Marshall Football: 3 takeaways from upset loss to Rice

Grant Wells threw five interceptions as Marshall football suffered its first loss of the season against Rice.

Every die-hard Rice fan who wagered on the Owls to win this game won big money as the biggest underdog of the season upset the No. 21 Marshall Thundering Herd 20-0 at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia this afternoon. Marshall quarterback Grant Wells had his worst game of the season, completing less than 50 percent of his passes and throwing five interceptions.

‘Herd running back Brendan Knox had run for 100 yards in five of his last six games was limited to 76 yards and 3.8 yards per rush. This was the first win for the Rice Owls against a ranked team since 1997 when Rice defeated No. 21 BYU. What made the win so surprising was the Rice Owls were missing three players, including starting quarterback Mike Collins.

Rice –plagued by injuries and COVID issues-played just their fourth game of the season. The Owls’ schedule had been shuffled due to COVID issues with their opponents. Marshall football had not played in three weeks because of COVID, and they looked rusty in this game.

The loss dashes any faint hopes the ‘Herd had at a New Year’s Six bowl game. Here are three takeaways from today’s game.

3. Marshall played its worst game at the worst time

When teams have long layoffs, either they look tremendous or rusty. Marshall football looked rusty in this game. The Rice defense did not have to put up much effort to create those five interceptions. Four of those picks came off of deflections from wide receivers. The Rice offense did not need much because the Marshall offense was so bad.

The ‘Herd running game could not get into a rhythm the entire game. Brendan Knox had few creases to run through as the Rice defensive line set most of the game’s tone. Defensively, Marshall wasn’t awful, but they gave up twice their scoring average (10.1 pts. against).