The Houston Cougars did what they had to do to stay alive for the Conference USA West division title with a 35-28 Homecoming win over Marshall.
Now it will take a Tulsa loss at Rice next Saturday for Houston to have a shot at repeating as C-USA Champions.
Junior tight end Mark Hafner led the charge for Houston with a crucial touchdown in the fourth quarter that put the Cougars up by 14 with 4:22 left.
Hafner recorded the first 100-yard performance of his career. He finished with a career-high six receptions for 128 yards, including the 62-yard touchdown in the waning minutes of the game.
"We knew all week that the (defensive backs) bailed out, so anytime I released down the middle I just came out wide open. I was on the free safety and I just made a move and tried to beat him in the endzone," Hafner said.
Senior running back Anthony Alridge didn’t have an explosive game, but he had an effective game. Alridge carried the rock 25 times and surpassed 100 yards for the seventh time this season, finishing with 103 yards and two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving.
With a three-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, "Quick Six" hit 20 rushing touchdowns for his career.
"That’s not bad," Alridge said. "It feels good. That’s the 20-touchdown mark and you have to strive to get more and I got to get better."
Special teams played a critical part in the game. Sophomore punter Chase Turner turned in a great performance, putting tons of green between the Thundering Herd and their endzone.
Turner averaged 51 yards on the three punts he had including the 61-yard boomer that rolled down to the Marshall five-yard line in the last second of the second quarter.
"Field position is one of the factors that determines a football game," head coach Art Briles said. "If you get good punts off and get great coverage it definitely gives you a better opportunity to win."
Redshirt freshman quarterback Case Keenum also had a solid game for the Cougars, finishing 24-of-32 for 298 yards two touchdowns and one interception. Keenum’s only mistake came when a pass was tipped at the line-of-scrimmage by Marshall defensive tackle Bryon Tinker and defensive end Ryland Wilson caught the floating ball.
Keenum was pretty shifty throughout the game using his legs to get him out of a few pocket-collapsing situations.
"He’s pretty coy, to use an expression. He’s kind of aware of what’s going on. He does a good job taking care of himself for the most part," Briles said.
The Cougars showed some ill effects from last weekend’s game against Tulsa. The lack of offense in the first half hampered the Cougars to only 10 points and a three-point lead.
If it wasn’t for two missed field goals by Marshall kicker Anthony Binswanger in the first half, Houston would have went into half time trailing 13-10.
"There were a couple of times where we could not get anything going," Keenum said. "A couple of little things that have been the story all year – we were stopping ourselves. A penalty there, one yard short there and there was a misread on my part. When it came down to it our team came together and played hard."
The defense made big plays in the first half to hold Marshall to those two field goal attempts. Senior linebacker Brendan Pahulu came up huge with a 15-yard sack in the second quarter when the Thundering Herd was stampeding down the field.
"We wanted the quarterback (Bernard Morris) to stay in the pocket and use his arm rather than his legs to beat us," junior defensive end Phillip Hunt said. "His arm was not that good, and we kept pressure on him."
