2008 Woodie Awards
Snyder's message to fans: Be Loud
Crowd asked to wear white to today's game
Andrew Ramspacher
Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: Sports
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These three elements had Marshall head coach Mark Snyder busting out Kenkraft 400's "Zombie Nation" Tuesday at his weekly news conference.
"I would love to see everybody up making as much noise as they can with their white on and waving the towels," Snyder said. "The kickoff comes out and they play that song 'duh-duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh-duh,duh-duh-duh-duh.' Have the whole stadium rocking. That's kind of what I envision. And when they (Cincinnati) go on offense, constant noise."
Snyder's emphasis for a wild atmosphere is twofold. No. 1 is the opportunity for Marshall University to be showcased on ESPN, and No. 2 is the fact that Cincinnati will be slotting in either Zach Collaros or Chazz Anderson at quarterback.
Both are redshirt freshmen.
"A national ESPN game and we've been talking about the Whiteout," Snyder said. "They're giving out T-shirts, we need everyone to wear white and show the nation what kind of fans we have. My next shout out to the fans would be this: They have a redshirt quarterback that is going to be playing. We would love it, whether he is under center or in the shotgun, to be as loud as possible and use that home field advantage."
In a Sept. 6 loss at Oklahoma, the Bearcats lost their starter at quarterback, Dustin Grutza, with a broken right fibula. Last Saturday, UC head coach Brian Kelly suffered another blow behind center when junior Tony Pike broke his non-throwing arm at Akron.
Needless to say, Kelly has been forced to dig deep to find a quarterback to field today.
"Clearly, you go into a season expecting that you're going to play two quarterbacks," Kelly said. "You don't begin a season thinking you're going to go down to your third, possibly fourth quarterback."
Kelly also said today's performance will give him a quick return on how well his staff has recruited the quarterback position over the past two years.
"They're young men that we recruited here, so we feel like the first thing in evaluating a quarterback is if he can handle the pressure of the moment - can he go in there and succeed when we want him to?" he said. "(Collaros and Anderson) have the physical tools, and the first thing we look for in recruiting is do they have what it takes mentally, and I feel both these guys have what it takes."
Collaros is likely to get the starting nod when Cincinnati takes the field later this evening. The Steubenville, Ohio native replaced Pike in the fourth quarter last week, connecting on one of four passes for two yards.
Anderson has yet to see playing time at the Division I level.
Marshall sophomore defensive tackle Vinny Curry said regardless of who the Bearcats insert at quarterback, the game plan will remain the same - attack and expose UC's inexperience.
"(Cincinnati) has the third string quarterback," Curry said. "I'm pretty sure he's a good athlete, but we're going to try to get after it as a unit."
Curry also added that the crowd noise today could be just as effective as the Herd's pass rush.
"The student section's going to be a big factor," he said. "At Marshall, the crowd always gets into the game. If you look at the Memphis game, once the crowd took it over, it was over. Once you get the crowd into it, you get the players hyped and the players become more motivated to do something even more spectacular."
Other game notes:
-ALL IN THE FAMILY: When Marshall defensive coordinator Rick Minter looks across the sideline today, he'll not only see the team he was the head coach of for 10 seasons, but also a close tie on the Minter family tree.
His son, Jesse Minter, is a Cincinnati graduate assistant coach.
"It's not really something that we want to do, it's something we have the opportunity to do because of the circumstances, so we just take advantage of it and enjoy it," Minter said of the Herd's matchup with the Bearcats pitting him against his son. "I like being around him and I think the feeling is mutual. This gives us the opportunity, throughout a vigorous schedule on both our parts when we can't see each other because we both work the same hours, to really get a chance to visit."
Minter also said no matter what the result, today's game will be forever etched in the minds of the father-son duo.
"It's just going to be a little side story for the two of us," he said. "This is going to be something we will remember for the rest of our lives. When we look back, it might be the only time it happens to us."
-NIGHT AND DAY: Visions of last year's 40-14 drumming Cincinnati handed to Marshall have quickly ceased the mind of Snyder.
The Herd head coach said his team is in much better shape this time around.
"We did not play very well against them last year," Snyder said. "I don't even want to think about last year. We're here, we're a different football team, totally, and we're glad to be home."
-RETURNING TO GLORY: Fireworks at sporting events are usually reserved for after games, but explosions could be in store today with every kick return.
Marshall's Darius Marshall is the nation's third-leading kick return man, averaging 35.4 yards a return. Cincinnati's Mardy Gilyard's 36.3 yards per return leads the country.
"(Gilyard) is explosive," Snyder said. "He can bust a game open. We're going to have to play superior special teams, not turn the ball over and get points on the board. We can't let them get points in the kicking game."
Andrew Ramspacher can be contacted at ramspacher@marshall.edu.
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