Topic: H-D: Thundering Herd rolls to 26-7 win over ECU

[ZackUSAF82]

By ANTHONY HANSHEW
The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON -- In the highest of compliments to a 1-8 team, Marshall University never looked the part of a seven-point underdog.

Aggressive from Saturday's opening kick, the Thundering Herd controlled throughout in a 26-7 victory over East Carolina before 26,718 fans at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Quarterback Bernard Morris again produced big plays, while the defense locked down an ECU attack averaging 32 points a game.

Marshall (2-8, 2-4 Conference USA) parlayed long drives into a convincing, clinical win. East Carolina (6-5, 5-2) nearly was doubled in total offense, 477-259, losing the line of scrimmage battle on both sides.

The totality of Marshall's victory was impressive on dual fronts. East Carolina controlled its C-USA East Division destiny while the Thundering Herd was coming off its most disappointing performance of 2007, a lopsided loss at Central Florida.

"I was pretty hard on these guys this week at practice, really hard on them," Marshall head coach Mark Snyder said. "I wanted to gauge exactly where this program was and how much work we had to do.

Link: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x293036250