Thundering Herd faces another good QB
Published 12:00 am Friday, October 28, 2005
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Maybe you can get too much of a good thing.
Marshall Thundering Herd head coach Mark Snyder said his team is seeing a lot of good things from its opponents each week. And while it might be good for the fans, it only produces a good headache for Snyder and his staff.
“It seems like week in and week out we see a great quarterback and that is what makes this league good. It seems like every week we see a good one,” Snyder said.
The “good one” this week facing Marshall will be Tulane Green Wave junior quarterback Lester Ricard who has thrown for 1,569 yards and 13 touchdowns with seven interceptions.
Make no mistake, Ricard has caught Snyder's eye.
“I'm extremely impressed with his deep ball. He has great touch on the deep ball. He doesn't miss many. He is on the money and very impressive,” Snyder said.
Last week, Texas-El Paso quarterback Jordan Palmer carved up the Herd secondary in a 31-3 loss. Marshall has just five interceptions this season - two by Chris Royal - as opponents have completed 56 percent of its passes for 1,162 yards.
Tulane's top receivers are Preston Brown and Bubba Terranova, both averaging 71.7 yards per game. The defense is led by is led by Anthony Cannon and Brandon Spincer.
Tulane (2-4) and Marshall are both 1-3 in Conference USA. Marshall (3-4) beat SMU 16-13 in overtime and Tulane won over the Mustangs 31-10.
However, both teams lost by 10 points to Central Florida and both were handled by Texas-El Paso. UTEP beat the Herd 31-3
last week and Tulane fell 45-21 two weeks ago.
Snyder doesn't put any extra importance on the game.
“We are in a must-win to beat Tulane and a must-win situation to get better,” Snyder said. “That's the way I see it right now. There are some areas we need to concentrate on, starting in practice.”
Tulane is coached by Chris Scelfo who was an assistant at Marshall from 1990-95. The Green Wave offensive line coach is Don Mahoney who played at Marshall from 1987-90 and earned all-conference honors his senior year. Mahoney and Snyder were teammates
on the 1987 NCAA Division I-AA national runner-up team.
Saturday's 7 p.m. game will be played in Mobile, Ala., at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, the site of the GMAC Bowl. Tulane normally plays its home games in the New Orleans Super Dome, but the Green Wave will play 11 games in 11 different stadiums due to the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
“I can't even imagine the challenges that they are going through. To have to be on the road constantly and playing in different locations every game is an incredible challenge,” Snyder said.