MU football finally earning some respect

by ELLIOT PARKER
guest columnist

Marshall's No. 24 ranking and return to The Associated Press Top 25 poll have once again brought national spotlight back to Huntington. But even before Sunday's ranking, the green and white was being mentioned in a variety of circumstances by a number of individuals and organizations. Marshall football has finally earned some much-deserved national respect.

Marshall was denied the opportunity to join Conference-USA when it decided not to expand in September. Many Thundering Herd fans and supporters were upset with the decision. However, not joining C-USA may have been a blessing in disguise.

According to a recent article in the Texas Christian University's student newspaper, the Daily Skiff, TCU administrators are taking part in conversations regarding the possible disbanding of C-USA.

Several schools are becoming worried about the decisions being made in C-USA, according to staff writer Rusty Simmons. Some of the schools are making plans to leave the conference within a year.

The five schools rumored to be in the separating faction are Memphis, Louisville, Tulane, Alabama-Birminghan and Houston.

Simmons said athletic administrators are upset about C-USAÕs size and the conference's focus on football and basketball, instead of other sports. C-USA now consists of 14 basketball teams and 12 football teams.

Oct. 23, Richard Cirminiello from CollegeFootballNews.com picked his top five college football games of all-time. His number five game was the 1971 Marshall vs. Xavier game. The win over Xavier was Marshall's first win following the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 members of the football team, crew, other university supporters and members of the media.

The College Football News picked two Marshall football players to be in the top 50 draft prospects for next spring. They are quarterback Byron Leftwich and wide receiver Darius Watts.

Leftwich, a 6-6, 240-pound junior was ranked number 17 in the poll and was described as "getting better and better." Watts ranked 49th in the poll and the Web site said the speedy wide receiver has "torched everyone from Florida to Buffalo. No one's been able to slow him down yet."

According to information from the Mid-American Conference, 12 school campuses are located among the top 155 sports cities in the country. The Sporting News conducted the survey in August and determined a campus' ranking based on whether the college is interwoven into the city.

The criteria also included championships won by the schools, tournament and/or championship game appearances, overall fan fervor, and stadium quality into their classification system. Professional sports are also a factor in the ratings.

Buffalo led all MAC cities at No. 25. Toldeo ranked 75th and Huntington was at 98. Cleveland, Ohio, home of the MAC Basketball Tournments, ranked No. 32.

New York City ranked first among the 375 top sports cities in the country.