The Herd won back-to-back conference games (4-3, 2-1 Conference USA) and prepare to face Western Kentucky University (5-2, 4-0 C-USA) in the Moonshine Throwdown on Saturday, Oct. 6 for the Marshall University Homecoming  game.

“This is a game you better get up for,” Head Coach Doc Holliday said. “If you are a competitor and a football team with dreams and expectations, then you better be ready to play. With it being homecoming, it will be a great crowd and our guys will be anxious to play.”

Marshall is coming off a 36-31 team win against Florida Atlantic University. In the win, redshirt sophomore Brenden Knox had a career performance rushing for 220-yards on 23 carries for two touchdowns and sealing the deal with 36 ticks left on the clock. The outing by Knox earned him his first C-USA Offensive Player of the Week award.

“It is like a shark with blood in the water,” Knox said when asked about his success against FAU. “A lot of people just think it is about speed training, but weight training transitions to the field too.”

However, similarly to Old Dominion, Western Kentucky is among the top rush defenses in the nation at 22nd. WKU has only allowed 772-yards and seven rush touchdowns through seven games with opponents only averaging 110.3. 

On the contrary, Western Kentucky faced the Charlotte 49ers last week where senior quarterback Ty Storey  threw for a season high 283-yards for two touchdowns. On the defensive side of the ball, WKU only allowed 86 rushing yards and shut out the 49ers in the second half, going on to win the game 30-14.

Despite Storey’s performance against Charlotte, the Hilltoppers should have its hands full up front on offense. The Herd defense will look to be a major problem against WKU offensive game plan as they have been causing havoc of late accounting for 15 total sacks on the quarterback in the last two games.

The winner of the matchup will take control of the C-USA east division at the number one spot, but redshirt sophomore quarterback Isaiah Green stressed the importance of not looking at the game in that perspective. 

“If you look at the standings too much, that eventually becomes a distraction,” Green said. “It is more so becoming one and zero every week and that’s the message we go by and how we practice.” 

The Thundering Herd takes on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at 2:30 p.m. EST Saturday, Oct. 26 at the Joan C. Edwards Stadium. 

Brigham Warf can be contacted at [email protected].