The Gibson era of Marshall Football kicked off at 3:40 p.m. in Athens, Georgia, Saturday, Aug. 30, against No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs. Unfortunately for the Herd, the Bulldogs exploded offensively, outscoring Marshall 45-7, taking a shutout game all the way to the middle of the fourth quarter. The recorded attendance was 93,033.
“Congratulations to Georgia. They are a top five team for a reason,” head coach Tony Gibson said. “We just couldn’t get anything going offensively, so we struggled. I thought our defense fought really well in the second quarter, made some plays, had some opportunities to get off the field, but unfortunately, gave up two big runs at quarterback.”
Marshall’s offense only managed one first down and 40 total yards in the first half.
The second half for Marshall went a little better totaling 167 yards and a touchdown.
Gibson made the choice to start redshirt freshman quarterback JacQai Long ahead of the other QB’s Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and Zion Turner.
“I thought JacQai (Long) early on, he was a little nervous,” Gibson said. “He’s going into his first start, and we did it to him at Georgia, but he’s been our best quarterback through camp, and I like where he’s at.”
Long completed 3 of 11 passes for 19 yards, Del Rio-Wilson went 2 of 3 for 10 yards and Turner completed 6 of 7 for 100 yards.
“Carlos (Del Rio-Wilson), we just tried to get him in and get some run game going with our quarterback, mix it up a little bit, and Zion (Turner) came into the fourth quarter brought a little energy to us, and we finally crossed the 50-yard line, punched one in, made a couple really good throws,” Gibson said. “So, we’ve got to go back and evaluate who our guy is going to be next week.”
Georgia had momentum from the very start of the game, but Marshall started to get some offense going until a key moment during the second quarter.
After a key stop on third down, Marshall was forced to punt the ball; however, Bulldogs safety KJ Bolden had blocked the Herd’s punt, giving Georgia possession at the Marshall 20. Just three plays later, Stockton’s 11-yard scoring run gave Georgia a 21-0 lead.
“I’ll take this one on me and our staff,” head coach Tony Gibson said. “We have to do a better job getting our guys better prepared. That was the first of many, and I promise Herd Nation that we will be better next week.”
“I was very proud of our guys today,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. “I thought we started fast. The start of the second half was really important to me to get things going and to start the way we wanted to in the second half. For special teams, I thought we were fast. We played a lot of players on special teams; it’s a weapon for us. We were able to do some good things, so, we’ll take this. We’ll go watch it, and we’ll try to continue to improve as a team.
Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton, a junior in his first start for the Bulldogs after being a backup QB for them, completed 14 of 24 passes for 190 yards, rushed for 73 yards and had two rushing touchdowns himself.
Georgia continues non-conference play against the Austin Peay Governors at Sanford Stadium Sept. 6 at 3:30 p.m.
The Herd looks to bounce back with a non-conference matchup against the Missouri State Bears in its home opener at Joan C. Edwards Stadium Saturday, Sept. 6, at 6 p.m.
Nate Harrah can be contacted at [email protected].
