during Saturday’s contest with Wilbur Hargrove recovering from an emergency appendectomy Saturday morning and Chris Royal sidelined for much of the contest for what Snyder called a breaking of “team rules.”
 
The Thundering Herd will look for its first win on the road this season when they travel to Mobile, Ala. to battle Tulane Saturday.