Our 1st Top 10 Ranking IN SCHOOL HISTORY! | Marshall Ep 27 - College Football 25

welcome everybody to the Marshall Thundering Herd Dynasty today we get to face off against two Rivals of the previous two seasons and one that continues to be our rival here with Louisiana they sit here at 2 and two on the year both teams have migrated from the Sun Bel conference to the Big 12 lisiana has actually had a good season so far they're two and two but they have only lost two games by a total of uh nine points so they are really hanging with these top teams they did lose to UAB but UAB is a top 25 team at this point they have a new quarterback in Ricky Collins he's going into his first year starting as a junior he's a very very accurate quarterback and just looking at his numbers historically last year he played a game or two three touchdowns two interceptions eight touchdowns this season one guy we have seen pretty consistently is Elijah Davis he's been a starter since he's been a freshman seven in his first year six in his second year and now he has three touchdowns early on and he's going to probably carry the load for this Louisiana offense and then they have some guys to play with Roberts in returns at receiver he was one of their leading receivers a year ago then they have a pretty good pass rusher in Ash so this is going to be a very very good team especially for the future of this program as well last week we came off of a big defensive episode where Michael Green had five tackles for loss three sacks he earned defensive National player of the week and that lands us now at number 11 in the country we moved up from 14 and we just keep winning these early games and we were preseason ranked so we didn't have too far to climb to get to number 11 but as you can see there are some teams around us that are starting to lose so that means that we keep moving up including Charlotte here who was number nine last week they lost to Louisville on the road only by two points but they're an interesting team and then Ohio state is two and three down here at number 24 so far Cole Pennington has been efficient Dylan Gilliam has been really good on the ground we already know what he's done five touchdowns on the ground one through the air he's been really really good very surprising that a power back is able to catch the football out of the back field like he can but he has been really really good for us and I'm looking forward to seeing what he's going to turn into but it's going to be the same concept here Pound The Rock use some balance and get the ball to our receivers quickly and one guy I want to point out is Jaden Gordon Jr he's coming off of his best uh game of his career uh last episode four catches I believe for 94 yards he is already maxed out but this was a guy that was 57 overall as pretty much a recruit that I was likely going to forget in the depth chart but he has shown that getting on the field he developed quickly so he earned it another guy I want to point out that really doesn't get too much love with all of these speed guys is Aiden Steinfeld Junior tight end good hands reliable can make plays and score touchdowns he's got two to his name already this season and then defensively we're just doing a whole lot better than what we did last year in my opinion our linebackers are getting better maybe not you know elit right now but Jaden Yates is a big reason why looking at his numbers last year 28 tackles total 2 and a half sack look at the numbers this year five tfls more tackles for loss already through the first four games and he had all of last year so we go into recruiting and just preview a new player we've added to the board and that's Quincy Daly a fourstar athlete who can play quarterback now it's interesting because we do have our future at quarterback on our roster either with DeAndre Hendricks or Courtney Lyles right now but adding another incoming freshman would be interesting now looking it looking at his abilities he's very very skilled very accurate coming in much better than what we saw from Courtney LA or Hendrick coming in right away and he's got all of the mobile quarterback abilities so he's an interesting guy we'll see how that recruitment ends up playing out so here we go let's get this game underway as we do face Louisiana on the road this year as they also start Big 12 play and there is a return back to the 17 and out comes Marshall here and I think our offense is starting to hit a Groove here figuring out how to use Dylan Gilliam and to use our slot guys even though they don't have much speed in Trey Allen and Jaden Gordon first pass goes out to Allen he's got a catch and run all the way to the 38 and that is a big first down play Louisiana tried to send the pressure right there that's not going to work hand off on the next play to Dylan Gilliam he gets to the outside and a great block by The Freshman Brandon spel Springs him down on the sideline tackled at about the 11 52 yds on that carry for gillium and man who said he didn't have speed I think he took off on that one in the Red Zone already after two plays hand off this is Baron mcfaden the senior back in this backfield we have kind of a trio with mcfaden Gilliam and also Brian Santana and out here comes gilam into the game at the one hand off back to Gilliam he runs over a Defender and his own as well it's a touchdown what an opening drive here for Marshall and I'll take that start all game long and it's 7 nothing here for the herd so a 7 nothing start here for Marshall as Here Comes Louisiana out onto the field for the first time back to receive this kickoff is Daniel blood and he loses the football David Hardwick Jr he puts a big hit on him in the red freshman recovers and wow what a play by the Special Teams unit and now we start this drive again inside the Red Zone handoff gillium up the middle and he picks up two I think this game has just flared some tempers here here's a quick throw and that is caught danan Whitehead now in the offseason Whitehead did not improve at all he did in improve one of his abilities but his skill set really left some question marks on how he would be coming into this season I think he's answered those questions it's 14 to nothing so good start for Marshall as here is a throw out to left side on an RPO that is caught the new quarterback Ricky Collins can run a little bit but he is mostly going to stay in the pocket and deliver the football here's a handoff to the star Junior running back now elijia Davis as he gets a first down carry up the middle RPO may be a play action fake throw and up the seam and that's knocked Away by Ashton Hein one of our veteran middle linebackers on this roster hand off this time Elijah Davis and he finds some space and fights forward for the first down sticks across the 50 now good drive put together so far by Ricky Collins and Elijah Davis Davis gets to the outside uses a stiff arm Springs himself free for another first down carry and I think what you've seen in the last last couple of years is that we have not been able to stop the run too well and that's one thing that I do want our linebacking crew to improve on and you can see already Elijah Davis is getting busy at the 22 it's a third and five and there's a nice tackle and I believe that was kesan Lamont on that stop and we do get them to settle for three so here is Gilliam now continuing to run the football well he fights forward for a gain of 10 4 for 66 already here in the first quarter gilam lined up behind Pennington in the pistol here is a bad snap on that one here's a throw to the sideline caught by Aiden Stein felt the sure-handed tight end he lines up in the slot once again this time Brian Santana checks into the game running Trey Allen in motion this time for a third and seven Pennington throws back across the field that one's caught it's Whitehead again for a first down and Jaylen Slappy who is starting at left guard for us comes out of the game first and 10 now here's a throw to left side and that one was a prayer and somehow brought in but they are going to throw a flag this time and it's holding by the true freshman Lloyd Thurman actually no that's Julius levitre the sophomore right tackle who's been starting for us the last few games second and long now Pennington throws hit on the throw incomplete as he move into the second quarter and now it's a third and very long Pennington in the pocket under pressure again can he get hit on this throw and this one's caught it's Trey Allen he had the inside position on that jump ball and he just comes down with it Pennington under pressure on the next play he goes down and he loses a few and now back at the 38 or maybe it's a 42 Third and 14 as here is Pennington running Santana in Motion in the pocket throws across the middle and that's a catch by Brandon spadel the freshman we figured out a way to use pedel and mostly it's just lowering his targets like he's going to use his speed in catch and run but when he does get open he does you know you got to use a possession catch to be honest with you he's going to drop some passes but here is Gilliam with a nice first down run followed up by another good run for a gain of seven as he gets a breather as Brian Santana checks into the game now running him in motion this is a halfback swing and a good play by the defense stops US on third down we do bring in will Shoemaker for the field goal and this one just sneaks in the upright make it 17-3 here in the first half Louisiana still in this ball game only down by two scores changing the formation right here going five wide as here is Elijah Davis running in motion and this time he gets the Jet Sweep touch pass he breaks the tackle he gets free down the sideline the 30 the 20 the 10 he will score Elijah Davis has been a thorn in our side this entire series and he breaks One open right there and they do make it a seven-point game after that big play 17710 our offense barely gets a breather here's Gilliam Big Time hole hits it hard he's already close to the 50 yd line he's already over 100 yards in the first half we still have four minutes to go pressure on Pennington and that one Falls incomplete and now it's a big third and 11 now this stadium is starting to get loud pressure off the left Edge and Ash gets to him and a injury on the field Jaylen Slappy again so we had to punt this one away as Here Comes Louisiana with a chance to tie it up on this drive here's a quick throw this one's out to number two Daniel blood who picks up a first down Elijah Davis lined up behind the quarterback here is a quick throw it's caught again and it's a first down Carter milleron and he will pick up the first down across the 50 second and eight here's a quick throw again it's milleron and he will just be short of the first down sticks third and inches in the pocket throwing short another first down conversion on this drive this time it's Charles Robertson who scored twice versus us a year ago and now here we go 40 seconds to go in this first half in the pocket and it's a sack Michael Green gets home and he will cause them to have a third and long here on this drive at the 19 more pressure and that was Poney Franklin on the hit they will have to kick the field goal here and it will bring it within a four-point game but but Louisiana still down here in the first half and that's how we will go into halftime 17-13 I think the big thing here in the second half is really going to be to stop the run I don't think they can pass too well versus us and that's mostly because I think our pass rush will get home at some point starting the second half it's Davis with the stretch play he breaks the tackle still on his feet he's still running and there's a flag on the play this one's coming back but man we got wrap up we just got lucky on that one with laundry on the field now it's a first and 20 Ricky Collins throws left side Daniel blood has space and he does pick up 15 yards The Freshman Julian Watford there for the tackle third and one carry to Davis he has the first how do you get a first and 20 and still get a first down so here we go Ricky Collins hands off this time to the backup running back not going to work Michael green with the tackle in the back field and now it is third and nine at their 41 Collins in the pocket Under Pressure he gets hit on that one and Michael Green forces the incompletion kesan Lamont also forced him out of the pocket so here's a hand off to start the next drive Dylan gilam Off to the Races still on his feet he's having a monster game on the ground 10 for 134 and a first down giving it right back to him this time cutting back he's got a tough gain of five he takes a big shot right there as well and now he's going he's at his career high already here is Pennington stepping up in the pocket on a third and three and the pressure just gets home and we have to punt this one away so Louisiana has possession right back you got to figure they're going to run the ball they do Elijah Davis with the big carry up the middle getting skinny as well he's tough to bring down the junior really looks like he is the experienced guy on this Louisiana offense here is Collins this time throwing deep into double coverage and it's knocked away Cory Myrick and also the Freshman Julian Watford in the area third and five this time this is going to be pressure and throwing across the middle and it's a first down conversion by Collins and what a play by him first and 10 again at the 22 handoff to Elijah Davis he's got got a lot of space inside the 10 and it's first and goal they eventually get it to a third and goal now at the three Collins throws to the sideline this one's picked off it it's jayen Yates we were just talking about the season he's been having and he makes a play right there in the senior linebacker just steps in front of that one I think he was just staring down Elijah Davis on that entire play we start the fourth quarter now inside our 10 and there's a flag on the play and it's going to be delay of game so we're going to lose half the distance to the goal here we do get it to a third and nine though here's pressure getting to Pennington but he gets it away to Trey Allen and uh-oh Pennington's shaking up on that play So in comes the red shirt freshman Courtney ly a much different quarterback than what we see from Cole Pennington here is handoff to gilam and he picks up a gain of 10 for a first down ly is a lefty just a little different of a look here at quarterback but there is a handoff to Santana and a loss of four Pennington checks back in here so it seems he's okay he gets hit on the next play and he falls to the ground it's not a way to keep keep your quarterback healthy here third and 14 Santana running in motion here as he is our third down back Penning 10th throws to the right side he's got Steinfeld who catches it and runs for the first down that's a way to convert there on a third and long and now we're close to the 45 yd line here is a little bit of an orbit screen this time for Santana and that will be a gain of five Pennington now at the 47 for a third and five again buying time rolling to the right side throw to the sideline and knocked away and now it is fourth down and five at the 47 wow we're going to go for this here here's a throw to an open Dewan Whitehead and he's got it for a first down wow that's a gutsy play call right there but this drive does continue ey formation out here for the Marshall Thundering Herd toss play gilam tries to cut up and he loses two yards on that one and it's now third and eight as Brian Santana checks into the game at running back here's a quick throw across the middle it's Whitehead all alone he's got space and speed he gets run down at the nine but Whitehead having a great game today goal to go handoff back to Gilliam fighting but cannot get to the end zone and now we're back at the six it's a big time third and goal Pennington pressure intercepted he tried to force it over the middle and they take it out of the end zone and will be tackled at the one Louisiana with a great play and now they start their next drive inside the five handoff and this is David Hardwick who's there trying to bring Elijah Davis down it takes like five Defenders just to do that second and eight now going back to Davis Hardwick there again this time he does make the tackle they're back at the one yd line third and 10 no running backs line up here behind him oh there he is pistol and they give it to Davis and they do get one yard a little bit of space but they have to punt it back to our offense here we go here is Brandon spadel getting the Jet Sweep touch pass and he picks up a few yards and now we need a couple of first downs to secure this game play action fake now here's a throw deep across the middle of the field it's the one Whitehead what a diving grab by him and they were expecting the ball to go to Gile on that play for sure hand off back to gillium they run commit it's exactly what they did on the last play and their leading pass rusher does go out with an injury right there so now we finally get it to a third and 12 one first down wins it here's a throw to an open Steinfeld but what a great play by the defender and we're going to kick the field goal here to go up by a touchdown and the kick by Shoemaker will be good and now they have about a minute and a half to go to tie this ball game up we'll see if they can do it here from the shotgun here Collins throws on the first pass and intercepted by Amir Foster he takes it the other way his first int since season one can you believe it he had six interceptions in season one zero last year and gets his first on the year right there so here we go Pennington now under pressure again and they stop us there so we do settle for three and make it a 10-point game but now Collins down by 10 has to score twice here and here in the waiting seconds Michael Green gets to the quarterback and that one does seal up the game here as they do go for it one more time fourth and 16 Collins in the pocket all day throws across the middle he does convert here but they will run out of time here as they try to get set but the ball is already set there and this will be over 23-13 a close game and we know this was a rivalry we have developed that here in this series with Louisiana every game is tight with them they have a very good coach 150 yards on the game here for Dylan gilam I thought he was going to actually like end up having 200 on the game but great game nonetheless we get the victory this is a tough one and we got it on the road as well well all road games are tough in this game but you got to give it up to the offensive line blocking for the run the way they did today bringing up those big holes and our receivers actually blocked pretty well that's not something you say every day danan Whitehead goes over 100 yards 6 for 104 for him and a touchdown and defensively our pass rush did get home a couple of times as kesan Lamont uh and Michael Green actually get a sack I said Michael Green earlier in the game that was actually keesan Lamont then we get those two interceptions I mean that's something that we haven't had this season at all and I would even say last season I believe we had three interceptions all of last year and we get two in this game so after that win we do jump up in the rankings by two and now we are ranked number nine in the country and we Face Texas State who remember made the national championship last year but this is a different different team than what we saw a year ago no no more ismaile Mii who was their leading running back and I think it's a bit of a drop off behind him because PJ Hatter going into his second year as a starter I think he's really really missing that ground game because if you look at Cameron Booker right now only 21 yards a touchdown on the ground he's averaging 4.1 yards per carry but definitely not the same player isal M was last year and then their passing game is still decent but lacking a little bit at think they did go into an offseason losing a lot of talent so that's something that they'll have to come back from we do have a visitor for this game we are at home and it's Gregory gold the fourstar guard now he is considering Michigan uh Kentucky and Marshall we are right now in third place so we are going to pretty much hard sell him because it looks like he is close to a commitment so if we could steal him here in this visit it looks like he's going to commit probably after the game at some point but we do have the perfect pitch here with conference Spotlight with the AA minus and an A so that's going to be very very favorable in our favor so we'll have to see if we can pull him after this week he visits here for this game and hopefully he loves it here in West Virginia and we can bring home a victory and a new recruit so here we go let's start game number two in this double header as Texas State looking to get their third win on the year they are two and three here is Brandon spadel with the move to the outside and he picks up a little bit of speed and gets to the 34 yd line so we're going to get to some highlights in this one it's not going to be a full game action but here is Dylan Gilliam starting it out right where he left off but he looks like he may have hurt his hamstring on that play Santana checks in at running back here's a throw to the right side this one's caught it's padel we found a way to use him and I'm glad because he was a terrible route runner at the beginning of the season but now he's pretty decent here is a touch pass this time Trey Allen loses about four yards on that one second and long giving it back to Santana Santana gets a block down field and picks up the first down good run by Brian Santana the sophomore the true sophomore first and 10 again at the 15 here is Bennington throwing to a wide open Allen and he just flat out misses him second and 10 Again pressure getting to Pennington that's jool liason Landry who gets the pressure right there they're leading sa getter he has six on the year here's a third and 10 and another great play by the defensive line and we do have to kick the field goal and settle for three but this one's wide to the left so no points that opening drive as will Shoemaker misses it wide left but here we go back in the first quarter we get one more possession here's a deep shot this time looking for Allen and he comes down with it let's take a look at this it's deflected by the defender and Allen's just sitting there he just says whoop look what I got and he's tackled there at the three hand off back to gilam on the next play he's in for the touchdown a low shot that time going at gilliam's knees but I guess that's the only way you can bring him down and it's 7 nothing here in the first quarter we do get another possession here here's a handoff stretch play it's going to be Gilliam to the outside to the 50 what a big run Gilliam is just an amazing amazing back you got to love what you see from him third and 10 now pressure by the Texas state pass rush they get to Pennington again spoiling that Drive later in the second quarter though Pennington now at the 41 here's a deep shot down the left side that's caught Trey Allen will score the band is going crazy the crowd is going crazy and this is what you want to see from the offense just some shots were taking down the field when they work they work PJ Hatter now at the end of the first half there's a nice throw to the sideline and that is a a first down Hatter now empty formation a quick throw that one's caught and that is kylin Evans a new Target for him this year he picks up seven now at the 30 here is Hatter throwing deep this time beating Corey Myrick is Bo Sparks the three-year starter at receiver for Texas State and he scores with ease great throw by Hatter but they're going to need a little bit of that run game their running back now is number 85 Cameron Booker who lines up next to PJ Hatter Hatter moving in the pocket he gets sacked and eight on the ground picked up by David Hardwick it was Poney Franklin who just kind of knocked it out of the hands of Hatter and Hatter kind of hesitated to even fall on the ball that time and we forced the turnover so here we go play action fake to start the next drive that is a catch Aiden Steinfeld picks up a gain of seven at the 43 now here is Pennington throwing across the middle and he's got danan Whitehead how about the plays that Whitehead has been making this year he's been great in the red zone now this time running Trey Allen in motion we scored on a similar play earlier here is a shot and that one's caught Trey Allen number two today for the touchdown Allen is quite the slot guy he's a lot different than what we saw last year from Chuck Montgomery he doesn't have that speed but he is just crisp with his routes yiam now in the fourth quarter hesitates and hits the hole hard I think he froze the linebacker right there here's another carry back to Gile on a fourth and two he converts with ease now at the 24 here is Pennington Under Pressure he gets rid of it it's padel inside the five in he scores Brandon spadel the true freshman and he runs it in I love these freshman we got on this squad they are just amazing this year all of them have made some sort of impact in some sort of way Gilliam spadel all those guys here's a quick throw across the middle on the fourth and six tipped around and we will win this game it ends up being a little closer in the end 37 to 20 7 but a big victory here at home and we remain with one loss on the season I don't think a lot of people were expecting us to go into the Big 12 with this great of a start and now it's all Big 12 action from here on out I believe six more conference games Trey Allen with a 100 yard game Brandon spadel with 100 yard game Dean Whitehead with a 100 yard gain game this is the first time that has happened in this series by the way three 100 yd receivers so we are doing something right here with the offense figuring it out and we get another big victory in this series and I think we could be headed if not for the Big 12 Championship we have a good shot right away with our ranking to be favorites to make the college football playoff even as an at llarge Team Quincy hjul lahu does commit to the Squad so we get our first fourstar receiver of this series to commit but we do lose out on Ki Spruce and the worst part about it is that he goes to West Virginia our rival and krie Spruce was a guy that I had pegged to be the pass rusher of the future maybe even starting in Michael Green Spot when he graduates this year and then Gregory gold also commits to Michigan so we lose two big prospects two of our top five after that win versus Texas state so we decide to add a new Prospect to our board and Mitch Steven he looks really good he is a fourstar right tackle run block power and pass block power all at 80 impact at 83 he looks really really good I'm going to go after him hard he has a fourstar gem so he could end up being a really good player now right now Nebraska is the front runner for him but I want to join this race I think that we could gain some ground and eventually make a run at him we'll see how that goes and then Cameron trout I don't know if you guys remember this but a couple of episodes ago or was it last episode he actually had a deal breaker for us uh for playing style now we are unlocked again so we're going to keep going back at him so we move up another spot here in the top 25 now at number seven in the country our highest ranking so far in this series and look who's ahead of us Nebraska who we just joined a recruiting battle with so we have Nebraska Purdue is 7even and0 right now I mean this is going to be a fun finish to the year we have Iowa State next Baylor Colorado those are all going to be tough games Iowa state is struggling this year but Baylor is a really good team and so is Colorado they made the college football playoff last year so this is not a slouch end of the schedule even though none of these teams well I guess Colorado's ranked right now at three and three but it's going to be tough either way as we finish the end of the season so right now the Big 12 is just super super close if you look at these standings everybody is a contender at this point so we have to be on our best game in these matchups that's going to conclude this episode I hope you guys enjoyed it hit subscribe hit that like button stay tuned let's get it let's go