Topic: Gazette: Snyder: Sunday night game a nice change of pace for

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By Doug Smock
Staff writer

HUNTINGTON — Football players dream of playing on Sundays. At Marshall, that dream becomes reality this weekend with its first game on that day.

The Thundering Herd isn’t playing in the NFL, but it is taking on Southern Mississippi at 8 p.m. Sunday at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in an ESPN-televised game.

When ESPN’s NFL coverage shifted from Sunday to Monday night, it began televising college games on some Sunday nights. It won’t get better ratings than the NFL game on NBC, but it has to do better than poker reruns.

From its inception, Conference USA has been more than willing to play any day of the week. And now, many Herd players will play their first organized Sunday game since pee-wee ball, if ever.

In a schedule that has featured an 11 a.m. start, this is the latest start of the year in relation to local time.

Players are happily adapting.

“By 8 p.m., a lot of the [NFL] games are over, and we know we’re going to be one of the only shows in the whole country,” said defensive end John Jacobs. “That will put good pressure on us to try to perform.”

Herd coach Mark Snyder doesn’t mind the wide variety of starting times.

Link: http://wvgazette.com/section/Sports/Marshall/2007101632