The Marshall Thundering Herd beat the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns 31-3.
Marshall’s quarterback Braylon Braxton threw for 193 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Herd to their first Sun Belt Championship win.
Thundering Herd’s defense was dominant. The defense didn’t allow a single touchdown on the road. Louisiana only had 56 rushing yards. Marshall allows just 255 total yards.
Louisiana was awful on third down in this game. They went 2 of 16. Marshall, on the other hand, went 8 of 15 on third-down conversions. Marshall also didn’t commit a single turnover.
Marshall’s running back, Jordan Houston, had a good night. Houston rushed for 117 yards on 17 carries, including one touchdown. Wide receiver Tychaun Chapman caught eight receptions for 86 yards and one touchdown. His longest was a 37-yard reception.
Ragin Cajuns quarterback Chandler Fields completed four of eight passes for 104 yards.
Fields took over for the team as the starting quarterback after Ben Wooldridge suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in a 24-22 loss to South Alabama on Nov. 16.
The game might’ve been more competitive had Wooldridge not been injured. Louisiana missed his presence on the field on Saturday night.
Before the injury, Wooldridge was having a productive season. He threw 2,392 yards and 17 touchdowns in 10 games and was named the conference's offensive player of the year.
As for Marshall, it’s been a dream season for the program. Thundering Herd (10-3) joined the Sun Belt in 2022 after 17 seasons in Conference USA.
Coach Charlie Huff has done an incredible job running this team. This is his fourth year as the Thundering Herd's coach, and the program needs to bring him back next season.
Huff has made it clear lately that he wants to return and stay at Marshall. He loves this program.
For the first time since 2015, Marshall succeeded in having a double-digit winning season.