Marshall Races to 34-10 Win over Charlotte

On a day fraught with the emotion, Marshall’s big early plays sent the Thundering Herd (8-1; 5-0) to a 34-10 road victory over Charlotte (2-6; 0-5) at a sold-out Jerry Richardson Stadium.

The afternoon began with a presentation of an American Flag to the family of Phil Ratliff, a 49ers assistant coach and former Herd player, who died in August.  The flag had flown over the US Capitol at the request of North Carolina congressman Richard Hudson in honor of Ratliff.   Hudson, a UNC Charlotte alum, along with Ratliff’s son, Dylan, led the 49ers onto the field before the game.  Hudson, as well as 49ers director of Athletics Judy Rose and Marshall Athletics Director Mike Hamrick presented Ratliff’s wife, Jenni and children, Haley and Dylan with the flag as well as Congressman Hudson’s honoring remarks from the House floor, prior to the game.

Ratliff had helped build the 49ers from scratch over the past three years as the program’s offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator.  A 1992 all-America at Marshall, he also coached at Marshall before joining the 49ers program.  Charlotte head coach Brad Lambert was on Marshall’s coaching staff during Ratliff’s playing days and Ratliff was a teammate of current 49ers strength coach Jim Durning.

The impact Ratliff had on both communities made for strong emotions from the sellout crowd, which included a strong contingent from Marshall.

“I thought it was a very classy day honoring coach Ratliff.  There were some really nice things and I wanted to say thanks for honoring coach Ratliff and his family,” 49ers head coach Brad Lambert said. 

“I can’t say enough about Phil and what he meant to our university and what he meant to Charlotte’s program,” echoed Marshall head coach Doc Holliday.  “I talked to Brad before the game about all of the support for him.  It was a great tribute to his family.  He was honored on both sides of the field today.”

Marshall jumped out to a quick lead in the first quarter.  On its first play from scrimmage, Chase Litton hit Davonte Allen for 43 yards to set up a seven-yard Remi Watson TD run.  On its second drive, Litton hit Allen again, this time for a 66-yard TD pass to put the Herd ahead, 14-0, just 8:30 into the first quarter.

“Give Marshall credit.  They came in and made a lot of big plays in the first half,” Lambert said. “I thought our guys were playing hard, prepared hard and I thought we just got beat in the first half.  We just couldn’t make any plays to counter them.”

Late in the first quarter, Litton and Allen connected for 35 yards and as the drive continued in the second quarter, Litton hit Ryan Yuracheck for a 17-yard TD.

“Litton played extremely well,” said Lambert.  “He was on point.”

A 41-yard pass to Emanuel Byrd set up another Marshall TD, this on a 6-yard run by Keion Davis, to make it 28-0 before the 49ers got on the scoreboard.

“They came out and played well,” said 49ers linebacker Karrington King, who led Charlotte with eight tackles.  “Like coach Lambert said – we can’t give them any gifts.  When it comes down to it, they had big plays and they outdid us on our big plays.”

Charlotte put together a 14-play, 59-yard drive keyed by Lee McNeill pass plays to TL Ford (16 yards), Austin Duke (8 yards), and Workpeh Kofa (9 yards).  Blake Brewer connected on a 34-yard field to make it 28-3.  Marshall answered with a 32-yard field goal in the final minute to make it 31-3 at the half.

In the second half. Charlotte outscored Marshall 7-3, holding the Herd to a fourth quarter field goal and scoring on Kalif Phillips’ 6-yard run with 6:29 to play.  On six second-half possessions, Marshall was held to three field goal attempts (one made), one three-and-out punt and two unsuccessful fourth down attempts.  Charlotte had the 14-play TD drive and also had a six-play, 52-yard drive into the red-zone that stalled on an incomplete pass on fourth down.

“The guys did a nice job of not quitting,” Lambert added.  “They came out (in the second half) and played extremely hard.  All of a sudden we get stops, force field goals, they miss field goals and you look up and get off the field.  I was really proud of our guys not quitting.”

The TD run was Phillips’ fifth rushing TD of the year and the 37^th of his career.  It also ended his evening with 99 rushing yards, one yard shy of his fourth 100-yard performance this season.  With 99 yards, Phillips surpassed 3,000 in his three-year career, giving him 3,025 and an average of 1,008.3 per year.

Litton finished the day with 33-of-48 passing for a career-high 486 yards and two TDs while Allen pulled down 232 receiving yards and one TD.  McNeill passed for 131 yards on 17-of-32 attempts for the 49ers.  He connected with nine different receivers, led by Austin Duke, who caught eight passes.

Marshall had 630 yards of total offense while Charlotte had 307.  Marshall also claimed the game’s two turnovers, picking off a pass and recovering a fumble, but neither turnover led to points.

McNeill was sacked four times and Marshall added four QB hurries.  The Herd finished with 11.0 tackles for loss.

Charlotte travels to FIU, next Saturday to begin a closing stretch that sends the 49ers on the road for three of the final four games.