Herd to host C-USA title game

Published 3:31 am Tuesday, December 2, 2014

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall football (11-1) will host the Conference USA Championship Game against Louisiana Tech (8-4) Saturday at noon ET in a contest that will be televised on ESPN2, the league announced.

The Marshall Athletics ticket office will be open from 3-6 p.m. ET today for walkup sales, and will call pickup.

The ticket office will be open from 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Cam Henderson Center. All ticket booths at Joan C. Edwards Stadium will open at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

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Student tickets are $5 with a valid MU ID and Marshall Maniacs are free. Students may pick up tickets in the upper concourse level of the Cam Henderson Center across from the Big Green offices.

All sideline tickets are $37 and end zone are $27.

Marshall has one of the nation’s most prolific offenses, ranking seventh in rushing offense (288.5 yards per game), second in total offense (574.6 yards per game) and scoring offense (46.7 points per game), all figures that top C-USA.

Senior quarterback Rakeem Cato has passed for 3,314 yards and rushed for 429 this season (an average of 311.9 yards of total offense). He has also extended his FBS record for consecutive games with a touchdown throw to 44.

Despite missing nearly two full games due to injury, junior RB Devon Johnson has 1,602 yards and 16 rushing TDs in 11 games. Johnson is among the FBS leaders in total rushing yards, average (145.6) and scoring (9.8 per game).

Offensively, Louisiana Tech is led by junior RB Kenneth Dixon, who has run for 1,080 yards and scored 23 touchdowns (18 rushing), tied for the fourth-highest single-season total in C-USA annals. Senior QB Cody Sokol is 239-of-400 passing for 3,117 yards and 29 touchdowns.

Defensively, the Bulldogs lead the FBS with 36 forced turnovers and top the nation with 150 points scored off turnovers.

Both teams are coming off amazing offensive performances to close out the regular season. Louisiana Tech scored 76 points (one shy of the C-USA record) and rolled up 677 yards of total offense, while Marshall scored 66 points and generated 708 yards of total offense.

Louisiana Tech’s Skip Holtz becomes the first head coach to lead two different schools to the C-USA championship game. He led East Carolina to back-to-back C-USA Championships in 2008-09.

Marshall’s Doc Holliday is the fourth coach to lead his team to back-to-back title gamesthat includes Holtz, UCF’s George O’Leary and Tulsa’s Todd Graham.

Marshall and Louisiana Tech have met just one time, on Oct. 9, 1942. The Bulldogs posted a 26-0 shutout victory in Ruston, La., the third of four consecutive shutouts LA Tech posted to open that season.

The Thundering Herd is aiming to become conference champions for the first time since winning the Mid-American conference title in 2002. The Bulldogs have won 25 conference championships in their program’s history, a number that ties for 11th among current FBS schools.