Topic: Gazette: Where’s that MU defense been hiding?

[ZackUSAF82]

By Mitch Vingle
Sports Editor

HUNTINGTON — It’s a twist on that old sports joke: I went to a Marshall game and a defense broke out. A Marshall defense. A Marshall defense that was ranked low among Conference USA defenses that are usually more porous than fish nets.

The Thundering Herd, mired in the cellar of the C-USA East Division, tripped up division leader East Carolina by lifting its green curtain.

MU, by virtue of its 26-7 win, gave second-place Central Florida a present.

More importantly to the folks around here, though, it gave Thundering Herd fans a present. An announced crowd of 26,718 showed on Saturday. Thanks, said the performance, for continuing to support a former 1-8 team. Here ya go.

Defensively, it was Marshall’s best defensive performance since allowing 24 points in a loss to Memphis and 21 in the win over Rice. Was it mind-blowing? In a way, yes. East Carolina was scoring at a 32-points-a-game clip. The Pirates were held to seven. In a way, no. In total offense, ECU entered the game ranked 10th in total offense within C-USA.

But the big question was, where the heck did that come from? And where was it the previous nine games? Keep in mind that standout Josh Johnson remains out, and know that coach Mark Snyder surprisingly started freshman D.J. Wingate and junior J.J. Johnson at the cornerback positions.

Link: http://wvgazette.com/section/Sports/Marshall/2007111044