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HUNTINGTON — The good news is that North Texas’ offense was the best offense in Conference USA last season. The bad news that the North Texas defense was one of the worst defenses in FBS, if not THE worst. That porous defense led Seth Littell’s bunch to a losing record overall and even in Conference USA, which was not the expectation coming into a season in which they featured one of the nation’s best receivers in Jaelon Darden. Unfortunately for the Mean Green, Darden is gone to the NFL and the defensive problems still are present. Former SMU head coach Phil Bennett takes over the defense, which is a big step forward, but North Texas needs more than Bennett’s expertise to fix a defense that allowed an FBS-worst 43 points while also yielding 522 yards per game. The good news for Bennett is that, from a production standpoint, there are plenty of pieces returning who can help. Up front, All-Conference USA tackle Dion Novil returns and there is young talent at the end spots with Grayson and Gabriel Murphy, but defending the run and getting a more consistent pass rush are pivotal to improving the 2020 numbers. read more: https://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/2021-marshall-football-opponents-north-texas-has-to-improve-defense/article_88448e57-cd3f-5230-9726-58e5c1f6a1be.html

Call it Separation Saturday. Marshall and North Texas did what they do last week. The Herd kept up its stingy defensive ways, in a 35-3 win over Old Dominion. The Mean Green put up 441 yards of offense in a 29-26 win over UTSA, which leads C-USA in total defense. Clearly the class of the league at the moment, Marshall and North Texas stayed atop our rankings as co-No.2s. 2. Marshall (5-1, 2-0): The Herd is the first team in league history (22 years) to not allow a TD in its first two conference games. Up next: Friday, at Middle Tennessee. 2. North Texas (4-2, 3-0): Led by QB Mason Fine and RB Jeffrey Wilson, the high-powered Mean Green are threatening to pull away in the West. Up next: Saturday, at FAU. read more: https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/football/conference-usa-power-ratings-marshall-north-texas-are-separating-from/article_4a5c4a0f-f776-5233-bf49-c24f4a652bd9.html

Marshall government officials do not take to losing very well... http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-politi...day-others

Tough situation for Marshall... http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/ma...5e709.html

Marshall writer is indicating a lot of regret over C-USA membership and indicating they wished thy would have stayed in MAC. http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/ma...bc507.html

Editor's note: This is the eighth part of a series looking ahead to Marshall University football opponents in the 2015 season. North Texas visits Marshall on Oct. 24. HUNTINGTON — As the old addge goes, if you have three quarterbacks, you really have none. There are exceptions to the rule in some cases, such as Marshall University two years ago when it had Rakeem Cato and Blake Frohnapfel. North Texas, however, is not Marshall circa 2013. The Mean Green had three quarterbacks get on the field in 2014 and all of them suffered the same fate of inconsistency. The result was a paltry offense that put the defense on the field for too many snaps, which resulted in a broken down team that crumbled to a 4-8 record. Coming off a nine-win season in 2013, that demise was a complete disappointment — so much so that defensive coordinator John Skladany retired following the season. So, as the 2015 season gets started, there is a major cause for uncertainty. The offense will once again likely have Andrew McNulty at quarterback, but he only came in as the third option during the 2014 season after others faltered. In a perfect world, Dajon Williams or a trio of newcomers would' have likely outperformed McNulty and taken the reins to provide a bit more optimism after McNulty was mediocre at best in 2014. McNulty finished 2014 throwing for 1,295 yards with six touchdowns and seven interceptions in 10 games. With the lack of a bona fide quarterback, teams were able to stack the run against the North Texas offensive front, who also is thin as 2015 begins. read more: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x1311256890/MU-football-opponent-North-Texas-seeking-consistency

Good for him http://wvmetronews.com/2015/07/04/cato-impresses-in-cfl-debut/ " MONTREAL, Quebec – Montreal Alouettes coach Tom Higgins had a hunch and after losing his first two quarterbacks in the opening game of the season, Higgins decided to follow his gut and give former Marshall quarterback Rakeem Cato his first professional start, against the defending Grey Cup Champions, Calgary Stampeders. Cato did not disappoint. Cato completed 20-of-25 pass attempts for 241 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in his first professional football game. Marshall’s most prolific passer was even trending on Twitter in the United States and Canada during the Alouettes first win of the season."

Marshall's president suddenly and unexpectedly passes away last night. http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20141217/DM01/141219264/1276 EDIT: Spell check got me.

The 2014 Conference USA lineup could turn out to be deep if all goes according to plan. A 13-team league this season (Charlotte will join as a full-time member in 2015), C-USA should have no problems filling its five bowl tie-ins. The knowledge that those bowl spots are out there gives WKU added motivation seeing as it came from a league where two of the last three seasons it couldnt get a postseason spot despite a winning record. Theres a lot of stability now where were at, WKU coach Jeff Brohm said. Theres a lot of opportunities if we succeed and do well, so theres a lot of motivation to win, but we also understand that every week its going to be extremely tough and weve just got to take it one game at a time. You hear that a lot, but we have to do that and focus on that and becoming the best players and team we can be. Read more: http://www.bgdailynews.com/sports/wku/marshall-north-texas-frontrunners-in-c-usa/article_02d8d652-3804-547d-9f16-2a22af861d99.html?mode=jqm

http://insider.espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11353717/michigan-wolverines-unranked-teams-start-7-0-college-football?ex_cid=InsiderTwitter_KATZ_UNRANKEDUNDEFEATED&refresh=true

Dennis Parker had no desire to coach football anymore when he resigned four years ago as head coach of Texas Lutheran University. I was tickled to death to be retired, said Parker, who also was a head coach at North Texas State University and part of two high school staffs that won Texas state championships. In 1983, he was the offensive coordinator for Texas state champion Converse Judson. In 1990, he led San Antonio Marshall to a Texas state championship as head coach. Now, Parker has come out of retirement to try and deliver Idabel from the abyss. Hes doing it for just one reason. Its my hometown, Parker said. Parker, a 1968 graduate of Idabel High School, was born in raised there. At age 64, hes returned to his hometown to try and revive a program that hasnt had a winning season since 2006. Idabel has just won three games the past two seasons, including going 1-9 last year. Parker said his brother, Larry, who lives in Idabel, persuaded him to return and take the job. Idabel is a special place, Parker said. I was here for 18 years with five brothers. We had such great memories. We were good in the 60s when I was here. Hopefully, we are going to get Idabel back at the top of the food chain. I think I can build an athletic program across the board and leave a legacy. Read more: http://newsok.com/high-school-football-district-3a-8-preview/article/5196264

Has anyone looked at their schedule? And they get that stud QB back. I don't see a game they won't be favored in! And they get Rice, Muts and WKU at home! Saturday Aug. 30 at Miami (OH) RedHawks Yager Stadium, Oxford, OH TBA --- Saturday Sept. 6 Rhode Island Rams Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Huntington, WV TBA --- Saturday Sept. 13 Ohio Bobcats Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Huntington, WV TBA --- Saturday Sept. 20 at Akron Zips InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field, Akron, OH TBA --- Saturday Sept. 27 --- Open Date --- --- Saturday Oct. 4 at Old Dominion Monarchs Foreman Field, Norfolk, VA TBA --- Saturday Oct. 11 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Huntington, WV TBA --- Saturday Oct. 18 at FIU Golden Panthers FIU Stadium, Miami, FL TBA --- Saturday Oct. 25 Florida Atlantic Owls Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Huntington, WV TBA --- Saturday Nov. 1 --- Open Date --- --- Saturday Nov. 8 at Southern Miss Golden Eagles M.M. Roberts Stadium, Hattiesburg, MS TBA --- Saturday Nov. 15 Rice Owls Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Huntington, WV TBA --- Saturday Nov. 22 at UAB Blazers Legion Field, Birmingham, AL TBA --- Friday Nov. 28 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Huntington, WV TBA --- Saturday Dec. 6 C-USA Championship Game Hosted by team with highest C-USA winning % TBA --- Read more: http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-14/conf-usa/2014-marshall-thundering-herd-football-schedule.php

It's time to quit pretending. Marshall is never going to play in an FBS national championship game like Florida State and Auburn will Monday night. Never ever. At least, not in the current format. Marshall never will reach the four-team playoff that begins after the 2014 regular season. Even if the Herd goes 12-0, it still won't happen. The five power conferences -- SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC -- simply won't allow it. Read More: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x780154967/Marshall-should-get-to-play-for-title-too

Tonight (11/14/13) Marshall Thundering Herd (6-3) @ Tulsa Golden Hurricane (2-7) 7:30 PM EST/6:30 PM CST Fox Sports 1 From MUTeke on the CUSA Board:

Pick a seat, any seat. The catbird's seat. James T. Kirk's command chair on the USS Enterprise. The driver's seat. They all apply to exactly where Marshall's football program is sitting in Conference USA. The Herd is in control of its own destiny. It's that simple. Marshall's 24-23 win over FAU coupled with East Carolina's 36-33 triple overtime loss to Tulane eight days ago means the Herd is the master of its own fate. "We are sitting right where we want to be sitting at this point," said Marshall head coach Doc Holliday. "We control our own destiny." Not just in the East Division, either. If Marshall wins its next six games -- which it should be favored to do -- the Herd would finish 8-0 in league play. Besides giving Marshall the East Division title, it also would allow the Herd to host the C-USA championship game on Dec. 7 in Edwards Stadium. Given the friendly confines of "The Joan," that undoubtedly would make Marshall the favorite to win the C-USA title and represent the league in the Liberty Bowl. Phew, I'm getting dizzy from all those possibilities. I'd better sit down. Scoot over, Shatner. Anyway, that's how the table is set for Marshall. "It feels good," said Alex Bazzie, senior defensive end. "It's like sitting in a brand new car. You get behind that steering wheel and it feels real good, but you can't get too far ahead of yourself or you'll crash. Read more: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x817236193/Marshall-finds-itself-in-control-of-C-USA

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Marshall fans are going to hear it all autumn, especially if their team enjoys its best overall record in 11 years. And they'll hear it if the Thundering Herd shakes its eight-year history of bouncing between 3-5 and 5-3 in Conference USA games. They'll hear it even louder if the Herd plays for the league championship. In light of the latest realignment plate-shifting, the phrase already reverberates around the college football world. Watered down. As in C-USA. As in Marshall's schedule. To hear some tell it, the Herd's path to league contention is not only watered down, it's waterlogged. MAC-like, even. With youthful programs such as Texas-San Antonio, Florida International and Florida Atlantic, the supposedly improved Marshall team has an eight-game cakewalk after September, right? If a few preseason polls and prognostications are to be believed - and that's all we have until the first kickoff - the Herd's league schedule rates about the same, if not a teensy bit tougher than it otherwise would be. Believe it? Read on and you make the call. After eight years of stability, C-USA bid farewell to defending East Division champion Central Florida, Southern Methodist, Houston and Memphis, now residents of the American Athletic Conference. Coming on board are UTSA, FIU, FAU, Middle Tennessee, North Texas and Louisiana Tech. Of course, Marshall can't play everybody in a 14-team league, and it won't play five teams in what seems to be an inferior West Division. Then again, the Herd plays prohibitive West favorite Tulsa, on the road with a short week to prepare. To compare, let's look at the schedule that might have been, had there been no realignment. The schedule to peruse is not that of 2012, but rather 2009. Why? The 2013 league matchups would have followed the C-USA rotation set in 2005 and renewed in 2009. In the 12-team setup, each team had three cross-division games per year, neatly rotated so that all East teams would face all West teams twice in a four-year span, home and away. In 2009, Marshall played division rivals UCF, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, Alabama-Birmingham and East Carolina as usual. From the West Division, the Herd played SMU at home and Texas-El Paso and Tulane on the road. This fall, the East Division includes Southern Miss, UAB and ECU, along with newbies Middle Tennessee, FIU and FAU. MU's cross-division foes are UTSA at home and Tulsa on the road. Read more: http://www.wvgazette.com/Sports/201308010194?page=1

So, fireworks or dud? The moves aren't "Dawg Dazzle" quality, but they are better than the fireworks we let off in our backyards. And they certainly aren't duds. The emphasis was on growth and television markets. FIU (48,000 students), North Texas (36,305) UT-San Antonio (30,474), FAU (30,000), Charlotte (26,232) and Old Dominion (24,753) are up and coming schools with growing enrollments. Among the departing members, only UCF (59,490), Houston (40,747) and East Carolina (26,900) had larger enrollments. As for television markets, six of the eight largest markets in C-USA will belong to first-year members. Besides, although conference reconfiguration was football-driven, the updated Conference USA will be stronger in basketball than the old version. Overall, C-USA leadership did as well as reasonably could be expected. That's worthy of at least Camden Park-quality fireworks. AAC: Even the acronym sounds like someone gagging. Everyone that mattered has bailed, including Syracuse, Pittsburgh, the Catholic Seven basketball schools, Louisville and Rutgers (2014), while TCU, Boise State and San Diego State became no-shows. Read more: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x1489432505/A-look-at-changes-to-college-athletics

HUNTINGTON July 1, 2013, marks a new beginning for Conference USA. Eight established members are officially joined Monday by eight newcomers in the new C-USA alignment. Marshall, East Carolina, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB and UTEP welcome Charlotte, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas, Old Dominion and UT-San Antonio to the league. Were really excited at Marshall with our new members coming in, Thundering Herd mens basketball head coach Tom Herrion said in a video clip on ConferenceUSA.com. I think its the first time our fan base has felt so energized because of the regional games the new membership provides to our fan base. I think its so valuable to us and its only going to enhance our enthusiasm for Conference USA. Old Dominion and Charlotte will compete in all C-USA sports this year except football. The Monarchs and 49ers are schools in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) the level formerly known as NCAA Division I-AA until moving up to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level and entering C-USA competition in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Even in the transformation and expansion of Conference USA, which becomes official today, Marshall Athletic Director Mike Hamrick said the conference has come closer to his university's campus. "We stayed put and monitored what was going on in Conference USA, and it came closer to us," he said. "The conference has come back, geographically, to us." Many of Marshall's new neighbors, plus another arrival next year, are stationed much closer to Huntington, something that makes Marshall feel like less of a C-USA outpost. When the clock struck midnight today, Houston, the University of Central Florida, Southern Methodist University and Memphis all depart for the new American Athletic Conference. In their place come Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, Middle Tennessee State University, Old Dominion, Charlotte, Louisiana Tech, North Texas and the University of Texas at San Antonio. In 2014, the conference will say good-bye to Tulsa, East Carolina and Tulane, all headed to the American as well, and welcomes Western Kentucky. Marshall has been a C-USA member since 2005. The conference has been busy with the transition. It unveiled last week a new-look website and logo that had a few alterations from the previous one. On social media, C-USA has been introducing its new members and, on Sunday, offered its farewell and thanks to the four schools departing this year. Read more: http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/201306300116

PARKERSBURG - The dizzying pace of conference realignment has subsided and for Marshall University, that means regional ties with members of Conference USA. Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick, football coach Doc Holliday and men's basketball coach Tom Herrion were among the representatives from the Marshall athletic department who were on hand for the meet-and-greet with Thundering Herd fans at Wednesday's Rally in the Alley conducted in the lot behind North End Tavern. "With conference realignment, Conference USA becomes more of a regional conference," Hamrick said. "With schools such as Charlotte, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky and Old Dominion, we now have schools that our fans can drive to. In old Conference USA, you had to get on a plane and go." Exiting what used to be a 12-team C-USA are Central Florida, Southern Methodist, Memphis and Houston. For the 2013-2014 academic year, the league will consist of 16 schools. Newcomers include Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas, Old Dominion, Texas-San Antonio and UNC-Charlotte. One year from now, the conference will experience a slight shift as Tulane, East Carolina and Tulsa depart. Western Kentucky's arrival will bring the total number of members to 14 schools. "Western Kentucky is right down the road; Middle Tennessee is close and Charlotte is an easy drive -plus we still have two games in Florida with two south Florida teams which is a big part of our recruiting base," Holliday said. "If you draw a circle around a six-hour radius around the campuses, there are a lot of good football players. Read more: http://newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/574575/Realignment-part-of-main-course-at-Rally.html?nav=5063

http://marshall.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2236&tid=181648469&mid=181648469&sid=1082&style=2

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- It was only a matter of time before the waves of conference realignment crashed onto the shores of the Ohio River again. Who'd a thought it would be a Green Wave, though? The ripple effect of Maryland and Rutgers abandoning the ACC and Big East, respectively, reached Conference USA early Tuesday. Marshall lost longtime rival East Carolina, which is joining the Big East in football only starting in 2014, and Tulane, a surprising all-sports addition to the Big East. That means six of the 12 teams competing in Conference USA football and basketball this season are set to leave the league after this season or next. Don't fret, Herd fans. Here's a 14-team scenario that looks like an intriguing and geographically-appealing conference, provided there's no more trickle down from the major players when - not if - Cincinnati, Connecticut and Louisville relocate. How about Marshall in a seven-team division with Charlotte, FAU, FIU, Old Dominion, UAB and either Middle Tennessee State or Western Kentucky? MTSU, by the way, makes more sense, especially if you're in the belief that television markets carry clout beyond the power conferences (That's you, Nashville). The West Division could then boast Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulsa, UTEP and UTSA. FAU - that's Florida Atlantic University located in Boca Raton - and Miami's FIU (Florida International University) will give Marshall's football program a guaranteed trip to the Sunshine State every year. FIU one year, FAU the next. All those southern Florida speedsters can play in front of family and friends four times in four years, not counting bowl games. That's a nice little recruiting pitch for Coach Doc Holliday. Read more: http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/201211270162

http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=572151 I know a lot of our fans wanted to see him come to North Texas. Now we will get to see how he fares against Coach Pete in C-USA.