Marshall Football Preview
By Ben Anderson, FM88 Sports’ Director
Oct. 11, 2025
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. (WMUL-FM) — Tonight, the Marshall Thundering Herd welcome rival Old Dominion Monarchs in a battle of David vs Goliath. ODU is in second place in the Sun Belt Conference East Division standings with a record of 4-1 and 1-0 in league play and aiming for its first 5-1 start since 2012.
Marshall is coming off a 54-51 double overtime heartbreaking loss against the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns two weeks ago in a game that it led by 17 points in the fourth quarter. Head Coach Tony Gibson said that the team used the time off to work on the defense.
I think that we got some technique stuff fixed defensively,” Gibson said. “Some scheme issues fixed. I think that’s a big thing. I think offensively, those guys have a lot of confidence right now and our staff’s done a great job of keeping them grounded and keep getting better. So, I feel really good about where we’re at right now at this point during game week and, you know, excited to watch them go play Saturday.
Wide Receiver Floyd Lacy said that the loss gives the team a competitive edge to win today.”
“It motivates me a lot,” Lacy said. I feel like it motivates the team a lot too because we are coming off a game where we were up 17 points in the fourth quarter and we could have won and just mental mistakes that costed us the game. So, this break, we thinking we getting everything situated, fixing our mistakes, corrections. So going into this game, I feel like everything’s going to be down apart.”
Marshall committed 12 penalties compared to Louisiana’s 1. Defensive back Kerion Martin said that the team needs to clean up in order to be successful.
“Penalties, they’ve definitely killed us,” Martin said. “Especially in that last game. We had twelve, so that we cannot continue to do that, play undisciplined, and expect to win games.”
One player that has stood out recently for the Thundering Herd is quarterback Carlos Del Rio Wilson. Del Rio Wilson has found his role in the Herd’s offense under center, starting the last three games, completing 79% of his passes his 627 yards and 9 touchdowns. Wilson credited the team’s bond and work ethic for his success.
“The unity,” Del Rio Wilson said. “Everybody coming together, knowing our assignment, everybody executing their assignment, knowing that your brother and your teammate going to execute theirs and bringing everything together. I also say the relationships, our relationships getting better, our bonds getting better.”
Old Dominion is led by sixth year head coach Ricky Rahne who has a 24-31 overall record with the Monarchs. Rahne said that Del Rio Wilson brings multiple challenges for the Monarchs defense to focus on.
“He’s a really big-time playmaker, tough to bring down, strong kid,” Rahne said.” “He’ll run physical, but he knows to get rid of the ball. He threw a 31-yard touchdown on a checkdown because he stepped up in the pocket and dumped it. He does a nice job of climbing the pocket and doing those sorts of things. He can run it, but he’s a quarterback first, and he does some good things.”
The Monarchs are led by Leading the way for the Monarchs is Redshirt Sophomore Quarterback Colton Joseph who completed 17-30 passes for 215 yards and a career-tying four touchdowns in ODU’s 47-7 win over Coastal Carolina. He also rushed for 66 yards on seven carries including a 50-yard touchdown run. Boogie Trotter said that the team has a plan to stop Joseph and ODU’s offensive attack.
“We put a lot of focus on that, but not too much,” Trotter said. “Coach has put together a good scheme to stop that, stop the run, so we should it should be a good one Saturday, and we should be able to slow him down.”
Trotter said that he understands the pressure that is on the defensive backs to win the game and that he is ready for the pressure.
“I’m very motivated,” Trotter said. “But it’s just like another conference game. So that’s already the most motivation I need. But as you say, they’ve been putting up points. So, we’re looking to slow them guys down. As a DB, we’re the person on the field that the game can go be a blow out the score or be a shutout. So, I’m looking forward to taking on this challenge and slowing them down.”
In the history of the rivalry, Joan C. Edwards Stadium has sat as the kryptonite for the Monarchs, as it is 0-5 all-time at the stadium. Marshall leads the all-time series 9-1 with the only loss coming in 2016.
Marshall aims to improve to 10-1 and 6-0 at Joan C. Edwards Stadium against the Monarchs and get back to .500 on the win record.
The game will be broadcast on 88.1WMUL-FM and on Stream 1 online at marshall.edu/wmul/. FM88 Sports’ Ben Anderson & Nate Courtney will be on the call with pregame coverage at 2:30 and kickoff at 3:30 p.m.