The Thundering Herd's bid for an undefeated season disappeared Friday at home after Western Kentucky went for a two-point conversion and the win in overtime and successfully converted it for a 67-66 victory.
Marshall scored on its second play of overtime with a 25-yard pass from Rakeem Cato to Hyleck Foster. Then, on WKU's second play of overtime, Brandon Doughty threw his eighth touchdown pass of the game to Jared Dangerfield. Yes, we said eighth.
Instead of going for the game-tying PAT to head to a second overtime, WKU, at 6-5 entering the game, went for the win. And it was a successful try. WKU lined up on the left hash and Doughty rolled to his right and hit Willie McNeal on the right side of the end zone for the win.
Thanks to three early interceptions by Cato, Western Kentucky stormed out to an early lead. All three interceptions turned into WKU touchdowns and after the first quarter the Hilltoppers led 28-21. At halftime, the lead was 49-42, three points short of the record for combined points in a half.
The scoring slowed down in the second half, which meant the entire game escaped the FBS record for most combined points. The record for most combined points in an overtime game is 136, which was set when Boise State beat Nevada 69-67 in 2007. However, that game went four overtimes.
Cato finished with seven touchdowns and four interceptions while Doughty had two interceptions. His second came with 10 seconds left and the game tied at 59-59. After a run play following the pick, Marshall had the option to kick a 57-yard field goal for the win but eschewed it in favor of a pass towards the end zone. It fell incomplete.
During Tuesday's College Football Playoff Rankings, the Herd was a spot below two-loss Boise State in the battle to be the highest-ranked non-Power Five conference team in the top 25. Even though Marshall was one of only two undefeated teams in the FBS along with Florida State, the Thundering Herd's porous strength of schedule was keeping it near the bottom of the rankings.
While you can argue that it's not Marshall's fault that it was playing a weak Conference USA schedule, it was apparent watching the Herd over the last few weeks that the gripe to be closer to the top of the rankings wasn't entirely ironclad.
Now Marshall will be nowhere near the top 25 in the next set of rankings and the Broncos and Mountain West Conference rival Colorado State are the frontrunners for the New Year's Bowl berth while the Herd will play in a bowl like the Liberty Bowl or Bahamas Bowl.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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