Sunburned And Hungover

Well, we didn’t drop 70. We didn’t even get close. To be honest, for about 50 of the 60 minutes of today’s game, losing seemed a real possibility. At halftime, I reused a quote one of my friends uttered after last year’s Louisville game: "where are my cyanide pills?" So, as you can tell, the afternoon morning and afternoon didn’t go quite as planned.

Still, we covered the spread and won by 25, so it wasn’t all bad. A ton of observations…

1. The atmosphere of the crowd was generally pretty good. Not only did I not witness any major altercations, I was not involved personally in any major altercations. This is a major accomplishment considering the correlation between how much beer I drink and how much I run my mouth.


2. Marshall fans are generally very nice, but most have a terrible inferiority complex. Unfortunately, there is no consensus on which way to go with this inferiority complex. Today, I was randomly made fun of for being a hillbilly (which I am not), wearing a collared shirt (which I was), wearing a Hollister collared shirt (which I most certainly was not), wearing sunglasses (check), being from Miami of Ohio (what?), and sitting in a chair (comfy). See how retarded this is? They need to have a meeting, pick a strategy, and then go out and start making fun of opposing fans with a clear purpose. Like Pitt and eating shit.


3. The thunderclap is synchronized annoyingness.


4. The most popular shirt today was "Chuck Norris Hates WVU." The creative writing department at Marshall must really suck.

OK, now from the game…


5. The defense needs a scheme overhaul. At this point, our pass coverage can no longer be defended. Every single time we walk onto the football field, we are starting at a disadvantage. Each fan in the stands knows that the other team is eventually going to pick apart or secondary, either with short passes or beating our coverage deep – or both. I don’t have any clue whether we need to go to a 4-3 or a 3-4 or a box and one, but whatever it is, we need to hire a defensive coordinator to bring in his own system and implement the hell out of it. With our speed, we should be feared on defense, not laughed at.


6. Steve Slaton didn’t get off the bus. He might not have even left the hotel. I would like to say that who we saw today was an imposter, but I can’t. Slaton, when we need him most, has been disappearing more and more. Sure, he apparently caught the shuttle to the stadium after halftime, but we can’t keep spotting teams with an entire quarter/half.


7. Noel Devine is the truth. Our team is a much better team when he is involved in either the offense or special teams. It looks like Rodriguez is comfortable enough with him now to give meaningful playing time, which is a good sign. He should be turned loose very soon now.

That’s about all I have for now. We are working on a short week, so I do want to get into Maryland-bashing as soon as possible – we must protect this house! – but expect a few more Marshall comments over the next few days.

And remember, a win is a win. 10/11 more.