Topic: Vegas odds

[The E-Man]

Vegas line has moved to Cincinnati by 3.  Over/Under 46.5.  Yesterday the over/under had dropped from 46 to 45 so Vegas is seeing some money bet on this game. 

Cincinnati seems to have a good passing game helped by their legit duel threat QB.
Marshall's secondary needs to have a good game.  Marshall's offense should be helped by this being a home game.  At least that's what I'm telling myself.

About the Herd being stagnant...  This is a better and more talented Cincinnati team than the Herd has played in the recent past and a better coaching staff.  Fickle has brought in better talent than the Herd has seen at UC.  On defense and special teams it's had for any team to improve on an already good product and Marshall has had some good defenses and special teams (with the possible exception of the Mark Snyder years). I don't see that we have been stagnant...  On offense we are not stagnant, simply put we have taken a step back.  But its had to compete with the Pennington, Leftwitch, Moss, Bradshaw days.  Players like that don't come around often.  Moss alone was a 100 year flood type catch for 95%-98% of teams.  We can thank Marshall's status as a Div. I-AA team (so he wouldn't have to set out a second year), mommy Maxine Moss and DiTrapino more than anything for Randy.  Doc's biggest failure has been his inability to recruit a good QB and depth at QB.  Apart from the later part of the Cato/Froh period Doc just hasn't had the type of QB needed.  The recent trend of relying on post-injury transfers just isn't working out as far as finding a starter or adding depth is concerned.

I'm talking about winning conference championships and getting "respect again" from everyone. I watched the Boise game against Air Force and the announcers kept talking about how Boise shut us out in the second half. (Not even a first down or yard was gained). They showed it on the screen for a long time and mentioned it about 5 times. I know that game is behind us, this is why we need to beat Cincy and start being feared again at the Joan.

[HerdEcon]

I'm talking about winning conference championships and getting "respect again" from everyone. I watched the Boise game against Air Force and the announcers kept talking about how Boise shut us out in the second half. (Not even a first down or yard was gained). They showed it on the screen for a long time and mentioned it about 5 times. I know that game is behind us, this is why we need to beat Cincy and start being feared again at the Joan.

Ahh... Gotcha.  No doubt we are due a conference championship.  We seem to be in the hunt year in and year out.  Its time we started winning a few of those.  On the positive side Marshall has the second highest winning percentage of current CUSA schools that have appeared in more than 1 CUSA championship game.  WKU has appeared in 2 and won both.  Marshall has appeared in 2 and won 1 and lost 1.  Southern Miss has appeared in 3 and won 1 and lost 2.  LA Tech has appeared in 2 and lost both.  No other current member CUSA school has appeared in more than one conference championship game. 

You had to bring up the how Boise shut down the Herd offense in the second half.  Such a opportunity to let slip through our fingers.  I'll say this I liked the offensive game plan in the first half.  I felt like Marshall was trying to control the time of possession, keep our defense fresh and move the ball.  It worked, we got points on the board and our defense was strong in the second half.  Whatever the game plan was in the second half was poor and the execution was poor.  5 Herd possessions in the second half, net -10 yards.  I like a strong defense but points win games.  We gotta have both.