So, ESPN thinks that the Herd is the 59th best team of the playoff era. Kudos to the 2014 team to even get us ranked! Of all games in the history of Marshall football, the game against WKU still makes me the most nauseous!
You have to have ESPN Plus to read the story but here is what is said about Marshall:
59. Marshall Thundering Herd
Record: 80-47
Average SP+: -1.4 (69th)
Toledo, Marshall, Fresno State and Troy have all had excellent runs, including 14 10-win seasons between them during the playoff era. But they've never cracked the committee's top 20, with the foursome only hanging around the bottom of the rankings for a handful of weeks each, and have finished the year ranked by the AP just four times total (Marshall was 23rd in 2014, Fresno State was 18th in 2018 and 24th in 2022, and Troy was 19th in 2022). They essentially account for the Tier 2 of the Group of 5 over the past decade.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/39563967/grading-every-college-football-team-ranked-cfp-committee