Football Preview: Marshall Mavericks vs. Texas Tigers
Marshall is 1-7 against Texas since October of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Marshall Mavericks are taking a road trip to take on the Texas Tigers at 7:30 p.m. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Marshall comes in on three and Texas on six.
Last Friday, everything went Marshall's way against Mt. Pleasant as Marshall made off with a 29-7 victory. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as the Mavericks just coasted through the last quarter.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Marshall to victory, but perhaps none more so than Isaiah Bush, who rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries. Semaj Gatson also helped out as he racked up 109 rushing yards.
Marshall was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 253 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 152 rushing yards in five consecutive games.
One reason for the win was Marshall's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for four sacks. Leading the way was Jayden Cooks with two. Another thorn in Mt. Pleasant's side was Kaiden Rodgers, who picked up a sack, made six total tackles (4.0 for loss), and defended a pass.
Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Texas took on Whitehouse on Friday. Texas really took it to Whitehouse for the full four quarters, racking up a 51-10 win on the road. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 41-3.
It was another big night for Tradarian Ball, who rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns, and also picked up 43 receiving yards. That's the most rushing yards he has posted since back in November of 2023. Javari Johnson was in the mix too, providing Texas with two touchdowns.
Texas wouldn't let Whitehouse keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Texas can thank Darnell Williams and Christian McCoo for forcing both of them.
Marshall's record is now 4-1. As for Texas, they pushed their record up to 6-0 with the victory, which was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season.
The upcoming match will be a clash of competing strengths. Marshall has deployed a run-first offense that has averaged 327.4 rushing yards a game. Meanwhile, Texas has preferred to attack from the air: they average 276 passing yards per game. So which strategy will prevail on Friday? There's only one way to find out.
Marshall suffered a grim 30-7 defeat to Texas in their previous matchup back in October of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Ball, who rushed for 180 yards and a touchdown, and also threw for 32 yards and a touchdown. Now that Marshall knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
