Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Nov. 1, 2005

Marshall will meet one of its new rivals for the first time ever on Tuesday when the Southern Miss Golden Eagles pay a visit to Joan C. Edwards Stadium in a key Conference USA East Division contest that will be televised nationally by ESPN2.

Both schools have strong football traditions that have produced a great deal of champions on the gridiron in recent years. Marshall, playing in its first season as a member of Conference USA, has won five Mid-American Conference Championships and won five of seven bowl berths since moving to Division 1-A status in 1997. Southern Miss has won four C-USA championships since 1996 and won four of seven bowl appearances in the same span.

The West Virginia Chrysler Jeep Dealers and Empire Metal Recycling are sponsoring 10,000 Cheerstix that will be distributed to fans in attendance, and ESPN and Adelphia are providing 10,000 Rally Towels to fans at the game.

The Thundering Herd is coming off of a dramatic 27-26 win over Tulane in Mobile, Ala. Trailing 20-7 at the half, Marshall's Chubb Small took the second half kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown to ignite the Marshall rally. Following a late 3rd quarter interception return for a Tulane TD, the Herd called on sophomore quarterback Bernie Morris to enter the contest and he responded by guiding Marshall to two 4th quarter touchdowns and the win. The comeback win moved Marshall to 3-2 in the conference and put MU only one half game behind Southern Miss in the East Division race.

Southern Miss is coming off of a hard fought 21-17 loss at N.C. State on Saturday. The Golden Eagles are 3-1 in C-USA play and have wins over East Carolina, UCF, and UAB. USM is led by senior quarterback Dustin Almond who has thrown for 1,529 yards and 15 touchdowns with 8 interceptions in 2005. The 6-2 signal caller has spread the wealth for the Golden Eagles as six USM receivers have 13 or more catches and more than 100 yards receiving. Defensively, senior linebacker Kevis Coley is leading the way with 81 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss that includes three quarterback sacks.

QUOTES FROM Mark Snyder's WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE

On Southern Miss...
Their offense is running pretty well. The quarterback is good and he is running the system well. The thing that is impressive is he is dishing the ball out to a lot of different receivers. He spreads the ball around very well. They are running the ball solid, probably as not as well as coach Bower would like it to be, but they are solid. You look at their defense and I see athleticism and speed and players who make plays. I am very impressed with their linebackers. They also have all the pieces in place on special teams. They are very good. We are going to have to come to play on Tuesday.

Do you expect a physical game?
I am expecting a very physical football game on Tuesday and we need to come to play and prepare for that.

On opponents reversing the field on punt returns...
I have been very pleased with our punt team. When a player reverses field you have to keep your shoulders square. When they run backwards on a punt return you have to make them pay and that is very, very correctable and we will get that cleaned up. It is a fundamental thing we can fix.

On linebacker Dennis Thornton's play...
I think Jimmy Collins is doing a good job of allowing Dennis to do what he does well - he is an effective blitzer and a pretty good cover and he is playing to those strengths right now.

On the coaching staff getting a late start due to the late coaching hire...
It's a process like anything else in life. Coaching is a process and we are going to get better as we go and I think we are seeing that.

On Chubb Small...
Chubb will continue to get better. He is a young guy that gets better and learns more every week. He will be a special player around here.

On getting a kickoff return for a touchdown...
It feels good. You know the coach in me, you know, thinks that we could have had one on the return before that. We are very close - a miss assignment here and there, but its nice to put it together and get one.

On leadership in the Tulane game...
I am starting to see total team leadership. That's what I saw Saturday and I was more excited about total team leadership than any particular group or individual.

On matching up with Southern Miss, a perennial C-USA leader... We will see where we stand and know exactly how we match up next Tuesday.

On playing a Tuesday night game...
I'm not real familiar with mid-week games but take advantage of it to become a smarter, get healthy and try to become a more fundamentally sound football team. It gives us another opportunity to get in some of the things we need to. I am kind of liking it right now. We will see Tuesday.

On N.C. State's running game against Southern Miss...
They will go back and get that fixed. NC State has good backs and let me tell you something good backs will make that happen. Southern Miss is very good on defense and it is going to be a challenge.