Staff Report

IRVING, Texas — Marshall senior defensive lineman Vinny Curry was selected as Conference USA’s Defensive Player of the Week Monday, following the Herd’s 24-20 Homecoming victory over Rice on Saturday.

Curry is the third Marshall defender to win the award this season, following linebackers George Carpenter (Sept. 12) and Tyson Gale (Oct. 3), and it is the fifth time a Herd player has won a weekly honor (two Special Teams honors for punter Kase Whitehead).

The Neptune, N.J. native had another monster game Saturday, racking up nine tackles, which included four tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks, to go with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

All four of the sacks Curry had a hand in came on third down, effectively killing each drive in the process. Another one of his quarterback pressures resulted in a Rice fumble that Curry himself recovered at the Owls’ 25-yard line.

Finally, his strip of Rice RB Sam McGuffie set up the Herd offense at the Rice 23 with 3:31 left, with the Herd facing a 20-17 deficit. Marshall then scored the game-winning touchdown five plays later on a four-yard Tron Martinez scamper.

On the season, Curry leads the nation in tackles for loss with 17 and is second with 9.5 sacks. His contributions have also helped the Herd rank first nationally with 67 tackles for loss.

Marshall (3-4 overall, 2-1 C-USA) will travel to Houston Saturday for a 4:30 p.m. EDT kickoff with the Cougars (6-0, 2-0), who are 19th in the BCS standings and 20th and 21st, respectively, in the USA Today and Associated Press rankings.

The game will also be televised on Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS) and will be carried locally on WSAZ-TV.