Marshall Football will run onto the field Saturday, Sept. 7, with the echoes of Enter Sandman filtering out of Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia, as they prepare to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies.

The Herd took on the Hokies last season and beat the heavily favored ACC team 24-17 in Huntington. Since that game, the Marshall offense has seen immense change. The Hokies, on the other hand, have several familiar faces returning to the gridiron.

“Offensively, it’s the same team as last year. They improved as the year went on, and the coaches got comfortable with the personnel,” said Thomas Bray, sports editor at Collegiate Times.

Virginia Tech retained nearly all of its offensive firepower, including multifaceted quarterback Kyron Drones and runningback Bhayshul Tuten. Drones’ game against Marshall last season was one of his first full games as a starter.

“Last year when Drones transferred in, he hadn’t really played much college football. That Marshall game was his first real shot,” Bray said. “He’s grown as a player, and the coaches realized Drones is bigger or close to the same size as the defensive ends he played against and is a dominant runner.”

Bray said despite the upside of having a significant portion of the roster return for this season, there are still some downsides that shined through during the Hokies’ loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores on Aug. 31. 

“Based on week one, this is a team that still can’t protect the quarterback and still can’t stop the run,” Bray said. “They returned the same production, but it’s looking like they returned the same problems as well.”

Bray said one of the keys for the Hokies to emerge victorious is that Tuten, along with other playmakers, needs to be heavily featured throughout the game. That was not the case against the Commodores where Tuten had only nine carries.

Another key Bray said is the Hokie defense getting off the field in a timely fashion and not allowing long drives by the Herd.

“If they can go out in the first half and keep Marshall from sustaining long drives, then this game should be one of those firepower games where they blow them out,” Bray said.

As for his final score prediction, Bray said he expects the Hokies to win 35-17.