The Marshall Thundering Herd have won the MAC East Division and reached the MAC championship game in each year it has been contested - the game's history began in 1997. Once again the road to the championship game goes through Huntington, W.V., but for the first time one would have to consider the Herd to be ... an underdog.
Marshall (4-1 MAC, 6-2 overall) will likely take the field without Heisman Trophy candidate, quarterback Byron Leftwich, when they face the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks (5-1, 7-3) at Marshall Stadium Tuesday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN. The winner of the game will control their own destiny in the quest for the MAC East Division title.
According to a release on Marshall's official athletic site, herdzone.com, Leftwich is considered to be "very doubtful" for the game after suffering a "lower left leg injury" during the Herd's loss at Akron last week.
Leftwich was on crutches early this week and did not practice in order to attempt to allow the injury to heal. If Leftwich is unable to play, the team will look to sophomore quarterback Stan Hill, who would be making his first start since his senior year of high school.
While Leftwich's injury may keep him out of Tuesday's game, Marshall Head Coach Bob Pruett does not feel that it threatens the rest of his senior year.
"I don't think he's out for the season. We'll see how we progress. We won't know anymore until he's had some time to rest and rehab," said Pruett.
Leftwich or no Leftwich, Miami's journey to Huntington, W.Va. will not be easy. Miami is 5-1 when playing on the road, a nation-leading statistic, but they are 0-2 when playing at Marshall and 0-4 in the team's last four meetings.
Miami defeated Ohio last weekend 38-20 under the leadership of sophomore quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger completes 69.4 percent of his passes and has thrown twelve touchdowns and only four interceptions in the last six weeks.
"If anyone was born to be a quarterback I think it was Ben Roethlisberger. He does so many things naturally and so much of his ability is God given. He's tremendously talented and works hard at his skills," said Miami Head Coach Terry Hoeppner.
Third downs will have a major impact on Tuesday night's game. The RedHawks have a 55.2 conversion percentage on third down. While their offense is converting the team's offensive third downs, the defense has allowed opponents only 13 first downs in their last four games.
Miami will challenge the Marshall defense with their versatile offense. Roethlisberger has connected with twelve different receivers throughout the year and Miami's running backs (Luke Clemens and Cal Murray) create a constant threat as well.
The Thundering Herd are also dealing with injuries to both of their primary running backs (Franklin Wallace and Brandon Carey), and two of their receivers are out for the rest of the season - Curtis Jones and Brad Bates.
If Leftwich plays he will have to be mobile enough to avoid the high pressure of the RedHawks' defense, as they have made 29 sacks in the last seven games. In fact, the RedHawks senior defensive end Matt Edwards ranks fourth in the MAC for sacks (.8 per game), while senior linebacker Matt Robillard is sixth with .6 sacks per game.
Both teams have several key players that are vying for numerous national awards. Aside from Leftwich, both Miami (Jared Parseghian) and Marshall's (Curtis Head) place kickers have been nominated for the Lou Groza Award.
Miami and Marshall each occupy spots in the Week 12 Top 10 ESPN Mid-Major Poll, with Marshall holding the sixth spot and Miami maintaining the ninth place.
"Once again we're playing Marshall with the division championship, at least the winner stays alive to be the division champion," said Hoeppner.
The winner of the East will host the MAC championship game. Marshall has won the division each year they have been in the MAC. After Tuesday, the Herd has conference games at Ohio and vs. Ball State, while the RedHawks travel to UCF for their last MAC game.
