EKU blazed pandemic trail for state football teams but struggled on the field
When asked earlier in the week about what the biggest challenge in its season opener would be, new Eastern Kentucky football head coach Walt Wells had a quick answer, one void of any concerns related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Marshall, no question,” Wells said. “They’re a good football team.”
Wells wasn’t wrong. The Thundering Herd took the lead less than three minutes into the contest and never relinquished it on their way to a 59-0 victory Saturday at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
EKU only crossed midfield once in the first half and went back to the locker room down 38-0. The Colonels were held without a point for the first time since falling 42-0 at Louisville nearly a year ago on Sept. 7, 2019.
Marshall ended with 627 yards of offense to only 166 generated by the Colonels. The bulk of Marshall’s production was delivered by the hand of redshirt freshman Grant Wells, a former three-star prospect out of nearby Charleston, W.Va. He finished 16 of 23 for 307 yards and four touchdowns in less than three quarters of action.
“I’m disappointed in our performance in all areas, from the functionality of it, the beginning, offense, defense and special teams,” Wells said. “We looked like a poorly prepared team and that lies solely on me. … We should have played way better than we did.”
Wells wouldn’t pin any of the Colonels’ poor performance on concerns about or jitters related to the coronavirus.
“When you line up on the field, nobody cares about anything but beating the other guy,” Wells said. “COVID, whatever. There’s nothing that matters. You’ve gotta go out there and you’ve got to win your one-on-one battle. And they won their one-on-one battles and we didn’t for the most part.”
Other than actually getting to play the game — not a certainty in 2020 — bright spots were hard to come by on the EKU side of things. Running back Quentin Pringle led the Colonels in rushing (39 yards on six carries) while Matthew Jackson (12) and Eli Hairston (10) each finished with double-digit tackles. Jaylen Herrud and Darrian Baker, a true freshman out of Mercer County High School who started at defensive tackle, each recorded a sack.
Marshall is off next week; its opponent, East Carolina, cannot play because of quarantine protocols. EKU will be back in West Virginia, as it’s set to visit Morgantown to take on WVU, coached by former UK player and assistant coach Neal Brown.
It will be WVU’s first game. For EKU, which is forgoing a possible Ohio Valley Conference season in the spring to play eight non-conference opponents, it’s the only game against a Power Five school on the slate.
“We can have the same result, or we can improve and get better,” Wells said. “When we made this schedule, I knew it was going to be a challenge, and I’m OK with that. But we have to come out and play with a pride that EKU football has played with. … We don’t have that right now.”
‘Say Their Names’
EKU’s players and coaches entered the stadium wearing shirts with the phrase ‘Say Their Names’ printed on them, and players in the game wore stickers of a fist, both as acts of support for ongoing movements against racism, systematic oppression and police violence.
Wells continued to wear his shirt on the sideline during the game.
“We are student-athletes who represent our beloved school, your alma mater, home university and favorite team,” the team released in a statement about 30 minutes before kickoff. “We are proud of EKU. We want EKU to be proud of us. There are those among us who can’t escape hate, racism, systematic oppression or violence just because we play college football.”
The NCAA prior to this fall began allowing the option for teams to make displays like the one the Colonels made on Saturday. Wells said his players, in coordination with the school’s diversity and inclusion department, helped develop the the statements and gear they wore.
“We knew we had a platform today that we normally don’t have,” Wells said. “A lot of teams did some marches and different things. This was the biggest platform we were gonna have so we wanted to make our statement. Our players did, and I fully, 100 percent support ‘em.”
TV team
The game was broadcast by ESPN and featured a three-person crew, though only one was actually in West Virginia.
Sideline reporter Katie George, a former University of Louisville volleyball player, was the only ESPN personality at Joan C. Edwards Stadium on Saturday. Jason Benetti and Andre Ware, the other members of the broadcast team, were working remotely out of Chicago and Houston, respectively.
Next game
Eastern Kentucky at West Virginia
Noon Saturday (FS1)
This story was originally published September 5, 2020 at 5:49 PM.
