The Marshall Thundering Herd and the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders square off Saturday night in C-USA college football action from Red Floyd Stadium.
The Marshall Thundering Herd will look to bounce back from a 31-30 loss at the hands of Appalachian State in their last game. Grant Wells has thrown for 1,380 yards, 5 touchdowns and 5 picks on 64% passing while Rasheen Ali leads the Herd with 376 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns this season. Corey Gammage leads Marshall’s receivers with 25 catches for 365 yards while Xavier Gaines and Talik Keaton each have 200+ receiving yards and another three members of the Herd have 100+ receiving yards on the year. On defense, Abraham Beauplan has a team-high 40 total tackles while Eli Neal has 3 sacks and Marshall has a combined 18 sacks as a team this year.
The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders will try to rebound from a 42-39 loss to Charlotte last time out. Chase Cunningham’s tossed for 638 yards and 8 touchdowns on 67.1% passing while Bailey Hockman’s thrown for 463 yards, 4 touchdowns and a pair of INTs on 62.1% passing. Jimmy Marshall leads MTSU with 250 receiving yards while Jarrin Pierce, Jaylin Lane and DJ England-Chisolm each have 100+ receiving yards on the year. On defense, Reed Blankenship has a team-high 39 total tackles while Jordan Ferguson has a pair of sacks.
Marshall is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games against a team with a losing record. Middle Tennessee is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games as an underdog while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 conference games.
I still have a bit of PTSD with the Herd after blowing that huge 4th quarter lead against East Carolina, and to be honest, that may be something I can’t get over the rest of the season. With that said, the Herd are still one of the better defensive units in the country and I expect the Blue Raiders to struggle here. I don’t think Marshall runs away with this game either though, so I’ll side with the under in this spot.