Week One: Marshall versus West Virginia

Marshall at West Virginia: This is a matchup between one of the surprise bowl teams of in the Marshall Thundering Herd against the #11 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers. This game is quite a nice rivalry between in-state opponents that just do not seem to like each other very much The eyes of the country will be on West Virginia to see if the Mountaineers' #11 ranking is earned in this surprisingly tough opening game

Offense: The West Virginia Mountaineers bring in a gaudy offense that ended the 2011 season ranked #15 nationally in offense with 469 yards per game last fall. The Mountaineers were not very good at rushing the football in 2011 after several seasons of being in the top 25 nationally in rushing yards per game. WVU was only able to earn 122 yards on the ground with a low 3.8 yards per carry average but were able to find the end zone 25 times in 13 games last fall. The passing game was excellent putting up 346 yards per game in the air behind the arm of Heisman contender Geno Smith. Smith threw for 32 touchdowns and only 9 interceptions on the season. The offense as a whole put up 37.6 points per game, good for 13th in the nation. Marshall was bad on offense last fall with a team that could only put up 333 yards per game ranking them 102 nationally out of 120 teams. The run game was actually worse running the football than West Virginia last fall with only 120 yards attained on the ground per game. The 3.5 yards per carry average and 9 rushing touchdowns were among the worst in the nation. The passing game was a bit better with 213 yards in the air per game. The Thundering Herd scored 22 passing touchdowns but turned the ball over on interceptions 15 times. The 21.8 points scored per game was the 99th ranked scoring offense nationally. EDGE: West Virginia

Defense: West Virginia was much better at holding opponents to fewer yards last fall than in the past giving up 348 yards per game, good for the 33rd ranked defense in the country. The Mountaineers gave up 144 yards per game on the ground but 4.0 yards per carry and 21 touchdowns on the season. The pass defense allowed 203 yards and 15 touchdowns but pulled in 14 interceptions. The Mountaineer defense gave up 26.8 points on the season putting the Mountaineers right in the middle nationally in scoring defense. Marshall was decent on defense in giving up 405 yards per game to opponents and 28.6 points per game. The Thundering Herd gave up 149 yards on the ground in 13 games with opponents running for 4.1 yards per carry and 19 touchdowns on the season. The pass defense struggled giving up 244 yards per game and 24 touchdowns but the Marshall defense was able to intercept 14 pass and force 29 overall turnovers from opponents. EDGE: West Virginia

Coaching: Dana Holgerson is the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineer and is entering his second year as the head coach. Holgerson started coaching in 1993 as an assistant at Valdosta State. After his stint at Valdosta State, Holgerson went to Mississippi College, Wingate, Texas Tech, Houston, and Oklahoma State before ending up at West Virginia. This is the first head coaching job for Holgerson who is 10-3 in his one season with the program finishing with a win in the Orange Bowl and finishing in the top 20 nationally. Doc Holliday is the head coach of the Marshall Thundering Herd and is entering his third season as the head coach. Holliday started coaching in 1979 where he was an assistant at West Virginia for 21 years before leaving for North Carolina State, Florida State, and West Virginia again in 2008. Holliday got the head coaching job at Marshall in 2010 and in his two previous seasons as head coach has compiled a 12-13 overall record with a win last season in the Beef O'Brady Bowl. EDGE: Push or slight advantage to West Virginia

This is the 12th overall meeting between the two schools with West Virginia winning all 11 previous meetings. The teams played 4 times before 1924 and then went 74 years without another meeting in 1997. After another 9 year break, the teams have played every season since 2006.

Marshall has only been within 11 points two times in the past versus West Virginia and nearly pulled the upset in 2010 with a 3-point loss in overtime. This will be a very tall order for the Thundering Herd to hang in with the athletic Mountaineers. In similar fashion to many of the previous meetings, expect the Thundering Herd to keep the game close in the first half but lose by 17+ points after the Mountaineers turn on the jets in the second half.