HUNTINGTON — Marshall football coach Tony Gibson said the Thundering Herd didn’t give itself an opportunity to win at Georgia on Saturday, but that there were several winning plays.
“Coming back, watching the film, it was disappointing. I felt like we gave away a lot of opportunities,†Gibson said. “If we would’ve played our best, could we have beaten Georgia? I don’t know that, but we gave ourselves zero chance. Missed opportunities.â€
Following film and practice on Sunday, Gibson said that Tuesday’s practice was the Herd's best since he’s been the coach.
“We had a great practice on Sunday night, gave the boys off [Monday], and then I thought we had our best practice since I’ve been here today,†Gibson said Tuesday. “The kids are flying around, excited that we get to open up at home this week. It’s a new week, so we have to do a better job as a coaching staff of getting our guys better prepared for game situations.â€
Georgia converted three fourth-down attempts and pulled a pair of option runs for touchdowns. Gibson provided insight on what he saw from those moments. On both, a player seemed to be designated to read the pull, but crashed to the running back instead.
“The first fourth-and-1 call, defensively, we had three guys there to make the hit, and we didn’t do it,†Gibson said. “The other zone read where the quarterback pulled it – it was disheartening. Game one is over. We put it to bed on Sunday.â€
The box score isn’t favorable for the pass rush as Marshall had just three tackles for loss, but players like Cannon Lewis had plenty of chances to force Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton into tough situations. Gibson hopes to see defensive pressure maintained from start to finish.
“I thought it was good early,†Gibson said. “We affected him a couple of times. I think, the screen game, we were hit with a big one on third down. That was our fault as a staff, though. We got to check out of that and go to front base coverage to not put our kids in a bad situation.
“I thought, as the game went on, that we slowed down a little bit. We were hesitant. If we’re going to blitz, we’re going to blitz. We worked a lot on that today. We’ll get better at that as well.â€
With the result flushed, Gibson said the Herd was able to find winning moments.
“There’s a bunch of plays we can pull off that film and watch individuals that were winning their one-on-one battle,†Gibson said. “That goes for [defensive] line, linebackers, [defensive backs] – I thought our DBs did really good at times. We were effective. We were on guys. There was a deep ball that they threw on [TaShawn] Jeter, and I thought he played it really well. No panic. Taking those positives with the negatives, you put a cut together. That’s what Sunday was for.
“We told them the truth of what we saw and what we expect. That goes for all of us, not just players.â€
Defensive back Cam Smith, leading tackler with seven, a forced fumble and a tackle for loss, agrees.
“Learning moment,†Smith said. “Like coach said, we need to focus on ourselves. We had a lot of miscommunications and a lot of blown assignments. It happens, but you can’t do that versus a good team like that. They make you pay.
“You take four or five plays and it’s like, ah, I wish we had better technique, better fits or better eyes. It could’ve been a different story.â€
At one point, Marshall forced three punts from Georgia in a span of four drives. That film was on repeat.
“Coach has been talking a lot about that second quarter,†Smith said. “With how we played in the second quarter, that’s been our mindset this week. We need to be like that every week now. We need to make sure we’re communicating.
“All it takes is one person being wrong, and then the defense is over with.â€
The confidence is there from the players – knowing that while losing the first game is tough, it’s not the end of the season.
“Everybody’s going to lose,†Smith said. “It’s not fun, and we had people with our heads down. Shoot, at the end of the day, you can look at four or five plays and know it’s nothing to hang your head about. We came in to fix problems. We watched film, and after Sunday, we flushed it. We’re on to the next one.â€
Marshall has its home opener against Missouri State at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
“We want to put on a good show for coach Gibson and for the fans,†Smith said. “First home opener. We’ve got a new team, so we want to give the fans a good show and make sure we’re playing the best ball. Take it one game at a time and stack these W’s up to have a good season and show everybody what type of team this really is.â€
