Marshall football (5-1, 2-0) will continue to search for C-USA supremacy this Friday in Murfreesboro, Tennessee against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (3-4, 1-2). The all-time record between the two schools weighs in favor of The Thundering Herd, 4-2.

“Like always, when you go on the road you need to take your leadership and toughness and this will be no different. As always we have great respect for Rick Stockstill and Middle Tennessee. He does a tremendous job coaching those guys,” Head coach Doc Holliday said during his Tuesday news conference.

The last time these two teams met was in 2016. Marshall won the contest, 42-17. Middle Tennessee hired defensive coordinator Scott Shafar in the off-season. Shafar has an impressive resume, previously he was a defensive coordinator/coach at the University of Syracuse, University of Michigan, Stanford University, Western Michigan University and the University of Illinois.

“It is always fun to compete against this team (Middle Tennessee), they always have new stuff that they are going to throw at you,” Junior Marshall quarterback Chase Litton said. “They have a new defensive coordinator and they blitz the quarterback, they like to get after him, they like to give you different disguises and go certain ways.”

Middle Tennessee’s defense has got off to a great start in 2017, thus far in 2017 they are ranked 40th in total defense, 57th in rushing defense and 61st in sacks. MTSU linebacker Khalil Brooks currently ranks 14th nationally in tackles for a loss and 22nd nationally in sacks.

“Number 30 (Darius Harris), is a tremendous football player,” Litton said. “He’s a next-level guy. Number 16 (Khalil Brooks), likes to blitz a lot so we just have to be ready everything. They are really athletic linebackers, they like to play ball.”

The Blue Raiders’ John Urzua has completed a combined 79 passes and four touchdowns over the course of his last three games.

“He understands what they expect out of the offense,” Holliday said. “He’s just a lot more comfortable right now running the offense. Anytime you can get guys with experience at that position and with games under their belt, they’re going to be better and he is.”

Urzua has many weapons at his disposal namely in the redshirt junior wide receiver Richie James. James currently ranks tied for 12th on the Conference USA all-time receptions list with 239 and 11th in all-time yardage with 3,224 yards.

“Offensively they have the best returning wide receiver in the league in [Richie] James,” Holliday said. “He was a first team All-American and a tremendous player. He’s back.”

Senior tight end Ryan Yurachek is one of the few members left on the Thundering Herd roster who remembers the 2015 game, where Marshall lost in triple overtime 27-24.

“We kind of talk about the atmosphere to expect there, and we try to instill in those younger guys what to expect there on Friday,” Yurachek said. “That was a game we should have won. Definitely to trying to think about that loss two years ago there.”

Marshall will take on the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders this Friday at Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will broadcast live on ESPN 2.

Kyle Curley can be contacted at [email protected]