By Jack Houvouras
HQ 71 | AUTUMN 2010
Nostalgia. In recent years I seem engulfed by it when football season arrives. My mind drifts back to a time when Marshall was winning week in and week out and losing was an anomaly. The memories are still vivid.
For many fans, Marshall’s glory years date back to 1987 when the Thundering Herd played for its first NCAA Division I-AA national championship. That began a run of national championship appearances including two titles in 1992 and 1996. But for me the glory days of Marshall football began in 1997 when the program made the jump to Division I-A competition and began taking on the big boys of college football. For a six-year period from 1997 to 2002 Marshall played for championships and respect.
Marshall’s first opponent in its return to Division I-A competition was none other than WVU who was heavily favored. Down 28-3 in the first half, the Herd fought back and by the beginning of the fourth quarter had taken the lead. The following week Sports Illustrated ran a story titled “At Home in I-A.” In the article writer Ivan Maisel wrote, “To the skeptics who questioned whether Marshall’s Thundering Herd would be able to keep up with the thoroughbreds after moving up from Division I-AA, wonder no more. Marshall ran up 381 yards of total offense against a West Virginia team that led the nation in total defense a year ago. The Herd also held a 31-28 lead with 12 minutes to go, thanks in large part to a pair of touchdown catches by Randy Moss. Had it not been for two late interceptions, which led to a 42-31 defeat, Marshall, last year’s I-AA champion, might have extended its winning streak to 16 games.”
Marshall finished that year at 10-2 and made its first bowl appearance in nearly 50 years. It would be a sign of things to come. In the following years Marshall recorded victories over such respected teams as Army, South Carolina, Clemson, BYU, Kansas State, Louisville and Cincinnati. In addition, the team earned national respect in close losses to the likes of Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan State, North Carolina and Tennessee.
In 1999, Chad Pennington led the team to a 13-0 season that culminated with a bowl victory over No. 25 BYU. Marshall finished the year as the No. 10 ranked team in the nation ahead of such perennial powers as Penn State, Florida, Texas, Notre Dame and WVU.
Byron Leftwich then picked up the torch and continued the program’s winning ways. In 2001 he rallied the team to a 64-61 double-overtime victory over East Carolina University in what many in the media called the greatest bowl game ever. A year later Leftwich, hobbled by a broken shin, tried to rally his team to victory over Akron. At one point in the fourth quarter his teammates on the offensive line literally carried him down the field in between plays as he led a heroic drive. The replay of Leftwich being held up by his teammates was broadcast on sports channels across the nation. In 2007 ESPN ran a special on the “Top 20 Gutsiest Performances” of all time and Leftwich’s courageous performance made the list.
From 1997 to 2002, Marshall averaged just two losses per year and appeared in six straight bowl games. Star players on those teams were household names. Moss, Pennington, Leftwich. All three were Heisman Trophy candidates. All three were first-round NFL picks. All three were winners. The Herd also saw many of its other players drafted to the NFL where they flourished. For me, these were indeed the golden years of Marshall football.
As Marshall embarks on a new season with a new coaching staff, a question lingers: Will the football program ever return to its former glory or will fans, like me, be left to wallow in nostalgia? In time, I hope new Head Coach Doc Holliday and his players can return the Thundering Herd to national prominence. Otherwise, I’ll be left with nothing but my memories.
