Stony Brook at Marshall Football Recap

welcome to the thundercast your Marshall Athletics podcast produced by the fans for the fans with your hosts Russ living good and KD hudnell we're bringing you the Thundering word on the Thundering Herd each and every week so keep it right here the thundercast is on the lose [Music] [Music] thanks for downloading another episode of the thundercast you can follow us on Twitter at thundercast corod we are absolutely positively in the throws of football season now Russ we've got a game to recap Big Win over Stony Brook that we're going to talk about and of course the first big out of conference test of the season is coming up later this week too and we're going to have another uh show previewing the game against the Virginia Tech hookies but man it was an awesome week to be in and around herd Athletics or a lot going on a lot of our teams are that are in the fall season are in full swing so we got some around the herd to talk about to like to remind everybody that the thundercast is um proud members of the college huddle football podcasting Network College podcasting Network you can find them at thec colg huddle.com make it really easy to uh listen to some podcasts from teams around the country including those that will be playing The Herd I imagine that the Virginia Tech podcast world will be lit up previewing the game with Marshall this week especially after their loss against Vanderbilt to open the college football season Russ I say we get into this episode uh with uh ah who knows how many things but first give me a quick word from our sponsors at Laser Oliver pllc if you've been hurt in a wreck call the law firm of laser Oliver PC find them at 304c car.com what well uh since we've this is technically the first I don't know technically the first episode of the actual football season we've talked a lot about a lot of things moving into and getting ready for and preparing for the season and and this past Saturday we finally put uh cleats on the field and some pads were popping some passes were passing some runs were running and all that good stuff but I got to be honest with you I'm anxious I'm curious how many things are we going to talk about before we get to get into this Stony Brook recap you know what KD usually it's uh this obscene number right but uh believe it or not with everything back in the swing of things we have a true five things every herd fan needs to know this week as always brought to you by ignit link the tri-states premiere it management team number one women's soccer coach Rafa Samo get it's his first career win as a head coach yeah first of many man it's I'm really excited for him really excited for this team you know we kept talking about the rebuild the rebuild the rebuild uh rough start to the season you know weren't able to notch that first win right out of the gate but we're able to finally get one in the left-hand column and uh obviously you just kind of need that you you need to prove that hey man this team can win a game and now it's like okay this team can win multiple games and can they go on a winning streak and and all of these things but huge congratulations to head coach SOS getting that first career victory at the head as the head coach at Marshall University gotta be the first of many many many victories still to come yeah and look we started off with a draw then we had two uh very close one Zer losses so real close real close real close to getting around that Victory and everything it's not like we've been blown out early in the season but four matches in he notches his first Victory um you know we were looking for huge things here not necessarily in that first year we're looking at building a monster like uh coach grassy who he come from that tree doing the same way you know recruiting building building for the future uh but getting number one out of the way right it's huge number two we're going to keep it right there with women's soccer Julia pacero named an assistant coach for women's soccer comes to us from Brazil yeah so couple weeks in a row now we've had some uh women's soccer news I don't know man it seems like there's I don't want to call it momentum right because momentum really starts to happen once those winds start rolling in right and and yeah but you've got to have one before you can have two and that type of thing but it's it's we talked about this with the last bit of coaching news it just seems like there's a lot of of well I don't know you you can call it anything else it is positive momentum it's program building right it's another step in the ladder that that that you have to climb in order to be a conference Contender and then hopefully you know and not so long from now maybe a national Contender because we know that's absolutely possible in Huntington West Virginia M looking at her uh timeline here we're at least six seven years into her being an assistant coach of some sort all down in Brazil what I'm really intrigued by we've already seen uh coach s building an international Squad seems to me this is a huge pipeline down there in that area Brazil is massive in soccer massive in size really if you look at a a globe or a map you're going to see just how big Brazil is but uh it is a way of life down there playing soccer so you have to assume she has all the connections uh it just looks like a no-brainer to pick up someone with that history to be here now on the sidelines for the hurt it just kind of feels like that thing where you go find yourself the position coach that has those Deep South Florida ties right because it's such a recruiting hot bed same kind of thing it's just much farther way you travel down to Brazil now because it's such a potential recruiting hot bed you're right it's a way of life down there and it's a it's a way of life really globally and and it's finally catching up in America you know but I don't know we we'll probably be dominated by American football for a long long time but soccer is unbelievably popular and especially over the course of the last probably 20 years you've seen the explosion of popularity both professional and Collegiate in in the United States but still if you want to get the best bang for your buck so to speak you're still going to have to go recruiting internationally because they just been you know at it for so long and it's like you said it's a way of life the opening tournament in volleyball number three here McKenna Milton and Bren Brown made the all tournament team that took place uh you know over a few days here while we were gearing up for that uh first Marshall football game MH yeah herd volleyball out of the gates looking pretty good so far I know we'll have more about them in in uh around the herd but we've already seen some personal accolades on an of the week scale uh that they they had a nice match at at home the other day it's it's like I love and and earlier today I was just perusing Instagram and uh there was a reel or you know some sort of video there on the on the herd volleyball Instagram feed and you you get a t if you'll go find it you'll get a taste of some of that energy that we talk about when you go to volleyball matches U but a great start a great start I think uh if you talk to coach Ari she was probably really disappointed with how last year went she had high hopes we talked to her leading into the season and she felt like the ceiling or I'm sorry the floor for this program had been raised and I know that they fell short of her expectations last year I think uh I think she feels a little bit better about where we are this year we're placing some great players some really great players but she she did a great job hitting the recruiting trail trail we've got some great players that return Bren Brown's always a beast and it was nice to to get that couple of couple of members of the her landing on the all tournament team you know right out of the gate to start this season we're going to keep it right there number four Bram Brown also named the sun Bel conference Setter of the week I told you and on some accomplishments on an of the week uh scale and that's that's what I was talking about I just didn't know if it would land here or it would land you know later in the episode but surprising no one Bren Brown's been great for a number of years for Marshall and you know in a in a in a conference where there are some really good volleyball schools this is this is tough to do that you know we we are for all of us her fans that get tied up in you know heard football and heard basketball and and you like oh this guy got robbed this week because he had a great job did a great job had a great game you know I kind of feel that way a little bit about uh football and I'll talk about that later on but this just is not that surprising because bren's been really good for a really long time and she more than holds her own against the best of the best in the conference because she is one of the best of the best in the conference and and and another the week out of the gate just speaks to that and some of our viewers some of our listeners might not be familiar with all these volleyball terms but listen to this monster uh weekend that she had says the native of Toledo Ohio helped the herd to a 2-1 weekend sweeps over ETSU and Elon at the Wildcat classic as she had 74 assists that's 8.22% to go with 30 digs and was named to the all tournament team registered her first double double look she's a double double machine and has been her entire career of the season on Saturday against Davidson with 19 assists and 12 digs Brown had 27 assists on Friday against ETSU and a season High 28 in Marshall's final match of the weekend against Elon on Saturday afternoon yeah so such an unbelievable weekend right those kind of stats just kind of shoot off the page at you when you talk about 28 19 but I'm I'm here to tell you you're going to see stuff like that all year long from Bren Brown yeah she's she's she's one of those players that if you if you have to you're like all right I need you to point to one player and say this is your you know first team All Conference player we have potentially more than one let me tell you that right out of the gate but if you have to say who's the best shot if you're only getting one you're probably G to more than likely point at Bren Brown that's just how good she is so these big STS these big weekends series or whatever shouldn't surprise the the the the herd fan that's just getting to follow herd volleyball or just beginning to follow her volleyball that's just how damn good she is right yeah we uh we had several different times that she made the uh five things before I think at one point last season she was number one in the nation I believe in Diggs uh it had to be one of the last two seasons but she's been up there in the top five consistently in Diggs uh just constantly this you know stat stat stat stat that just like you said they leap off the page they do all right uh finally number five men's soccer is now ranked seventh after ascending to number two since we had recorded last we went to number two went up to Xavier got a loss came back blew the doors off of the team lyola and we're back up to number seven in the nation yeah uh kind of surprising I guess they just ran into a buz saw there Xavier just didn't go well that you know two two nothing loss is just very uncharacteristic to a team like uh like Xavier Marshall just couldn't put that one together weren't able to really I don't know bounce back it didn't seem like they could just get anything going and ultimately took the L in that one but like you said bounce back in a major way and I wantan I want to save that when I talk about it in around the herd sure herd's still a top 10 team um and I I expect that they will not fall out of the top 10 at any point in the season but will only manage to climb back up higher or higher to that top spot especially once you get into that sunbell conference late yeah and as you know number one in the nation right now don't know if they're going to stay up there it'd have to be a hell of the season for them to stay number one from start to finish basically now but it's West Virginia and we faced them last and they're in the sun Bel conference there are four in the top what was top 10 or top 20 or something like that but anyway well represented here in the sun Bel conference again uh the match with the Derby uh with WVU is going to be the final regular season game it's going to be in Huntington no matter what it looks like soccer runs through nationally it runs through West Virginia but this year it looks like could run through Huntington that very fast uh very last game of the season yeah you talk about that be a very special season but we saw Marshall had that kind of season last year they were number one for a large part of the year and then we saw how it ended but you know it it is what it is and I don't want to rush through the season just to talk about that final game because honestly West Virginia is a great team and as much as I don't like the root for them in any sport ever at any time at at all we're gonna play a lot of really good teams before we get to West Virginia and this is not one of those Sports where their fans can call can do that you know that same old same old tired little brother thing like oh this is your Super Bowl because it's not because we're two of the top teams in the entire nation this ain't nobody's Super Bowl so to speak this is just a matchup of two of the nation's best teams like this is this that's something different so we're gonna have to face Kentucky we're gonna have to get through Central Florida you know we're gonna have to get through James Madison and some of these other uh really good soccer teams in the sunot before you can even think about West Virginia but conversely so do they you know so if it if it sets up the way it is and everybody runs the table between here and there then hell yeah that's going to be one hell of an epic match but for now let's take it one match at a time because obviously the herd has proved to themselves that they can be beaten by by teams that they did not expect to lose to KD that does it for five things every heard fan needs to know this week as always brought to you by ignit link speaking of ignite link it was really good to uh C Jed and and um it's always good to like see him in person you know I like that guy so much he's such a cool dude and I appreciate everything that he does for us and and and everything that we're able to do especially when it comes to thundercast live Powered By Night link which of course we had going on this past Saturday in the sea lot previewing that game against Stony Brook and man old man what a I don't even know how to describe it what what a day that was um I didn't know this going in but you know I didn't know that West Virginia had been under like drought conditions for a while and oh yeah desperate need of rain and gez I'm really glad they picked game day for that rain to come rolling in um in like like freaking Gang Busters by the way but yeah let's talk about Stonybrook let's talk about the sea lot let's talk about the uh the afternoon that was the home opener because it was a good one you know the Kentucky masch boys were out there cooking all kinds of killer food again um the the Lots were not as full as I would have hoped them to be honestly but they were still pretty full had a pretty good damn time out there always great to run into old friends meet new friends and and uh see some family my entire family was there this time which is a rarity you know my wife was was with me and my son both my sons my daughter-in-law and uh if folks tuned in to see thundercast live powered by ignit link they even got a glimpse at KJ my grandson who made his internet debut so it was a good time man let's talk it was it was first things first that food that tailgate everything was free those hundreds of people that stopped by throughout the hours and that was thanks to two different sponsors one is Landscaping by Hillcrest they have signed on to sponsor every single tailgate we have this year they said do it up big that's what they said if you're going to do it do it big and I said we don't know any other way uh Tom with Landscaping by hrrest this is not his first time sponsoring our tailgates they did the spring game they did three games last year um he said heck with it I want to do all season long we have actually had people that listen to our show so far has already said love what they're doing I want to use them for my Landscaping needs and that's been great to see um we also had Raleigh Court Mobile Home Park this is their second straight year doing that home opener they said they always want to be involved in that home oah you know that they have a tie with us and uh the event that goes on on Friday night and everything uh if you are in the Daniels uh Shady Spring Beckley area and need a place that you want to put a mobile home they have empty lots right over there um they have something like 75 to 100 Lots some have mobile homes already on them so it's just TurnKey and then they have empty spaces so keep them in mind show them some love if you're down in that area hex some people like to get a spot down there just so it's closer to the gorge and closer to all the different things that they can do down there so hit them up get with us if you need Landscaping by Hillcrest go to Landscaping by hillcrest.com with all that out of the way the food by the Kentucky Mash boys Chris Kyle Brian everyone that chipped in and helped uh it it just it gets better every year em Emily Dy made the uh macaroni and cheese uh you know I had every intense of making it this time and we did not Outsource it she used my recipe she used my ingredients I just said can you make this and she said absolutely I want to help in any way um so she did that so logistically we could do more things that Saturday morning to get the tailgate ready but just what an what an amazing afternoon yeah it was awesome we had great weather for that part of it you know and I love seeing people come by I'm never shy about walking the lots and just I'll walk up to people and say you guys hungry we got tons of food head on over there you don't have to ask nobody just grab plate and start eating like that's one of my favorite things to do is to direct people over to this massive spread of killer food that we have there for anybody to really walk up and grab and I got to say a special shout out to the uh the ROC guys that were Manning the parking lots and stuff um when we rolled up to the Sea lot I noticed early on that we didn't have any trash cans for the lot you know that that we had always had before and so I rolled over and asked those guys like do you have any are there any extras can we will a couple over and because we're going to need them and couple of phone calls and Bam there were some some cans appeared so it's it's nice to know people that can make things happen but those guys were awesome and I I I told them repeatedly please guys don't go hungry come over you know as many times as you want as often as you want and get get some food get something to drink like Stay full right don't be out here working uh on an empty belly so many great people pitched in and helped so many great people made this happen Karen the grand big spread of desserts once again that was my next thing that I was going to say after you threw it back to me but since you already mentioned it I'll just mention it now and turn it back to you you know Karen every now and then will send a message and say what can I bring and I always say nothing bring yourself bring an appetite and all that she always goes no you know brings brings goes above and beyond but she used to message me like in the early days of hey you know anything from the tailgate and all that she was like uh do you guys need any tablecloths and I always said what for you know she said oh you you guys with not putting anything out so you know she just happened to put in uh something all decked out in kelly green I mean it looked like something you'd see at the Green Brier it was teared and all this different stuff with all these desserts all these sides and stuff like that it was just typical Karen and her friends going above and beyond to come over and tailgate and uh chip in as they could yeah it was great man we had we had people covered from main courses to side dishes to desserts and everything it was really awesome I loved being able to spend some time and and and you know me I always meet new people no matter how many times I go to her games and have especially since we've been doing the thundercast I always meet new people yeah and that's one of my favorite freaking things to do and of course Jed hooked us up with it with uh thundercast live powered by ignit link once again we we went live for about an hour uh VI on that show Russ I don't know if you went back and looked they were they were pretty good pretty good yeah uh last time I looked was maybe early early this morning or late last night one of the two and it was at 575 so we're pushing six push in 600 uh and that's good for you know all those weren't live at one time trying to watch it people went back and watched when they could some people were tailgating missed the message so they had to watch it after you know uh it had started but uh lot of people tuning in I'm glad that we can do that Jed makes it possible for us to do that uh we're never going to look like college game day but that's that's the entire point right you know we're all about the tell delgate and the fun and you never know who's going to happen by and be on thundercast live power back nightl yeah that's true and and one of the cool things he's done this year so folks if you can't make it to a game uh for whatever reason obviously we want you in Huntington West Virginia for all those home games but if something happens you can't and you found yourself well I'm gonna have to just I'll just have to watch the live show Jed has started interacting with the commenters live during the broadcast which is really cool so uh that's something that's uh a new wrinkle to to the uh thundercast live power bag night link shows but look let's get in and talk about the game right it was abut I don't know about you I didn't have any trouble getting into the stadium for all the worrying and and and warnings about make extra time to get into the game I had zero trouble getting in it was not that long of a wait to get in um so we got right in went right up to our seats and Bam Here Comes The Herd right we're playing Stony Brook who was coming in as 0 and 10 team from a year ago still on a losing streak after the herd really took it to him Russ 45 to three in this one especially after the the herd started slow and then the lightning came and pushed everybody out of the stadium so they put up 45 points really in about 20 just a tting over 24 minutes of time of possession it was unbelievable the offensive outpouring that happened after the rain delay so let me get into some indicators here real quick we'll talk about some bullet points and then we'll talk about how it went for the herd indicators total yards 549 yards of offense for Marshall just 252 for Stony Brook mentioned that time of possession 24 minutes 22 seconds for the herd 35 minutes 38 seconds for Stony Brook so the herd did Big Time damage in a little amount of time first downs almost a double up Affair for Marshall 27 for the herd just 15 for Stonybrook third Downs Marshall and five of 11 so hovering around that 50% Mark six of 21 for Stony Brook and then turnover Stony Brook had one Marshall had zero so took care of the football only one penalty all day for Marshall as well could not believe how that went uh some bullet points three quarterbacks played in this one for Marshall three quarterbacks through touchdown passes for Marshall the first time since 1932 the great Steve cotton point out uh that that's happened and that was against the season opener that was the season opener against Louisville that was a dring like 66 to nothing or something holy moly um here's the one I got to talk about though a rate I'm not sure I saw an air ra um our buddy Luke Cy coined a good term he's calling it The Air run and I think I like that let's do uh Point Counterpoint here because I said this very thing on the postgame show obviously you know you know you can't make them as much this year if at all this year and I started doing those for anyone listening we're doing them on Sundays just for Logistics it makes it so much easier after the game to to do that um get the tailgating put back up drive it home unloaded all that not having to worry about doing a a live call-in show for an hour and a half so we did it on Sunday and on Sunday I talked about that very thing it was was 36 runs to 32 passes if you have two that went weren't draws or you tucked it in Ran that would have made it 5050 split you know so it's real close we said a minimum of 55% passing probably more around 65 was where you and I thought it was going to be but here's where I will say we still ran the air raid the routes were drastically different with the over the middles and with the uh fades to the end zone and all that so you had much different routes you had much different dropbacks and everything totally different look than the RPO and the spread that we ran last year second we had 10.1 yards for or maybe it's 9.1 a conglomerate of 9.1 or 10 somewhere around there but right around 10 yards per attempt that we had uh drastically different than last year we also had five passing touchdowns the first time that we have had that since Grant Wills November 14th 2020 against Middle Tennessee State it has not happened in years that we've had five touchdown passes through the air we came really close to having two more one was an amazing defensive play where a guy batted the ball Down In The End Zone on an nrow fade and the other on the other end beautifully thrown ball got has it but as he hits the ground making the diving touchdown it comes out right there so we nearly had seven passing touchdowns or six if one of those uh we had a touchdown after one of those plays it was a lot through the air the only reason that there was a higher percentage of runs for this than we expected was one it helped get stone Earl into the flow of the game early on and two it was there for the taking so we went ahead and did it you know we did a lot of uh design draws and we did a lot of Tuck and runs because we had seven yards right in front of us you need to go ahead and do it so I am not worried that we didn't have 55 65% passing plays in here I still think it was a modified air raid those percentages as the year will go on will be higher up there just my thoughts well and another thing is we know that we were not going to know what this offense was after one game right we're not going to know what this offense is after six games right which it's just you you need a big sampling of data to ultimately figure out what this offense is and we probably won't be able to accurately dissect it until the end of the season now if you start coming out and you're running the ball 70 times and passing 15 times you're going to know pretty quickly that this is not an air rate so but when somebody sees you know a 32 pass to 36 run ratio they're going to go well that ain't air R right and that's kind of what we were talking about but I'm with you if it's there seven yards is there you're not going to not take it right like that's that's that's dumb you take that right so uh but I like the term air run I do like that I I I think Luke was pretty creative in that I'm absolutely going to take zero credit for that because that was his his moniker and I think it's fitting you know because you did see some downfield passing routes some stretch the field passing routes but Marshall still did not abandon that Run game because we told folks over and over there's too many good runners in that room so you just can't leave it behind you can't shelf that so I like the air run and I'm okay if it actually morphs into that air run type thing because you get that downfield passing concept with a balanced attack and I think that's what a lot of fans were getting pissed with last year is that it was bubble screens and runs rather than the downfield passes and runs so I would actually be cool with the 5050 or really close to it split if you're running those type of Concepts downfield I tell you what I'm fine with is winning so I don't care points yeah I I don't care if it's a 7030 and the 30 is the air raid as long as that means we're moving the ball down the field and putting up 549 yards it just really opened everything up but we also had to run a little bit because they were in a 335 out of the gate and once we opened it up with the Run Katie Bar the Door Stone Earl hits eight out of nine uh going uh end of the first half start of the second half and uh Braxton comes in he he's just feasting and then uh Pennington comes in and he feasts in his one drive so uh I was fine with it yeah it was good I mean I'm not trying to be a hater at all I really a really am not but I just kind of expected we would see something a little bit more pass heavy but again if you're going to be able to get seven yards when you need it every time you need it you take it you take it that's right yeah the third the third main bullet point for me was this weird lightning delay that we' had and and you know that was really I'm glad that happened early on because that seemed to give the herd an opportunity to have some like what the hell are we doing here conversations because they went in back toback punts to start the game then the lightning delay comes out and then it was 45 freaking points after that and and I don't know how I don't know what the time of possession was for those first two drives but still it was two drives two punts so even if it was a couple of minutes you're talking about 45 points in maybe 20 to 21 minutes of of time of possession well without looking it up I can tell you the first half was only nine minutes for us 21 minutes to n minutes is time of The Possession and we were up 17 to nothing going into the half uh that uh third possession the 80 yard run that was 11 seconds or something like that later we had 31 second uh Drive uh that ended in a touchdown so we scored quickly in those but you're right man it was in and out those first couple it was three and out uh both on third down the first was a drop it looked like it wasn't on the receiver it wasn't on the quarterback it was kind of on both that it was just a little bit behind the wide receiver which allowed the defensive back to get his hand in there enough to make it to where we didn't get a first down because he was plenty far past the the line of or the first down marker so you know you're talking about a couple of inches with passes here and there from Stone Earl we might not have had that Lull in the first couple of drives it was it was just uh I don't know it was not a best case scenario obviously because you don't want to come out and start punting because that's what fans are like oh okay right you know so many people are quick to judge and you're like okay here we go this is not what we thought we were going to see but at the at the end of it all you go back and and I asked I was sitting with my cousin up in the stands and I was like I'm really not trying to be mean here but does this not feel like the most like ho home 45 points you know what I mean because it was just like another touchdown another touchdown and before you know it you had 45 points and and I didn't feel like I don't know I didn't feel like I I should have seen 45 I don't know if that makes sense but it was it was like I was almost coming too easy you know what I mean towards the end of the game and I thought what the okay uh the other thing I've got to talk about two things still on this lightning delay it's first time that I can remember maybe ever that I was asked to evacuate the stadium for a lightning delay I mean we've set through some torrential downpours and I don't recall ever having to to vacate the Jan and I think that got to be a point of contention amongst some fans and I want to take just a second and clear that up because I was initially it was clear the stadium and everybody was underneath in The Concourse you know and then I was down there about 10 minutes and then Security started shoeing everybody out of the stadium they wanted everybody out into the Lots well at that point I think a bunch of people just said screw this and went home and I don't know why you had a whole game still ahead of you right uh we went out stood under the tents in the tailgate for a little bit and you know ate some more food and and went back into the game but um you didn't have to it's like that they let you back in all you had to do was go back through security and it was really easy the second time he was like come right on in you know they weren't looking at tickets or nothing and it was weird it's like if you didn't have a ticket to the game and then they would have never known you could have came right in after the lightning delay they never would have known so it was just an unfortunate situation I hate that some fans got turned off of that but you can't blame Marshall for weather that's not their fault you know anyone watching or listening can correct me and I said the same thing on the the post game on Sunday is I remember one game that we had to leave for lightning previously and I'm almost certain at the time I was in the upper deck of the end zone where our season seats were and I went down and that we actually had to leave and go on the outside of the stadium that you couldn't be on The Concourse so someone that's watching can correct me I'm thinking 2011 through 2013 somewhere in that range and can't remember the game that it was but I am most certain that they said no you can't be in the stadium even The Concourse uh second thing that I'm G to say I didn't hear this but someone said that as soon as they were telling fans that they had to leave they said you have to exit the stadium not the seats not to go down below that you actually had to leave and go out the gates uh so you could come back in I didn't hear that we went down we were like you we were under the Concourse 10 15 minutes and then the security came by and said can't be here you got to go outside and a lot of people weren't listening to them man so they had to go by they went by three or four times and were're like guys seriously you cannot be in here you actually have to leave you can't be under the cont course so we did at that point and I actually went back and got in my truck I had some end of the- month uh work that I had to have in before midnight so I just chose to do it right there in the drive um watching you guys tailgate right across the street but um but yeah I'm with you man you did not have to leave and drive home I understand a couple people if they were you know three blocks away they had to walk through that downpour and everything to get to their vehicle couldn't find a eight but uh I'll talk a little bit more about that when we do the grades for everything yeah last thing oh let me ask you this do you think that game would have been against UCF in 2012 because I was not in that game I was not at that game and I my brother-in-law was getting married that day and I was watching it on TV and it was rainy nasty Lightning game so it could have been I've been to some games there and I've got photos of it where I mean I I might as well look like I'd been swimming I mean I'm just I'm soaked uh but but this was a game that there was lightning as well you know i' I've sat there through rain uh but this was lightning and they had to delay it for a little while and uh seems like uh they may have even called the game early or something then it would have been that game I bet because I I I remember that happening and I was just not at that one but anyway last thing for me was it was 25,000 032 announced at that game I know the lightning delay had something to do with that um still I'm not sure that there were 25,000 people in that Stadium at its peak so herd fans uh you know that might be tickets sold and everybody there I get that but whatever I think herd fans need to do a little bit better job of turning out because this was a season opener right this was a lot of hype around this team um yeah Stony Brook yeah was a considered a bad SCS team I don't care I go to tailgate and see the herd and and that that's exactly I wanted to get my eyes on the first inclination of the uh Air Raid Offense and see what this defense was all about and I came away honestly just not being a homer I came away with a lot of smiles particularly on defense and uh some of these playmakers that were portal guys that we knew nothing about and how they would react or how they would respond or play in a herd uniform how they actually played I was there's reason to turn out with the attendance I always remind our viewers and listeners when you're in there and you're trying to get an eyeball view uh of everyone that's there keep in mind that couple of thousand are up in the sky box and you can't see them so you're sitting here saying well you know that doesn't look like there's that many people here couple of them you can't see and I heard a lot of different people on social media as well as uh out in the Lots after the game as well as seeing it on message boards that they were still trying to make their way from their tailgates had just kind of gotten in to The Concourse area trying to make their way to the seats when the lightning delay hit so up front we might have been down about three grand of people trying either uh getting up to the Skybox Suites and being in The Concourse or trying to get in the gates uh so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt but it is always tickets sold is how we go about about the attendance yeah I would just say like I for example the student section looked a little sparse you know and that was disappointing because I would have expected that to be really full first game of the season but you know I actually liked how the student section looked uh L especially late in the game they stayed uh through halftime and there was a lot more over there than I thought after an hour and 34 minute delay so I was I was actually happy with how many was there all right so let's talk about what actually happened in this game we got a lot of stats to cover we got a lot of players to talk about so let's get into it yeah uh quarterback one started out for the herd with stone Earl did not ended up being did not end up being the leading passer for Marshall but still we're going to talk about him chronologically he goes 10 of 16 for 97 yards two touchdowns no interceptions on the day also chipped in eight carries for another 55 yards of rushing then brillan Braxton came in in the second half went seven for 11 for 100 41 yards also through two touchdown passes no interceptions added four carries for another 18 yards and then Cole Pennington you mentioned got into the game late four of five for Cole 52 yards one touchdown his first career touchdown pass for Marshall added just one carry for four yards rushing not bad for a trio of quarterbacks where we had a lot of questions coming in who would be number one who would be number two who's going to start this that and the other um really good day from the guys in the quarterback room no turnovers five touchdown passes and nearly what 60 about 65 is rush yards for everybody 75 rush yards AJ Turner the leading rusher for Marshall eight carries for9 yards in a touchdown had that 80 y up the gut to kick off the scoring for the herd as I was actually walking back to my seat I didn't see it but damn I heard it when the uh the crowd started cheering as I was trying to work my way up to the blue bleachers Christian Fitzpatrick leads the way for Marshall in receptions and yards four receptions for 97 yards 24.3 yard average and a touchdown with a long of 67 yards Russ I got to say it would probably be a good idea for Defenders to guard Christian Fitzpatrick and not leave him basically wide open yeah it was an intriguing coverage option that they went with leaving no one over there well you know that's probably not the guy you want bringing on a corner Blitz is leaving open the 6'4 outside receiver yeah um Elijah metf had a phenomenal day I mean phenomenal in multiple phases but from a receiving standpoint three receptions for 50 yards 16.7 yard average two touchdowns and a long of 28 uh this herd offense racked up 290 receiving yards four receivers caught TD passes here's an interesting one though no tight ends caught a pass in the game thought that to be kind of wild considering how deep this this tight end room is uh 259 uh rush yards as the team six Runners that's quarterbacks and uh um running backs averaged over average four point yards per carry or more in this game this was just a great all-around performance for the herd offense in a season opener against an FCS opponent what do you got real quick about this herd offense uh it looked good like like we said the first uh two series and then really other than that 80 yard run I did make it back to my seat for that I uh watched this game twice on replay uh and uh we just did a hell of a job blocking and as soon as uh Turner got past the the line of scrimmage I mean he was gone he was untouched uh but we did a lot well with these uh uh receivers getting them uh into space uh putting them in a position to where they could go up and make plays and that's exactly what they did other than those first three out of four drives herd looked really really good but we had three three and outs in the first four drives and then that one play by Turner so other than that 80 yard run it was a bad start there yeah but like I said there was just a couple of things here and there Stone Earl just looked at a little bit off you know few inches this way that way giving the receivers chance to come back and and make a play we might have been looking at a much better start yeah I know and and ultimately again 45 points you can't get mad at that how are you that's gonna win you a hell of a lot of football game 549 yards that's going to win a lot uh the one thing that I want to say too about uh Fitzpatrick we are of course joking that they left him unattended the safety just did not will back over and cover on that uh on that corner Blitz but it also helped that Fitzpatrick seemed to be the first option in that play because uh braxon was already looking in his direction as soon as he saw it Fitzpatrick immediately held his hand up uh they just hit him in stride and he was gone because there no safety rotated over yeah speaking of that though I did notice and I wasn't the only one that noticed this was kind of a conversation amongst the group of fans that I was around it seems like the her quarterbacks specifically Stone Earl once he uh keyed on his primary receiver he stayed locked on that guy and that's not something that you're going to be able to get away with with too many other defenses uh that you know especially that's not going to work in blackburg you know that's not going to work in Columbus and it's not going to win games for you against App State or any of the contenders in the in the sun Bel conference so it's is this will be the progression the development of our quarterbacks and see if they can he did uh go through progressions a couple of times made some good throws later in the game towards the end of his uh time on the field but early on man he would lock onto that number one guy and just stare him down the whole way so I know that's that's that's all things that get flushed out in the course of of uh feeling each other out and learning this offense but something that a lot of fans took note of well I was going to say I kind of thought the same thing uh watching live that early he did that I did confirm that watching on the rewatches uh and it was seemed to be those first four um series that he had and after that and Braxton and Pennington they all were looking at second even third options and everything so as the game went on just like you mentioned they did start to do that and I was pleased at how they I mean we had three very good quarterback uh games there uh if you take if you take away the the early I think uh Stone Earl started out something like two and seven or something like that and it just didn't look like he was in sync at all then he's eight for 19 um it it was three really good games uh by each of them to make you feel comfortable about what we have been hearing that hey they have all been kind of neck and neck a lot of people were worried that that meant well none of them are any good they all looked to be pretty good even though it was against Stonybrook you still have to make the throws and they were making some very good throws especially those touchdown passes on the Fades yep I did see some good throws from all three guys really I mean I'm not just saying that there were some legitimately really nice balls that were thrown so let's flip over to the defense now Mike Green leads the way for the herd not surprisingly we expected Mike to have a big game and he did he delivered nine total tackles two solo one and a half tackles for loss and one and a half sacks for Big Mike Jaden Yates how about this how about the first time starter well he started some games like played in some games last year but starting at linebacker this year nine total tackles two solo one pass defended for young Jaden Landon Watson another great game eight total tackles three of those solo then you got jacobe Henderson AG McGee Javari ishmail Chris Thomas all with six tackles a piece and then varying numbers of solo tackles and and impact plays sprinkled in amongst those guys speaking of those impact plays for this her defense five total tackles for losses four sacks six passes defended and they get an interception sacks come by of course Mike Green Jabari ishmail Ian Foster Dylan Davis gets the first one of the year for the herd and Amir Foster gets one your interception comes by Jordan Reagan Reese verhoff goes one of two for uh hits one from 45 missed one from 42 Elijah mattf mentioned had a great game four also four punt returns for 41 total yards with a 10.3 average and a long of 16 Ian Foster had one kick return that went for 51 yards what a beauty I thought he was gonna break that one loose but he just got taken down at the very end and then Alec Clark four punts on the day 168 yards total 42 yard average two inside the 20 with a long of 54 let me sprinkle back there and and you can talk to me about this her defense herd defense was dominant but they were also bringing the absolute pain on these hits man I'm talking like just out of nowhere you just be like Oh I'm talking just laying people out you know and uh I love that it was an aggressive swarming defense uh amongst the I think I'm getting these numbers right because they don't have them in front of me maybe you do 105 team tackles and I think it was uh 7 eight were assisted so it was just everybody swarming to the ball uh L to see it also love that Chris Thomas in the absence of legs and Gibson that weren't there um not just in in starting but the entire game Gibson was on the sideline in a shy and then I did not see legs Chris Thomas with his six foot7 plus the wings fan that's even bigger had two pass deflections you know batted balls and if we see a couple of those at um Ohio State or at Virginia Tech that may turn into an interception for us that that was one of the early things that Vanderbilt got drones was a batted ball uh second series of the game I believe helped set vanderbild up to go up to 10 nothing so uh really love the play by everybody on defense yeah me too and I don't know that a lot of fans noticed that ta's legs and you were not in the game that's two massive pieces in your interior defensive line that were not on the field and still this defensive line showed how dominant they can be and how about those linebackers man answering a lot of questions now as many questions as we asked these guys Landon Watson is a beast he was freaking everywhere jayen Yates played unbelievably well and just down from us was Hall of Famer maxat I don't think he sat the entire game I mean he was on his feet the entire game what I wouldn't expect anything less from a guy as intense as Max Yates right he don't have time to sit down there's a football game being played man you know what I mean so it was a really good effort all the way around these DBS played really well they did give up some early third down conversions but hey settled in started making some plays came down with one late in the game this is really good and I'm not going to get too high because again this was Stony Brook this is not Virginia Tech this is going to be a 180 between tests from week to week here coming up but still great way to start out the season 45 to3 herds one and0 I mean goodness gracious let's move into some grades yeah uh I've got the grades here and I've also got both of our keys to Victory if you want to do those after the grades we can roll through those real quick uh but I'm going to start off with the offense on grades I had them is an A minus uh putting up 549 yards putting up uh six touchdowns uh and a field goal uh well field goals special teams but six touchdowns five through the air 549 yards total the only ding that I'm giving them instead of an A or an A+ is because they had that slow start three out of the first four uh Series yeah it's not bad right I would expect that to be right in line I'm or I'm right in line with that too had Marshall gone down on the first possession or the first one of the first two possessions and put points on the board this would probably be an a performance but anytime you get the nitpick like that you did a lot of [ __ ] right that's is all there is to it you did a lot right so let's talk about those quarterbacks what do you got for those quarterbacks quarterbacks man I have to go with an a uh not an A minus not an A+ and again it was that start you know for stone Earl that was a little bit sluggish but three of them coming in and doing something that no one has done for us since 1932 and that that was great they uh they threw some absolute dimes they look poised in the pocket I'm telling you the progression which you know I had him as the breakout at quarterback the progression that Cole Pennington has had in the touch on his ball the arm strength that he showed the decision making uh looking at different receivers I I just could not have been high enough on all three of these guys as a unit I'm going with an a yeah it was an A and I don't care no turnovers for any of these guys they took care of the football they nearly combined for 300 yards passing as a committee I'll take that five touchdown passes I will freaking take that every single week you know this is this is about as a as they can get without being an A+ and that's it that that's all there is to it what about this her defense in week one her defense I've got it as an a as well about the only thing that you could say is man you gave up a a third down here you gave up a third down there but I mean come on they held the team to three points um and no touchdowns kept them out of the end zone they were flying all over the field it's about as close to an A+ as you're going to get from me I'll tell you why I'm with you and I'll give him an A and it it is you gave up no points right that's special teams points that's not on the defense you did not give up a touch down here's where I'm at with it I had some questions and I wondered what would we look like would we be able to effectively put you know some some linebackers out there that were serviceable I think those questions were answered and put to bed because yet the the combo of Yates and Watson alone are way more than a than the word serviceable I think these guys fit right freaking in there man and JC Anderson too you know right but I did I didn't have questions about him right I sure sure okay gotcha got so so and then we're talking about that you didn't have legs and you didn't have Gibson so how much more responsibility fell on that second level than normally would and these guys responded man I mean and and some other guys I gotta talk about Ian Foster played great for me on defense I mean I thought he looked really good not just not to mention just the Special Teams things as well but he played really good on defense Jabari ishmail looked really good opposite Mike Green the wrinkle of moving Mike Green inside a few times throughout the game okay I don't know I don't know what I was seeing there I did not expect to see that but I thought hey that's that's something new that's that's an interesting little thing look I'm not getting overly hype about this defense I came away with some of my questions answered and that's primarily what I was hoping to see it was an a performance all the way round on this her defense how about special teams special teams I have is an A+ you've got a misfield goal but it was from 44 you said 45 and 42 that's what they listed these as but when I went in my head Plus on the rewatches you're talking about 46 and 44 was where they were actually from the leg was good on both of them it wasn't a distance thing uh he even elevated his kicks a lot more verhoff did uh they used to be lower Line Drive kicks on those long distance which made it susceptible to blocks in the past um but he had plenty of leg plenty of height it just hooked right outside on uh seemed to be like the last little bit because this heading right down the middle and then it hooked that's the only thing that you can nitpick is missing a 44 y that had nothing to do with any kind of being close you know you you missed that it was kind of like well let's kick it just so we can get some practice at these we had a 51 yard return by Ian Foster in his only touch of the game that we they kicked off one time and uh for us to return it and that's what we got was 51 yards we uh had metf getting way more yards in this game than we did the entire last season in punt returning I'll say that again metf got more yards in this game than we did last season in punt returns yeah um that was great we uh punted out of the four times 42 average we punted inside the 20 on two of those one of them was at the one yardline yep Ian Foster again came came down with that uh it was just a terrific game most important and this is for the offense this is for the defense but it's also for the special teams one count them one and it was a holding call on the tight end one penalty for 10 yards we had another one that was waved off and that was an accidental running into the kicker and really that was the kicker putting his foot out there on the punter uh putting his foot out there a little bit more watching it on the replay the guy did not take an angle he took the the angle perpendicular that you should take right at the ball just happened to catch his uh extended foot and that was a running into five yards waved it off excellent job by everybody to to keep those there was no turnovers there were no uh significant anything that did any damage it was just top to bottom great right and what and that's always what you're talking about with special teams is you did your job and generally you do your job you're gonna get a good grade yeah you know you're not asking more of somebody because so special team blunders they can really kill you and we didn't we didn't see that this game everybody did their job anytime you can down one inside the one or at the one that's always going to get the crowd uh excited and this one was no different again Ian Foster would a great all-around game on defense and special teams it did not go unnoticed man a lot of us up in the stands there in my circle of fans were talking about how well of a game he had and as along with metap both receiving and punt returning it was great all the way around what do you got for these coaches coaches I have an a uh I I really don't know what could have put it to an A+ I lik getting all three quarterbacks in there to get them some time and experience you know we could have kept one quarterback in the whole game and won easily we could have put two in the whole game and won easily we didn't we put three in we had a lot of different looks uh along the defensive front like you said putting Mike Green in the interior at sometimes and and bumping out uh I think it was Thomas went to the outside um we got a lot of different defensive backs in you know we we had three different Runners and we ran with all three quarterbacks we had uh just a really good called game the only thing that could have blown the doors off of it again those first three out of four drives that were three and out but it wasn't like they were bad play calls it's just they didn't get first downs yeah coaches had a really good solid game they had a good game plan and it worked right and doing the little things like getting coal into the game so that you energize the crowd late you know I was saw him warming up on the sidelines and um I was sitting there next to my daughter-in-law and I said they're getting ready to put Cole penon in that quarterback and you listen to what this crowd does yeah and of course you know like he's probably the most celebrated third string quarterback in the country bar none right now you know and it was good to see him get get in the I would have Lov to seeing jakai long get into the game you know he just ran out of clock you know if Earl plays maybe one less possession and brashton one less possession and Cole you know gets one more and maybe there's an extra one at the end of the game to get uh get long into the game that would have been nice right because this is the time to do it but I get it I get it um definitely an a effort for the coaches I would personally selfishly you put 50 on the board you get that plus beside your a but I'll take 45 and a win you also have to talk about the lack of penalties here with the coaches because nothing says disciplined and playing within yourselves as barely having a a holding penalty is your your only real blunder that to me is great coaching as well uh to your point on the uh breakdown of the series that the quarterbacks got Stone Earl was in for the first nine Braxton was in for only three and then Pennington was in for only one so out of the 13 stone Earl saw nine of them he would if he saw a couple less then Braxton gets in early and Pennington maybe gets in earlier you may have seen long get that final drive instead of Pennington yeah would have been nice I just it just it just would have been cool to see that uh what do you how about the fans man the fans I've got for a B+ and here's the here's the reason why uh yes we should have had a lot more people there uh and I'm talking about early you know I think that I'm of the thing that we should have 30,000 there at every game uh I would like to get to that point um but I'm not going to ding people that chose to leave after an hour and a half even though I stayed I'm I didn't miss a snap I'm not calling myself a Super Fan I'm just saying I get it why some people left you know after that amount of time here's where I'm going to ding some people we are is on the home side Marshall is on the away side I saw that backwards all the time I also heard in the chairbacks around me people trying to do both sides that's not how it works we are is on one side Marshall's on the other I did like that we had some people trying to get it started but they came over and we doing it the long way they were doing it backwards you know trying to get the pointing to the other side to do the we are and then having us say Marshall and I was I just wanted to say look man that's not how it works um the fans for the most part they get a really good grade here I'm just dinging us for some things that we really really need to get back to and that's knowing when to be loud is on third down and then shutting up when we have the ball you know uh being loud and doing the we are and Marshall chant but doing it correctly you know and not not letting it dwindle out after it doesn't even get started because people want to sit there you know if you have been there for four some hours get up and have some energy you know you stayed there that long just to sit on your hands no man get loud and that's why I feel like I didn't say it earlier you said it was kind of 45 points of ho hum I feel like there was not enough energy there to make it feel like that was 45 points it's like we just took it for granted yeah I will say this it was the energy that the that the players had on the field was not matched fully by the fans and the stands and that sucks because these guys prepared and practiced and and they and they fought and scrapped to get that death chart spot and who and then they came out and put 45 points up on the board which is what everybody Under the Sun has been asking for for a number of years you know that's what I want to see by goly I'll go back when I start seeing that well here it is I get it yeah it's Stony Brook but you can't keep moving the goal post on me you can't keep saying well I'll go back when it's 45 points not against Stony Brook don't do that but go to the game be loud I had a great time of course you know I I can't help it that you know I when when when the when the pregame intro is going on I get chill bumps I'm always gonna get that that's just because I love you know her football I love that and I'm gonna be loud and I'm GNA have energy that I can't contain and and you know probably look a little foolish sometimes but I don't care it's like dance like nobody's looking right so I I cheer like nobody's looking like and and fans can be the fan they want to be but you could at least match the energy that's on the field here's the Here's the final thing I'll say about the fans I saw a lot of this on social media and everything uh in the days after the game that they did not know about where you needed to enter for the uh the security screening or they didn't even know that that was a thing and that you couldn't come back out after halftime uh or you know come back out and then go back in without another ticket uh the only thing I'm G to tell you about that is the university has a dedicated website to tell you all that stuff they put out I can't tell you how many different things we put out Paul Swan talked about it Luke crey talked about it WSAZ had a feature on it uh it's I mean it's everywhere that you want to look every message Bo social media everything it was talked about ad nauseum and you're on these same things almost like a woe as me of saying well I didn't know that you couldn't go through gate B it was said I don't know how many times that you go through gate a or Gate C I went through Gate C for the start of the game and it was ridic ridiculously long and there were two different lines for that because there were two different gates at Gate C and I thought man it's going to take 25 minutes to get through it was less than five it was a long line but you don't have to take anything out of your pockets if you're not carrying a bag you just walked right through you know and and the only thing that slowed us down was people trying to walk through with beers or drinks or something that hadn't been sealed because you can now take water in if it's sealed and it's in a clear container that they had to be told sorry you're going to have to chug that or throw it away before you can walk through and that held the lineup so it's not on the security the only thing holding the lineup was some fans at times so don't tell me that Marshall needs to do a better job of putting it out when they spent a freaking month telling you almost daily and there's still a website up that they link to all the time you know it's been on every radio show every TV show it's been on our show it's been all over social media that's on you guys yeah it is by now you know Marshall's got a clear bag policy we all know now that they have a no entry no re-entry policy you know you're going to have to go through additional security and it's only a handful of places that you can go through that now at that point it's on you to comply with that stuff and if you don't then you can't be like well well I didn't know no you knew you tried to get away with it and it didn't work so it is what it is do better next time show out a little bit better for Western Michigan here in a couple of weeks and honor that 2014 Conference USA championship team it ought to be a great time overall what do you got for this one Russ overall was an A+ that tailgate was crazy the uh the game getting to see 45 points and uh giving up only three uh the negative the only thing that you can come up with is that rain you know that delay um but I tell you in a weird way that allowed some people to go back and tailgate some more and um can't even really be mad at that A+ overall what a weekend you nullified the no re-entry policy for one more game because of the rain so it wasn't all bad all right let's move in real fast let's do who's your offensive MVP for this one uh my offensive MVP is uh Elijah metf uh he just uh made things happen every time he got the ball in his hands and uh I'm going with him I had originally said that it would be a wide receiver didn't know who it would be that they'd get two touchdowns I put that to be taon Chapman in our pregame show it didn't end up being that it ended up being mataf but two touchdowns from a wide receiver I'm going Elijah mataf yeah even though this does fall a little bit on special teams as well I'm going Elijah metf offensive MVP as well he was just all over the place man what a great pickup for the herd coming over from Middle Tennessee State which means you know it's this is something that we get taken advantage of as where bigger programs take our great players sometimes and and and I'm not saying that we're a bigger program than Middle Tennessee I'm just saying great players are everywhere right and he saw an opportunity opportunity to come to Marshall and play in a air raid air run whatever you want to call it offense and he really flourished in that he really really did and for all the folks that'll say well you know Christian Fitzpatrick led the team in receiving yeah he did he most certainly did but he was also the benefactor of a 67 yard touchdown that was uncovered essentially so if that pass goes to metap instead of going to Fitzpatrick you're talking to you know it's a it's it's the same thing so metf to me made more plays in more situations plus he found the end zone twice great herd debut for Elijah meta for us who's your defensive guy Mike Green you know uh nine which was a career-high tackles uh he had one and a half sacks he was uh back there I think two tackles for loss and he also or maybe it's two and a half uh and then he also had two or three quarterback hurries and he just seemed to be that guy he wasn't out there a full game you know he missed several series and uh he still led the team from the defensive end position in total tackles so give me Mike Green what a debut for for the year give me Mike the freak green but a special shout out to Landon Watson and Jaden Yates man what by those guys I mean you're talking about 18 26 total tackles between Yates Watson and Mike Green phenomenal game from those three guys individually Landon Watson I really feel uh I'm really feeling good about he had a great debut well a great first game of the season for the herd but Mike Green did it for me he he he showed exactly what we had had expected he showed exactly what we had been talking about and I think a lot of sunbell fans went oo maybe they weren't full of [ __ ] maybe this guy is pretty good and that leads me to talk about what I wanted to talk about in the five things I think he got robbed for some belt player defensive player of the week I think he had a phenomenal game and it I I saw who wanted nothing against you know that particular player but I think green had an overall better stat line was more impactful in the game I think maybe that uh the fact that we were playing Stony Brook was was held against Mike a little bit but plenty of time for some of the weeks for Mike Green he will be he will undoubtedly have a couple if he goes out and puts up the exact same statline this weekend against Virginia Tech he wins that damn award we both know it give me the of the year and keep your of the weeks that's right so finally who you got for your special team's MVP it's Ian Foster Man One Touch for 51 yards he had uh the uh uh punt down at the one and every time if you go back and watch this game on ESPN plus every time that there's a punt he is down there one of the first two people often the first person down there just really flies down the field he's a weapon on special teams and I can't wait to see what he does all year long I agree for the new found leg strength of of Reeb Hoff which is great to see uh Alec Clark putting a over 40 plus yard uh punt return a or punt average it's Ian Foster down in one on the one big 51 yard kick return for touchdown and you're right he or not for Touchdown big 51 yard kick return he was down there on every single punt coverage great player for the herd also plays a pretty mean DB if I'm not mistaken yeah man he had uh he he wrapped up it was an outlet pass uh and got the guy for a two- yard loss I mean that's how bumping right on the guy he was uh he he's going to turn into a special player as a red shirt freshman already putting up games like this y he's gonna be a hell of a player he started off great great allaround game for the herd in all three phases and on the sidelines uh could use a little bit of improvement up in the stands from the fans but overall it was an A+ weekend for me Russ we've got Virginia Tech and blackburg next weekend or coming up this weekend but for right now let's go around to herur yes we're gonna start off with cross country they had their uh you know first meet and it was uh delayed a little bit because of the heat but same day there on Friday the herd women won the 2024 Thundering Herd Invitational with a dominant 20 points winning over the next closest team finisher who scored 47 points senior Kylie Masten won the individual title with a time of 1805 Junior Hannah Wier finished second freshman Ellie hos fluke and Destiny barryman rounding out the top five so four of the top five for the women uh we had an additional three that made the top 15 the men had a good showing as well uh says the uh just two of the same top seven who scored at the 2023 Thundering Herd Invitational uh they did that on Friday Squad was led by sophomore Garrett Ferguson with a top five finish and a time of 1532 freshman Justin libum also finished in the top 10 four seconds later to get eighth uh Team finished second with 55 points so great showing by both overall you got anything on cross country before I move on I mean well just real quick it's a big time win for the herd cross country women mean that literally and figuratively because Kylie Maston crosses first four of the five top five are herd women gotta love it man the herd Invitational and the herd hold strong at home what a great way to start out the season was next volleyball we we swept ETSU at Davidson like I said and then uh we played Davidson and actually got swept by them on their home uh court and then we came back and and swept Elon so two sweeps we go two and one down there we talked about Brien Brown getting Setter of the week and we talked about her and McKenna Melton both making the all tournament team very good start to the uh season on the road going two and one would have loved to have seen us get a set or two against Davidson but uh you know it's hard when you're on somebody else's home turf home field home pool or in this case home court yeah yeah still let's get let's we got off to the got off in to to a good start there and you could put a couple on the all tournament team you get an of the week out of it outside of getting swept in one of the matches all right so you what if you take one set the only thing you're doing is taking away the word sweep you're still going to lose that particular match but it is what it is two and one on the weekend I think you'll take that most of the time yeah so let's build some momentum heading into this conference late because honest to God man it's just time for this uh herd vol volleball team to kind of rise up the ladder a little bit in the Sun Belt that that's kind of where I'm at with it great start but we got to keep it roll we uh are going this weekend for the Eastern Michigan tournament in Iolani Michigan uh starting Friday at 4 pm we'll be taking on Oakland and then Saturday at 11: a we'll be taking on George Washington and then 300 PM Eastern Michigan themselves so another three matches set up for this weekend uh moving on next women's soccer they uh had gone up to Harvard and lost one to nothing and then uh came down and got that goal late by Angel Fowler uh to where Rafa S as we mentioned got his first ever win as a head coach it was a great great great game uh to see that happen they won one to nothing against Belmont uh they are facing Athens or Ohio at Athens uh and that is tomorrow 4 pm Thursday uh in case you're watching this on Thursday and then this Sunday they will be at Indiana State at home 1 pm nice yeah get got one out of the way let's move to two let's get to three I mean I don't want to say it over and over again but now we've proven we can win matches then now now it's about winning more matches all right and we are finishing up with men's soccer of course we said they lost two to nothing at Xavier we've never won at Xavier and then we demolished lyola six to one on Monday at home to get back in the swing of things we have uh a full weekend of that coming up let's see who they are going to be playing uh High Point is our next game I think the next two or three games are going to be at the vet so get there and watch those we have all of that on our U social media yeah tickets for all those matches of course at home uh I saw we got a tweet or we got tagged in a tweet from our buddy Tom Bragg who was actually out tailgating the other day so the tailgate scene is growing down at the vet so you know you can have a little bit of fun between football games if you want to go get your tailgate fixed and keep your eyes glued to the Thundercat thundercast Facebook page and the Twitter page for Ticket giveaways KD the battery is about to die here so I'm going to take us out and we're going to end this episode so I'll just say whether you see us at the Joan whether you see us at the cam whether you see us down at Virginia Tech in blackburg where you'll see me down there no matter where you see us we're going to be saying go her go herd come back in a couple days we'll have your Virginia Tech football preview we'll see you next week later