Despite a good defensive showing in Blacksburg, Virginia, multiple offensive miscues caused Marshall Football to come up short against Virginia Tech on Saturday, Sept. 7.

North Texas transfer Stone Earle emerged as the starter to lead the Herd’s new air raid-style offense against the Hokies. Despite the new offensive play calling, the Hokies kept the Herd’s passing game in check for all four quarters only allowing 13 completions for 131 yards.

“What we were planning to do was in Stone’s wheelhouse; there’s a couple of times there he made some really good throws. We dropped them, and there were a couple of times the throws were a little bit off,” head coach Charles Huff said. “You know, obviously, it gets magnified when you’re the quarterback.”

Earle completed only 13 of 36 passes, threw one interception and tallied one touchdown. There were also a few miscues on the wide receiver’s behalf resulting in dropped balls.

“We had opportunities; we have to make the catches,” Huff said. “When you play a good team, you stop them on defense. You have got to move the ball on offense, and if you don’t, they’re going to make a play.”

Despite the lack of offense shown on Saturday, Huff said he liked what he saw from Earle in his first full start at quarterback.

“He played hard. I thought he gave us a chance; he ran hard. I thought he got the ball out of his hand quickly, which was a big piece for what we were trying to do,” Huff said.

Joseph DiCristofaro can be contacted at [email protected].