The note, really a warning, we Marshall beat hacks received earlier this week already had us sweating.
The Yager Stadium press box, we were told, would be without air conditioning for today’s contest between the Miami (Ohio) Red Hawks and the Marshall Thundering Herd.
Oh, and the temperature at kickoff would be a comfortable 92 degrees.
Welcome to the 2014 college football season, everyone.
So I sit in the Red Hawks press box looking like I’m about to take the catamaran off the coast of Captiva. Now, I’m not gonna complain too long about my accommodations because, as I’ve learned in my life as a sportswriter, y’all don’t really care too much about our inconveniences. You’d probably give a vital organ to be in my shoes and, 99 percent of the time, this is a cool job. It’s just that “cool” is a very foreign concept this afternoon.
But to any fans that complain that Marshall should never have left the MAC, I’ll leave you with this: It is the year 2014, the technology in my cell phone could have powered the moon landing and I am sitting in Football Bowl Subdivision press box with no air conditioning in August. Y’all made the right call.
Now, on to actual football.
There’s an argument to be made that this Marshall offense might be even better than the last two, a pretty lofty goal, considering 2012’s team scored 40.9 points per game and the 2013 crew scored 42.1. Based on the first couple of C-USA teams we’ve seen this year, that wouldn’t be a bad idea. Western Kentucky dropped 59 points and 569 passing yards from Brandon Doughty in a win over Bowling Green, then UTSA beat Houston 27-7. Marshall wouldn’t see the Roadrunners unless they faced off in the conference title game, but they better make sure the light bulbs in the Joan’s scoreboards are all in working order for the day after Thanksgiving.
In terms of the travel list, there aren’t too many notable omissions. The big one is kickoff specialist Amoreto Curraj, who has been hobbled by injury almost the entire preseason. That should put the kickoff duties on the foot of Kaare Vedvik. DB Donaldven Manning and LB Kent Turene aren’t here, either, but I can’t say I’m too surprised with either one.
What’s more interesting is the list of true freshmen who made the trip: WRs Hyleck Foster, Gator Green and Emmanuel Beal, QB Cole Garvin, DBs Kendall Gant and Antavis Rowe, DLs Jerome Dews and Tomell One, TE Ryan Yurachek, OLs A.J. Addison and Nate Devers and long snapper Chad Garrett.
That’s all from here for now. If anything else pops up, find me in the Twitterverse and find me there during the game, too. Until then …
Happy Start of the Season, y’all.
