Despite holding a 23-3 lead going into the fourth quarter, Marshall Football lost to the Georgia Southern Eagles 24-23 in Statesboro, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 12, to extend its losing streak on the road to over 400 days.
“It’s a great learning lesson,” head coach Charles Huff said. “When you don’t take advantage of opportunities to put teams away in this league, and you let them hang around, this is what you get. Hopefully, we learn from it. Way too many missed opportunities. The things we didn’t do in games we were successful – turnovers, penalties – showed up today.”
This loss now makes the Herd 0-3 on the road this season. Marshall’s last win away from Huntington was on Sept. 9, 2023, against the East Carolina Pirates in Greenville, North Carolina.
The Herd controlled the momentum of the game going into the fourth quarter. Marshall dominated the Eagles on the ground and through the air. Quarterback Braylon Braxton connected with tight end Toby Payne for both of the Herd’s touchdowns.
Kicker Rece Verhoff contributed three field goals to the scoring effort, including a career-long 51-yarder.
After the third quarter, the Eagles started the comeback, supported by its remaining fans making a rally towel chain that spanned the entire stadium. The improbable four-score comeback began with a safety after quarterback Stone Earle received an intentional grounding penalty in the Herd’s endzone.
Earle started the game for Marshall and led the offense the entire first quarter. Braxton and Earle were swapped multiple times throughout the game, most notably in the fourth quarter after Earle’s safety.
The Herd’s gameplan began to unravel before its eyes as Braxton fumbled on two consecutive drives with under five minutes left in the contest. Both resulted in touchdowns from the once-stagnant Eagles offense.
“Under four minutes with the ball and the lead, we should be able to run the clock out. We weren’t able to do that, and when you turn the ball over, it gives the other team momentum,” Huff said.
Eagles quarterback Dexter Williams II filled in for starting quarterback JC French after he left the game with an apparent concussion. With 60 seconds left, Williams launched the ball 34 yards down the right sideline and found wide receiver Derwin Burgess Jr. to give Georgia Southern a 24-23 lead.
With 34 seconds left on the clock, and Earle back in the game, he threw the game-ending interception to seal the Herd’s fate. On the last three drives for the Herd, both quarterbacks combined for three turnovers after only giving up one interception all season.
Following the loss to the Eagles, the Herd will return to Joan C. Edwards Stadium to play another team from the Peach State as they take on the Georgia State Panthers on Thursday, Oct. 17.
Joseph DiCristofaro can be contacted at dicristofar1@marshall.edu.