George Pettaway ran 73 yards for a touchdown, then 33 more for another, and by halftime James Madison had turned a 14-10 Marshall lead into a rout on the way to a 45-17 win. Marshall's defense finished the night having allowed 573 total yards and no sacks of JMU quarterback Camden Coleman, and Tony Gibson did not soften any of it afterward. "The defense has zero identity. We can't tackle. It's embarrassing." He also noted the Dukes had over 350 yards at the half. The loss dropped Marshall to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in the Sun Belt in its conference opener, while James Madison moved to 5-0 and 2-0.
Those two Pettaway runs were not bad luck. Marshall entered that game ranked 135th of 138 FBS teams in limiting explosive plays of 20-plus yards, and JMU simply ran at the hole in the floor.
The game
Marshall hosts Coastal Carolina at 7 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN+, at Joan C. Edwards Stadium, on the annual "Herd Strong" date honoring people affected by cancer. The model makes Marshall a 73% favorite. Coastal comes in 1-4.
So the final score is not where the information is. If the Herd holds the Chanticleers under about six yards a play and keeps the longest gain modest, that's a real change in behavior. If Marshall wins 31-24 while surrendering two long touchdowns, nothing has been repaired. It just arrived against a team that is 1-4.
A clean defensive night against Coastal would not prove this unit can handle South Alabama at home in Week 8 or Georgia Southern on the road in November, where the model already has Marshall as an underdog. It would just be the first evidence in the other direction.
The offense has its own bill to pay
Marshall ran for only 135 yards at James Madison, down from 267 two weeks earlier, and a holding penalty wiped out a 12-yard Del Rio-Wilson touchdown run. That is the part fans can see developing in real time Saturday. The questions are whether the line moves a Sun Belt defensive front and whether drives end in the end zone instead of in a flag.
The quarterback, at least, is not a question. Del Rio-Wilson played the whole game before a fourth-quarter substitution. He is the Sun Belt's 2026 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year after throwing for 2,043 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushing for 661 more in 2025. Whatever is wrong with Marshall right now, it is not the man taking the snaps.
There is a cautionary note from the last time these teams played. In Conway, Coastal beat Marshall 44-27 despite being outgained 432-410, with Marshall committing five turnovers. Marshall did not get beaten by a better team that day; it handed the game over.
An 0-1 conference start is survivable. Marshall was picked third in the East anyway, and the schedule gives the Herd home games against South Alabama, App State and Georgia State still to come. But the division math only stays interesting if Marshall banks the games it should win, and the way to feel good leaving Huntington on Saturday night is to watch the defense make somebody go three-and-out on first contact.
Full matchup detail is in the interactive guide, and the forecasting approach is explained in the methodology.