HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Never fear, Marshall fans. Your team is going to play offense.
On Thursday.
Yes, that's the night in which the Thundering Herd's basketball team presents itself to paying customers for the first time this season, taking on West Virginia State in an exhibition game at Cam Henderson Center.
Tipoff is early, at 6 p.m. The first basket will be early, too - perhaps 6:00:10 if the Herd wins the tip.
As I think about coach Dan D'Antoni's sometimes-dizzying offense, I'm wondering if offensive coordinator Bill Legg shouldn't just order up some "NASCAR tempo" for the rest of the football season.
As they say, YOLO. You really do only live once.
Think back to 2012, when the Herd installed a rapid-fire offense with sophomore Rakeem Cato at the helm. With a defense that was destined to struggle, the Herd had to make opponents uncomfortable somehow.
Fast forward four years, to a Saturday night when a swarming Southern Mississippi defense found its comfort zone and the Herd offense struggled ... again.
From across the field at M.M. Roberts Stadium, star defensive lineman Dylan Bradley (1.5 sacks, blocked field goal) affirmed that the Eagles found their groove.
"We've got to limit the big plays and put them in situations where on third down, we know in our minds that can't nobody block us up front," Bradley told the Sun-Herald of Biloxi.
Yep. As the game went on, No. 94 became more dominating.
"They get a lot of pressure on you," said Herd coach Doc Holliday. "We didn't get a whole lot of time to throw the football, unfortunately. We did some three-step stuff and the quick game was decent at times. We had a hard time dropping back and throwing on them."
Hmmmm.
Now, the "quick game" was only decent "at times," as the coach said. The most painful example of "indecency" came on the Herd's first drive of the second half, as Marshall drove from its 40-yard line to the Southern Miss 36.
One second-and-7, Chase Litton took a step back and fired long and near-laterally to Deon-Tay McManus close to the sideline. After McManus stepped back to catch the off-target throw, about three black jerseys were all over him.
Five-yard loss, third-and-12, dropped pass, punt. Story of the Herd's day.
That example notwithstanding, I'm not sure the Herd shouldn't just come to the line, snap and go.
It could help a beat-up offensive line that's having a difficult season. It might reduce the urge to overthink matters before the snap.
When you're 2-6 and Bing Crosby is singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas" from his grave, why not shake things up?
Otherwise, basketball season can't come soon enough.
nnn
The frustration in the Herd camp appears to be bubbling over.
Fans watching at home got a screenful of that when running back Keion Davis pushed away Litton on the sidelines. It could be explained away as a single moment of frustration, but I'm not so sure.
I can count on one hand the number of times a TV camera has caught such an incident on a Marshall sideline. When combined with the apparent defections of reserve offensive lineman Cody Collins and defensive tackle Tomell One, it's a bad sign.
Citing an unnamed source, the Herald-Dispatch reported that Collins and One have left the program. The sources couldn't have been too close to the top - coaches still haven't ordered Collins and One to be removed from the public roster.
But the junior Collins hasn't been seen in so long, I had to double-check his jersey number. As for One, his departure would be shocking - he was well regarded by the coaching staff, even being named a game captain for the previous week's Charlotte game.
There could be a story behind the shove and another behind each of the two apparent departures, but I'm sensing morale problems that are no longer being kept "in house."
That can happen with a team that's unexpectedly 2-6. That seems to be the program's No. 1 challenge at this point.
Contact Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsmock@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @dougsmock and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/dougsmock/.