HUNTINGTON - First off, I'd like to apologize to the folks at Lindy's preseason magazine.
It seems like a year ago when I cracked it open and saw the publication ranked Marshall 90th of the 128 teams in the FBS. I then counted out 26 teams ranked ahead of the Thundering Herd in the "Group of 5." I called it "disrespect on a grand scale."
But I was wrong. As it turns out, Lindy's was optimistic about this team.
After the Herd's boot-shooting 27-24 loss Saturday to Charlotte at Edwards Stadium, respect should be hard to come by. ESPN's Football Power Index ranks the Herd 101st, and that's arguably too high - it is eight spots above North Texas, which won 38-21 a few weeks back.
There are 33 G-5 teams rated ahead of the Herd.
My bad, Lindy's.
Among other painful observations after Saturday's mess:
n The Herd is leading the race for the national championship in ... most penalty yards.
By a fair margin, at that.
After ringing up 115 penalty yards Saturday, the Herd averages 91 per game, 4.57 higher than second-place Oregon. The Herd's overall total of 637 leads Oregon by 32 and beats any team who has played eight games by at least 54.
And that doesn't count the seven declined fouls, which would have totaled 55 yards.
Looking at it this way, the Herd has already marched backwards more than one-third of a mile, often 10 or 15 yards at a time. And get this: Of the 20 teams in the bottom of the category, only MU is averaging more than 10 yards per foul (10.44).
Talk about getting more bang for your buck.
The seven game books list 29 different MU players for 16 different types of fouls. The most common was holding, offense or defense (13), followed by false starts (10), personal fouls (nine) and pass interference (seven). Interesting stat: The offensive line has been ticketed for just five holds.
Cornerback Chris Jackson, beleaguered in the early going, leads with five fouls that would account for up to 70 yards. Kendall Gant and Clint Van Horn are named four times.
And then there were the really, really ugly fouls: cornerback Jaylon McClain-Sapp lining up offsides and Jason Smith incurring an offsides when he ran off the field, was shooed back in and couldn't get on the right side of the line before the snap.
And for some reason, I tallied this by hand. Next time, a database.
n I was seated beside a writer from the lone Charlotte publication that staffed the game, the student-based Niner Times. When Marshall won the coin toss and deferred the option to the second half, I turned to the young man and said, "7-zip Charlotte coming up."
Nine plays and 75 yards later, Charlotte led 7-0. When you've watched this act four times in a season and several more times in previous years, you don't have to be a psychic.
Marshall has won the toss four times and deferred. Two other times, the other team won and decided to take the ball. Only Morgan State won the toss and deferred.
So the Herd's defense has hit the field first six times and given up five touchdowns. The exception was the Louisville game, of all things.
The five TD drives have covered 380 yards in 37 plays, a frightening average of 10.3 yards per snap. Adding in the stop against Louisville, the opponents rushed for 120 yards and gained 252 yards on 14-of-21 passing - with the one TD pass, a hefty rating of 183.2.
There was a 15-yard penalty for roughing the kicker that kept the drive alive against North Texas. Were you trying to forget that one?
Could this team take the ball, for once?
n Who's in for funding a Justin Haig statue?
I'm almost not kidding.
Remember that 5-foot-single-digits guy who never hit anything the first three weeks of preseason camp, never missed after that and won the job? And then wasn't trusted with a 40-yard field goal for half the season?
And then hit all the big ones?
Oh, the memories. He muscled a 45-yarder game-winner over the crossbar against Houston in 2012, then shushed the crowd at Florida Atlantic after his 2013 game-winner. And in 2014, he cemented his legend by winning MVP honors in the Conference USA championship game, based on his four field goals in miserable weather.
Every time the Herd misses a critical field goal, such as the potential game-tying kick Saturday against Charlotte, Haig's legend looms larger. You may have to go back to Curtis Head for the last clutch kicker, though he did push an extra point that would have won the 2002 GMAC Bowl.
Who before then? Willy Merrick, the single-kick wonder of the 1992 I-AA national championship?
When will the Herd find another Justin Haig?
n Bank on it: Marshall will be an underdog the rest of the season, even in games at Old Dominion and Florida International. That's amazing, since the Herd is 5-0 in conference play against those teams, winning by a combined 228-44.
And the Herd is becoming a lock to lose against the point spread, having done so five times out of six. I rate the Pitt game as a toss-up because you could have been on either side or on the money with the 16-point margin, depending on when you made your call (for amusement purposes only, of course).
As much as anything, that illustrates how shocking and disappointing this Marshall season has been.