West Virginia vs. Marshall Football 2009
Mountaineers Host the Thundering Herd in The Friends of Coal Bowl
This game may not be viewed as a large rivalry to the nation since the Mountaineers have not ever lost to the Herd, but this series is very big in the state of West Virginia.
The Friends of Coal Bowl is the biggest rivalry game for Marshall since it has recently moved to Conference USA and does not have any big rivals since the move. WVU, on the other hand, has the Backyard Brawl with Pittsburgh and the Battle for the Schwartzwalder Trophy with Syracuse.
This may not seem as a big challenge for the Mountaineers, but they should not underestimate their opponents. Although Marshall does not have the talent of the players in Morgantown, the Herd will certainly come out and play hard this weekend.
West Virginia is 5-1 and seems as a top contender for the Big East title, while Marshall is 4-2 and may also still have a chance of winning Conference USA.
The Herd’s two losses came to East Carolina and a blowout by Virginia Tech. West Virginia, on the other hand, defeated East Carolina this year and may be able to blowout Marshall just as Virginia Tech did.
WVU has a strong offense led by quarterback Jarrett Brown and tailback Noel Devine. They should be able to put up a lot of points this weekend as long as they do not turn the ball over.
The Mountaineers have been plagued by turnovers so far this season and would be undefeated if they could take care of the ball. Head coach Bill Stewart has seemed to help his team work harder on preventing turnovers as they did not make many mistakes in their victory last week over Syracuse.
Two of the Nation’s Top Running Backs
Devine has led WVU’s powerful rushing attack with 631 yards and seven touchdowns in five games. Marshall’s running game has also played solid so far with Darius Marshall gaining 737 yards and nine touchdowns this season.
Marshall was one of 12 players added last week to the 2009 watch list for the Maxwell Award. However, he will likely not be able to run the ball as well this weekend against a WVU defense that only allows 84.6 rushing yards a game, which is tenth best in the nation.
MU quarterback Brian Anderson has also improved since last year, but again West Virginia should likely be able to shut him down the way that Virginia Tech did. Last week, WVU shut down Greg Paulus and it caused for Syracuse to pull him in the second half.
Mountaineers Win Big Over Thundering Herd
The Mountaineers are sure to be too strong for the Herd this weekend, but it should not discourage Marshall coach Mark Snyder. The Herd still can win their conference this year and should make a bowl this season. Snyder has not yet taken Marshall to a bowl since he took over the team.
Both teams will come out motivated and play hard, but the overall talent of West Virginia will be the key difference in this matchup.
They should win this by more than two touchdowns and will likely get backup quarterback Geno Smith some snaps in this game. Smith played in the fourth quarter last week in the Mountaineers’ big win over the Orange.
This game should be a blowout, but both teams are strong in their conferences and are destined for a successful season overall. This game is big for fans of both teams and also for the state of West Virginia.
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