The Monarchists

The Senior Day, Oyster Bowl, Steel Bowl

Get your shuckers ready!  The Marshall Thundering Herd (7-3) come to town to face the Old Dominion Monarchs (4-6) in the Shriner’s 74th Annual Oyster Bowl.  ODU is 9-3 in Oyster Bowls since taking over the regular season bowl game in 2011.  However, some call the conference game against the Herd the “Steel Bowl” and the Monarchs sport a much worse record of 1-8.  The Monarchs one and only victory against Marshall was back in 2016.  The series has been all Herd and Old Dominion is tired of losing to them.

This year was thought it could have been different.  The Herd looked lost at the quarterback position and a lot of its’ star power had graduated with unclear replacements. Head Coach Charles Huff was entering the last year of his contract after underperforming to Marshall standards in two of his first three seasons.  All signs pointed to a lame duck season for the Herd that could have been disastrous.  But Huff and the Herd proved us all wrong and at 5-1 in conference play, Marshall sits atop the SBC East setting up an East championship game with JMU in two weeks.  Let’s hope they are overlooking the Monarchs.

The Herd did start the season lost at quarterback, first starting Braylon Braxton, but then quickly moving on to Stone Earle, then switching back to Braxton, and then the team played a game against Georgia Southern switching off between the two.  But the ping pong match between the two is over and Braylon Braxton has solidified his position as the full time starter.  Thus far, he has thrown for 13 touchdowns with only two interceptions which is impressive with his limited game time.  His average yards per throw is an impressive 8.3 (4th in SBC).  To add to his impressive passing game, the Monarchs have to contend with another dual threat quarterback.  Braxton has ran for 389 yards and three touchdowns.

 

Overall, Braxton leads an average Sun Belt offense.  The Herd offense averages 383.6 yards per game (7th in SBC) and 30.6 points per game (5th in SBC).   With Braxton under center, it is supposed to be an air raid offense with four or five wide receivers to stretch the defense across the field with an emphasis on quick passes.  However, the passing game has been relatively weak with 183.1 passing yards per game(12th in SBC).  It is the running game that Marshall excels at with over 200 rushing yards per game (2nd in SBC).

Running Back AJ Turner has rushed for 793 yards for the season (2nd in SBC).  Turner is a breakout star from Hampton, Virginia, and saw very little playing time until this year.  He has a home run ability unlike any other in the conference.  Any time he touches the ball, he might take it the distance for a touchdown.  Surprisingly, the Herd has under utilized him focusing on the “air raid” and only handed him the ball 86 times despite his dominance.   He has made the most of his touches though.  He sports a ridiculous 9.2 yards per carry which is the first in the country (minimum of 42 carries).  Linebacker brothers Koa Naotola, Seth Naotola, and the rest of the Monarchs’ defense need to make proper angles and tackles to ensure he does not hit any more homeruns. However, he missed last week’s game against Coastal Carolina, and was in a walking boot on the sidelines. He may miss this one as well.

 

The Marshall offense is good this year.  In fact, it is better than years past.  But the defense is just as good as it usually is allowing only 376.1 yards per game (5th in SBC) and 22.9 points per game (4th in SBC).  It is good against the run and the pass.  What it excels most at is getting to the quarterback having 31 sacks in the season which is good for third place in the Sun Belt but that is only one sack behind both Texas State and James Madison.

A lot of that pass rush is coming from defensive end Mike Green who leads the entire nation in sacks (15) and tackles for a loss (20).  The 6-4, 250-pound edge presence possesses a 380-pound bench press and 440-pound squat.  He is also a UVA-transfer from Williamsburg, Virginia, and the brother to ODU’s senior linebacker EJ Green.  The Monarchs’ offensive line need to know where Green is at all times and double team him whenever possible.

Overall, this Marshall team has proven to be one of the best in the entire Sun Belt and keeps improving week-to-week.  Just when the Monarchs are on a two-game skid, the Herd looks competent on a four-game win streak.  The Herd are not just capable of winning against ODU this week, but could be only a few games away from being crowned Sun Belt Champs.

Preview and Prediction:  Marshall 24, Old Dominion 17

The JMU loss hurt pretty bad.  It was not just a loss to a rival but a loss that knocks ODU out of the SBC East running.  That’s now a three horse race between Marshall (5-1), JMU(4-2), and Ga. So. (4-2).  All the fellas and I took the L by picking the Monarchs while only Vegas moves up.  Vegas is still behind Mike though.  Mike is now 6-4, Gary and I tie Vegas at 5-5, and Aaron and the Monarchs themselves bring up the rear at 4-6.

This week, Vegas opened by picking the Monarchs by two points and although there has been some movement, it looks like Vegas still barely favors the Monarchs.  Which is pretty puzzling after seeing how both teams played the past few weeks.  Gary and I are going against Vegas picking the Herd.  Meanwhile, Aaron and Mike are sticking with Vegas and picking the Monarchs.  God, I hope they are right.  Don’t miss their analysis on the pod this week.

Here, it is hard for me to fathom that the Monarchs can protect Colton Joseph from the stout Marshall pass rush.  If the Dukes can get five sacks against the Monarchs, then so can this Thundering Herd defense.  With it, the ODU offense might struggle and if it does, eventually the defense will allow Turner (or Braxton) to break off a huge run.  In order to beat this team, the Monarchs need to get the run game going, protect the ball, and above all else, protect quarterback Colton Joseph.

The Herd will be motivated to win this game too.  Marshall is in the driver’s seat to win the East and cannot afford any slip ups.  But the Monarchs should still have some motivation too.  They need to beat Marshall and then bowl-eligible Ark. State just to reach a 6-6 record and go bowling.  Can the Monarchs beat the Herd to do it?  If they do, can they beat the Red Wolves in Jonesboro afterwards?  I sure hope so.  I am so tired of losing to Marshall.

Finally, a special thanks to Gary for preparing last week’s recap while I had to attend my niece’s wedding.  I agree with him that going to that wedding was bad luck for the Monarchs.  I knew it the second I saw the bridesmaids were dressed in an ugly JMU purple.  To be clear, the bridesmaids and their dresses were beautiful, the wedding was lovely and fun.  It was just the color that disturbed me while my Monarchs suffered a heartbreaking loss.