Mark Snyder, Et. Al., Are Delusional

Usually, I would just write-off a bad Chuck Landon article as Chuck being Chuck. He's just so far gone that there's not much use even making fun of him.

But this latest article is not Chuck being Chuck. Chuck isn't even the problem with this article. No, the problem of this article is a much bigger deal than the mere Chuck Landon: it's Mark Snyder, head coach of Marshall.

Let's take a closer look.

MU coaches saw positives in loss

I could see a lot of positives in a 28 point loss too, if I were on acid.

MIAMI - Mark Snyder wasn't happy.

Don't entertain that inane notion for even part of a minute.

The ultra-competitive Marshall University head football coach never will be content with losing, 31-3, like his Herd did Saturday against the Miami Hurricanes before 39,830 fans in the Orange Bowl.

This all seems pretty reasonable. Who would be content with losing 31-3?

Yet, there was a discernible difference in Snyder's demeanor during his post-game press conference.

Despite MU not scoring a touchdown, committing four turnover [sic] and incurring 12 penalties, Snyder actually was - gasp - encouraged by the Herd's season-opening performance.

Here's where everything goes very, very wrong.

Take a look at the first part of this sentence: " Despite MU not scoring a touchdown, committing four turnover [sic] and incurring 12 penalties..." This is basically the worst-case scenario for a team in any game, no matter who you're playing. The only thing worse is if the bus broke down on the way to the game and the team had to forfeit.

Then how in the world are you encouraged by any of this? Because the bus didn't break down? I would be encouraged with the bus company on that one, not my football team.

"I'm not happy about it," said Snyder emphasizing that point. "I'm not saying that. But I'm encouraged about my team, yeah. It's no moral victory or anything like that. I'm still PO'd I got beat. But I think we're a better football team.

A better football team than what? Last year? Would last year have scored less? Maybe 2? 0? Negative 4? Was last year's team so bad they would have intentionally sabotaged the bus? How damnit?!?!

"Standing on that sideline, I've got more options to go to, I've got more weapons. We've just got to make sure we bring it all together. I told the kids, 'Don't be happy that we got beat, because we got beat.' We've beaten teams like this before.

I'm not 100% sure they have beaten teams like that before.

Since 2005, when Mark Snyder took over as head coach, here is the list of teams that Marshall has beaten:

William & Mary
SMU
UAB
Tulane
Hofstra
UAB (again)
Memphis
Tulane (again)
UTEP

Do you see Miami on that list? Do you see any BCS schools on that last? So I guess I AM 100% sure they have not beaten teams like that before.

"We're just not quite there yet."

Indeed, they're not. That was obvious last Saturday and it will be obvious again this Saturday when Marshall is host to No. 3 West Virginia University at Edwards Stadium. The Herd simply isn't good enough yet to beat such high-profile programs.

This job isn't as fun when Chuck Landon and Mark Snyder are doing my job for me.

Count standout senior center Doug Legursky among the encouraged, also.

"We showed a lot of good things," said the Beckley native. "We moved the ball like crazy (234 yards total offense). Our defense had some great stops. We were pretty good on special teams today. We had a lot of things that we can build on. That's just what we have to do."

You know your program sucks when "moving the ball like crazy" means 234 yards total offense. You also know your program sucks when "our defense had some great stops" means giving up 31 points. Lastly, you know your program sucks when it says Marshall on your jersey.