MARSHALL : FIVE POINTS TO PONDER

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No. 1 Can Marshall at least slow Houston's relentless offense?

The Cougars average more than 39 points and 544 total yards a game. Case Keenum is Conference USA's leading passer and is coming off a 404-yard performance.

Marshall, meanwhile, is allowing 26.7 points a game, good for a third-place tie in this high-scoring league. Avoiding a shootout begins with containing Keenum, a dual threat who threw for 298 yards and ran for a touchdown last season against Marshall.

"He can run a little," Thundering Herd linebacker Mario Harvey said. "He can run good enough to make a big play. And he can throw real well so that's a powerful combination. He can make big plays out of nothing.

"He can scramble around and make a first down pass, and that's frustrating to the defense."

No. 2 Will Thundering Herd special teams return to early season form?

Mark Snyder and his Marshall coaching staff particularly pride themselves in the game's third phase; those units directly led to last week's upset loss at UAB.

Two field goals were missed -- a 55-yarder and a potential game-winner from 37 yards -- and the opening kickoff was mishandled, setting up an early safety.

Placekicker Craig Ratanamorn should be fully recovered from an inner leg injury and personnel changes can be expected on return teams.

No. 3 How close is Albert McClellan to 100 percent?

Marshall's defensive end gradually is returning from last year's ACL tear. Such injuries normally require about a year and a half for a full-speed return; McClellan is more than 14 months removed from his season-ending setback.

Tonight will provide an interesting gauge. Houston quarterback Case Keenum often throws from deep drops, providing McClellan and other pass-rushers playmaking scenarios.

"There will be some opportunities to rush the quarterback," Marshall head coach Mark Snyder said.

Fully healthy and playing as such is Harvey, who led the Herd with 11 tackles against UAB and scored on a 62-yard strip and sprint.

"Man, he played well Saturday," Snyder said. "He's just playing with a ton of confidence. He's exuding confidence right now."

No. 4 Can Mark Cann and Marshall's offense keep up if a shootout develops?

Houston's average victory margin is 39.3 to 28.6 and the Cougars have scored at least 41 points four times in seven games. Marshall averages a league-low 19.1 points.

Thundering Herd playmakers Darius Passmore, Cody Slate, Darius Marshall and others likely will have to keep pace with another prolific Houston output.

"I heard somebody say yesterday that (Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin) felt like he had three guys who can go wire-to-wire," Snyder said. "That's frightening because the one kid (wide receiver Patrick Edwards) can really run. Now, again, they're going to make you defend the entire field because of the running game that has just popped its ugly head up on the film."

No. 5 Will Thundering Herd players and fans seize the opportunity?

Marshall can expunge foul feelings from three straight losses with a victory tonight before an ESPN2 audience. Thundering Herd officials are distributing 5,000 pom-poms as part of the "Green-Out" promotion.

Players can right the season, while fans can provide an impressive national spotlight display.

"It's exciting for us," Snyder said. "The White-Out at Cincinnati was unbelievable. It was great TV exposure for us and we get another chance to play a very good Houston team on national television. We'll be the only game on. We're excited about it."

 

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GREAT WRITE UP IE

 

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UH seeks to avoid dramatic finish

Cougars tired of late comebacks resulting from sluggish openings



? Over the past five games, the Houston Cougars have had several truly dramatic moments that have often occurred in the final seconds.

There was the final drive at Colorado State, where Case Keenum?s pass in the closing seconds was picked off in the end zone, staving off a huge rally and sealing a three-point win for the Rams.

There was the 42-0 second-half demolition they laid on UAB that turned a 17-point halftime deficit into a 45-20 victory.

The most recent was a touchdown strike from Keenum to Tyron Carrier with 24 seconds left that capped a 30-point second half and earned the Cougars a 44-38 victory at SMU.

But the flip side is that all those pulse-pounding finishes were possible only because of head-scratching starts by the Cougars, who will try to avoid another sedated first half in tonight?s nationally televised Conference USA game at Marshall.

?You try to play better at the beginning of the game,? UH coach Kevin Sumlin said. ?If you don?t, you play the way we have played.?


Tale of two halves

That would be playing in full-rally mode throughout the second half, which the Cougars (4-3, 3-0 C-USA) will have perfected this season.

The Cougars have averaged a miserly 9.6 first-half points in their past five games.

Toss out their take-no-prisoners performance at then-No. 23 East Carolina, where the Cougars had by far their best first-half effort with 21 points, and that average plunges to 6.8 points per game.

Those numbers are countered by their second-half performances during the same five-game span, in which the Cougars have averaged 27 points and 324.6 yards ? 107 more than their first-half average.

The slow starts could be attributed to the unbalanced schedule the Cougars have been forced to play, by design and by Mother Nature.

Hurricane Ike put the Cougars on the road to Dallas for what was originally scheduled to be a home game against Air Force, when a 14-0 fourth-quarter rally came up just short in a 31-28 loss on Sept. 13.



Unkind schedule

The schedule has included games on a Thursday (UAB on Oct. 9) and Tuesday (tonight), a bit of odd scheduling that gives opposing coaches a few extra days to come up with elaborate defensive schemes to stifle the Cougars? prolific attack.

One example is tonight, when Sumlin squares off against an old friend in Marshall coach Mark Snyder, with whom he worked on the Minnesota staff in the late 1990s.

?Defensively, I have a lot of respect for Mark,? Sumlin said. ?He has had a couple extra days (to prepare), and when these guys get a couple extra days of practice, in the first quarter you start to see new blitzes.?

Sumlin, who is just as baffled at Houston?s tortoise-like starts, knows the Cougars are going to get all they can handle from the Snyder-coached Thundering Herd.

?We are going to get their best shot,? Sumlin said. ?They are where we were a couple weeks ago. They have lost three games in a row, but they are still in the lead in the East (division). They have a home game and their backs against the wall on national TV.

?I expect to see everything come out. We have to go up there with the same kind of mindset, expecting anything and playing a program that has a bunch of tradition.?





Houston wins if: The Cougars get their notoriously slow-starting offense cranking early, forcing Marshall to play catch-up with its uneven passing game.

Marshall wins if: The Herd can mix in big plays from their passing game with an efficient rushing attack. Marshall wants to test the Cougars? depleted offensive line and rattle quarterback Case Keenum.

Stat that matters: The Herd allow almost 300 passing yards per game, so stopping the Cougars? air attack, led by Keenum (nation?s-best 407.9 total yards per game), should be a difficult task.

Keep an eye on: Marshall receiver Darius Passmore, who is a threat (144 yards per game, 20.6 yards per catch in C-USA), especially against a defense that has been burned by big plays.