The fans throughout Marshall’s stadium were excited about the “White Out” game against the Cincinnati Bearcats.

As it turned out, the game became a “Red Zone Out” as the Bearcats turned back the Thundering Herd 33-10 Friday night.

Marshall managed just 90 yards rushing and 268 total yards as the offense failed to capitalize on its scoring opportunities.

“Offensively for the second week in a row we get to the red zone against a great defense and we’re going backwards,” said Marshall coach Mark Snyder.

“We’re going the wrong way, but give Cincinnati’s defense credit. They played pretty well up front. They put six-seven guys in the box to stop our running game and had good coverage all night.”

Cincinnati was starting its third quarterback of the season due to injuries and coach Brian Kelley was trying to decide between Chazz Anderson and Zach Collaros, both redshirt freshmen as his starting quarterback against Marshall.

Kelley picked Anderson and it proved to be the right choice. Anderson was 16-of-26 for 156 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran one-yard for the clinching score with 10:12 to play.

“In terms with what I wanted to do today with the game plan which was running it, play action pass, play a more physical football game. Chazz brings hat to the table. He was confident,” said Kelley.

Marshall was starting a redshirt quarterback of its own in Mark Cann. However, this was Cann’s sixth start and he struggled for the second straight week and third time this season against a good defense.

Cann was 17-of-36 for 178 yards but suffered three interceptions and was sacked three times.

“He struggled again tonight. He threw a couple of good balls, but he needs to perform better,” said Snyder.

“He’s young and he’s going through a tough time and it’s not all just him. He’s our starting quarterback. We win as a team, lose as a team.”

Cincinnati’s Connor Barwin blocked a Case Whitehead punt out of the end zone for a safety as UC took a 2-0 lead.

“I’m disappointed over the punt block. We put our defense in very hard positions with the turnovers we made They had their backs against the end zone and they played pretty well,” said Snyder.

After the ensuing free kick, the Bearcats had the fall at the Herd 48 and scored four plays later on a 21-yard run by John Goebel.

A 14-yard pass from Anderson to Dominick Goodman extended the lead to 16-0. Marshall (3-3) finally got on the scoreboard on Craig Ratanamorn’s 50-yard field goal with 2:05 left in the half.

Tight end Cody Slate’s 57-yard touchdown catch from Cann enabled the Herd to cut the deficit to 16-10 just 1:08 into the second half.

But Cincinnati answered with an eight-play, 89-yard drive and ended on a 7-yard Anderson to Goodman pass play.

Aaron Webster’s interception set up a 40-yard field goal by Jake Rogers and Anderson’s touchdown run capped a 14-play, 86-yard drive.

“I thought Cincinnati played awfully well. I’m disappointed in our performance tonight,” said Snyder.

Marshall does not play again until Saturday, Oct.18, at Conference USA opponent Alabama-Birmingham.

“We’ve got two weeks off and we’re going to work on ourselves this week. We’ll work on Marshall and use some different combinations in there,” said Snyder.

Cincinnati at Marshall

Cincinnati 2 14 10 7 — 33

Marshall 0 3 7 0 — 10

First Quarter

Cin—Safety, 1:02

Second Quarter

Cin—Goebel 21 run (Rogers kick), 14:29.

Cin—Goodman 14 pass from Anderson (Rogers kick), 4:54.

Mar—FG Ratanamorn 50, 2:05.

Third Quarter

Mar—Slate 57 pass from Cann (Ratanamorn kick), 13:52.

Cin—Goodman 7 pass from Anderson (Rogers kick), 7:13.

Cin—FG Rogers 40, 5:33.

Fourth Quarter

Cin—Anderson 1 run (Rogers kick), 10:12.

A—29,237.

—————

UC Mar

First downs 22 16

Rushes-yards 46-203 31-90

Passing 158 178

Total yards 361 268

Comp-Att-Int 16-26-1 17-37-3

Return Yards 79 40

Punts-Avg. 6-43.5 8-30.8

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0

Penalties-Yards 2-25 3-20

Time ofPossession 31:29 28:31

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Cincinnati, Ramsey 17-99, Pead 11-59, Goebel 8-56, Barnett 1-13, Team 1-0, Anderson 8-(minus 24). Marshall, Small 7-62, Passmore 3-20, Marshall 14-19, Edwards 3-14, Team 1-(minus 4), Cann 3-(minus 21).

PASSING—Cincinnati, Anderson 16-26-1-158. Marshall, Cann 17-36-3-178, Passmore 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING—Cincinnati, Goodman 6-51, Guidugli 3-35, Gilyard 2-30, Barnett 2-11, Ramsey 1-15, Woods 1-13, Goebel 1-3. Marshall, Slate 7-96, Passmore 7-47, Milligan 1-19, Marshall 1-10, Edmonson 1-6.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.