Marshall football lost 34-6 against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in Conway, South Carolina, on Saturday, Oct. 28, in front of a 21,000-person crowd at Brooks Stadium.
The loss against the Chanticleers lengthens the Herd’s losing streak to four after starting the season 4-0.
The contest against Coastal Carolina marked the second straight week that Marshall has failed to find the endzone on offense. Kicker Rece Verhoff scored the Herd’s only points in the contest: a 23 and 44-yard field goal, both of which came in the second quarter.
“We didn’t execute well enough to beat a good team,” head coach Charles Huff said. “Hats off to Coastal, first off, because they made the plays, but we had way too many explosive plays given up in the passing game on defense.”
Marshall’s defense struggled to control the Chanticleer offense, which took the field without its starting quarterback, Grayson McCall.
Backup quarterback Jarrett Guest shined under the lights, lighting up the Herd defense for three touchdown passes over 25 yards and accumulating 289 yards through the air, six yards more than Marshall’s total yardage.
Guest also hurt Marshall’s defense by rushing, which he did three times to obtain 36 yards. During one of these instances, the Herd’s defense lost track of Guest, and he rushed for 33 yards down the field.
The Herd’s A.G. McGhee finished the game with a career-high nine tackles as well as an interception on Guest.
Quarterback Cam Fancher finished the game completing only 50% of his passes for 125 yards and two interceptions.
Freshman Cole Pennington, son of Marshall legend Chad Pennington, filled in for Fancher during the second half. However, Pennington also struggled against the Chanticleer’s lockdown defense, throwing for 77 yards and two interceptions.
“We had a lot of drops, a lot of missed opportunities and a lot of poor throws,” Huff said. “They took us out of the run game a little bit because they got out ahead of us.”
Running back Rasheen Ali returned to the turf against Coastal Carolina after missing last week’s game against James Madison.
Despite Ali’s return, the Herd couldn’t get the rushing attack on track either. Ali finished the night with only 52 yards on 12 attempts.
One bright spot for the Herd was the performance of punter John McConnell. He averaged 41 yards per punt, with two of them landing inside the 20-yard line.
The Herd is now 1-2 against the Carolinas this season; they will face the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Saturday, Nov. 4, in Boone, North Carolina, for the chance to win and end the four-game losing streak.
