TAMPA—
The Marshall Thundering Herd defeated the University of South Florida Bulls, 38-20, in the 2018 Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl. Marshall generally outclassed the Bulls, who were playing in their home stadium.
The Herd brought the thunder on the first play from scrimmage. Beginning at the Marshall 25 yard line, Brenden Knox took a handoff 43 yards to the USF 32. USF’s defense held, though, forcing Marshall to try and convert on a 4th and 7 on the USF 29. The attempt failed and the Bulls began their drive on the same spot. That drive would end in a punt, as would the next two drives.
Marshall would break the stalemate on a ten yard touchdown run by quarterback, Isaiah Green with 5:20 remaining in the first quarter. That touchdown was set up in part by 11 and 27 yard passes to Xavier Gaines, which got them into Bulls’ territory. Marshall was on the scoreboard, leading 7-0.
USF quarterback, Blake Barnett, came into the game on the following possession. Chris Oladokun had gotten the start in place of Barnett, and had played on the first two drives. The transition to Barnett did not go smoothly. On first down, he was quickly sacked for a seven yard loss. The next snap was over his head, falling behind him for a ruled fumble. Marshall’s Darius Hodge recovered the fumble and nearly scored, falling to Johnny Ford’s tackle at the one yard line. One play later, the Thundering Herd were up, 14-0 over the Bulls.
On the subsequent drive, the ball was handed off to Ford three times in a row. The fourth play of the drive was a hand off to Jordan Cronkrite. Then, wide receiver, Tyre McCants, lined up in the wildcat formation. On his first play, he ran right for a three yard pickup. He lined up the same way on the next snap, this time completing a 38 yard touchdown pass to Randall St. Felix. With 2:43 left in the first quarter, the Bulls trailed, 14-7.
Marshall had a quick reply. Three plays into their next possession, Green connected with Tyre Brady for a 42 yard reception to the USF 22 yard line. The next play, Brady took a handoff 14 yards to the Bulls’ eight yard line. Then, it was Knox who carried the ball the final eight yards for the Thundering Herd’s third touchdown of the quarter. With just 25 seconds left in the quarter, Marshall led, 21-7.
The two teams played a field position battle for the first 12 minutes of the second quarter. Marshall won that battle, pinning the Bulls deep on their own one yard line. Unable to move the chains, Trent Schneider ended up punting 39 yards to the USF 45 yard line. The punt was returned, however, by Marcel Williams to the USF 17 yard line. Two plays later, Willie Johnson carried the ball 14 yards to the USF five yard line. Davis would finish off the touchdown drive with a five yard run on the following play. With 1:30 left in the half, Marshall was leading by a score of 28-7.
USF would respond with a scoring possession of their own. On the third play of the drive, Barnett scrambled for a 14 yard gain. The next play, he connected with tight end, Mitchell Wilcox, who made a beautiful diving catch for a 27 yard gain. Two plays later, Stanley Cleveaux makes a 25 yard catch to get the Bulls to the Marshall four yard line. The drive would stall, though, and the Bulls chose to kick a 22 yard field goal. At the halftime break, the Thundering Herd led, 28-10.
The Bulls got first possession in the second half. That drive featured 19 and 29 yard catches by St. Felix. Once again, however, they would stall in Marshall territory, and opting to kick a field goal. The 31 yard attempt was good, and the score with nine minutes to go in the third quarter was Marshall 28, Bulls 13.
Marshall answered with a field goal of their own on the next possession. Theirs was a 28 yard field goal, set up in part by a 19 yard run by Brady and a 14 yard catch by Williams. 31-13 was the score with 5:19 remaining in the third quarter.
USF would respond with their second touchdown of the game, a 33 yard pass to St. Felix. On the prior play, St. Felix rushed for 24 yards to Marshall 33 yard line. The Bulls trailed Marshall, 31-20.
On their first drive of the fourth quarter, Davis took the ball 16 yards for the final score of the game. Marshall would lead, 38-20, but were in position to score once more, opting to take a knee, instead.
The Bulls were outgained by Marshall, 503 yards to 360. Most of that difference can be attributed to lack of run game exhibited by the Bulls. They had just 92 rushing yards in the game.
After the game, head football coach, Charlie Strong, spoke to the media.
“Well you look back over the season, and you started off at 7-0 and then losing six games in a row,” he said. “It’s really tough when you, uh, you go off and start off so well and then you finish the way we did. I hate it for the seniors. They put so much into this program. They’ve done so much for the program.
“You wanted to go out and just win this game and stop the slide. Well then, when you don’t tackle will and you don’t execute, you don’t play well. We’ve got an offseason to look forward to now. The group that’s coming back knows there is a lot of work to do.”
When asked for something for fans to look forward to next season, Strong said, ”You go into an offseason now, you lose six in a row, but you did win seven.” He then proceeded to list off all of the players that have left the team since last season.
The game set a lot of new records. Marshall set or tied Gasparilla Bowl records for most points scored in the first quarter of a game (21), most points scored in any quarter of a game (21), most rushing touchdowns in a game (5), most time of possession (36:14), and of course the reverse for USF, least time of possession (23:46). USF's St. Felix set a record for best average yards per catch (27.5) and Greg Reaves' 14 tackles ties the all-time high for the Gasparilla Bowl.
Marshall moves to 9-4 on the season. The Bulls drop to 7-6, becoming the first FBS team to start a season 7-0 and finish it 0-6 in history. The Thundering Herd have now won eight straight bowl games.
