As Carrie and I were nearing home from watching the Marshall Thundering Herd beat the Miami Redhawks by a score of 42 to 27, I found myself turning my head sideways when I ascertained that the expectations of the Herd may be a bit too lofty. The rabid Herd fan base that came out en masse to Yager Stadium on the campus of the Miami Redhawks was expecting the Herd to blow away their competition. After all, the Redhawks finished without a victory in 2013. The Herd played them last year to a 14-14 half and a 52-14 final.
Yesterday the halftime score was 28 to 3 in favor of the Herd and the Herdkabobs in attendance figured their team was just getting warmed up.
What happened was the Miami team got warmed up at halftime. They came out and outscored the Herd 24-14 in the second half. It got to 35-27 and the Herd fans were starting to swallow their snuff.
Still…they won. But with the kind of optimism that has preceded this season, the expectation was to score 60 and hold the other team to minimal points.
Herd fans are yearning for glory. They love to love their Herd…when things are going good. If they lose a game, someone will have a website out there ready to fire Coach Doc Holliday. Things are just that crazy in college football. Herd fans are not a patient lot.
Lets get back to the problem: Too much publicity before the first snap of the season. Magazines and other media have made the Herd the team from the lower tiered conference that will get the chance to make one of the BIG bowl games. It is a complicated system that I don’t want to get into right now. Yes, they have Rakeem Cato and a Heisman campaign for him. Yes, they have a soft schedule we highlighted here on this sight. Yes, they have a storied past we will never discount in terms of significance. All that and, hey…the media has to talk about somebody. This just happens to be the Herd’s year for that kind of spotlight.
If they stay healthy, they should win them all. They will be the favorite in all their games. That is a tough spot to be in. Not many teams win all their games, regardless of their competition.
In the end for me and my dear wife, Carrie, we just like to watch them play. We have a team to root for and that helps. The interest factor goes up when you care.
That we can have these speaks is a reason to celebrate. Football season is here.
Speaking the rights.
Danny Johnson