RE: Marshall v. Miami (O). Is it too early to gear up?
I don't think anybody intended to run up the score. Here is the article from Miami's Student Newspaper:
From The Miami Student, Tuesday, October 5, 1971
66-6
By Phil Coffin
For three minutes it resembled a real football game.
Marshall's youthful team held Miami on the first series of plays, forcing a punt. But the Herd was guilty of roughing kicker Dave Graham and a minute and a half later quarterback Stu Showalter was standing in the end zone with Miami's first touchdown.
From there, the game turned into an uneventful but unintentional rout which ended with Miami overwhelmed (sic) the Herd, 66-6.
Despite the lopsided victory, it turned out to be costly once more. Defensive halfback Doug Sherman was injured on a punt return and required surgery on his left knee Sunday. Sherman, a senior, will be out for the season.
"We're getting a real knee problem," complained Miami coach Bill Mallory. "That makes five knee operations for this team."
Denny Costello will move into the starting lineup to replace Sherman.
Miami dominated the game so completely that Marshall finished with two yards net offense and the Redskins amassed 90 offensive plays to the Herd's 39.
Marshall was handicapped even further for the weekend contest as starting quarterback Reggie Oliver was out with a pulled muscle in his throwing arm. Oliver was ranked 20th in the nation in passing and 25th in total offense.
To top it off, though, neither of the Herd's backup quarterbacks had played any this year, which resulted in three fumbles, three interceptions, and four completions in 17 passing attempts.
But for Miami, it was a day of complete success--almost. The Skins chewed up 359 yards on the ground and set a school record of 83 rushing attempts.
And placekicker Graham successfully converted all 9 extra points to run to 15 his string of consecutive placements.
Yet, there were a few mistakes, which, if nothing else, provided the game with a modicum of excitement.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Graham went back to punt with the second team punting unit in. The left side of the line didn't hold very well and basketball player-turned footballer Dave Smith blocked the kick. Felix Jordan picked the ball up on the bounce and ran it in 36 yards for Marshall's only score.
And then, later in the fourth quarter, with Miami deep in Marshall territory, the ball was centered--without QB Steve Williams there yet. With the ball high in the air, a startled but alert Fred Payne recovered for Marshall.
Aside from that, the game was a Miami machine which turned Marshall's errors and ineffectual offense into score after score. In fact, the Redskins scored the first five times they had the ball to build up a 31-0 lead at the half.
And yet, despite the score, Mallory claimed there was no effort to fatten up the score.
"My intentions were not to run up the score," the coach explained, "but they gave us such good field position, and you can't keep the kids from playing hard."
And while many fans were complaining that Mallory should have insetted his third string, he stated that he would have willingly--had Miami had a third string.
"We've only got 61 players," Mallory stressed, "but that leaves us with only about three or four players for third-string offense and defense."
Bob Hitchens was the Redskins' main offensive thrust again, with 92 yards rushing and three touchdowns. But Mallory was more pleased with the performances of Dean Harmony, Ken Watson, Chris Brockmeyer and Bill Simons.
Harmony utilized his first game this year by running for 85 yards and two TDs. Williams played much of the game at quarterback, and, after overcoming early trouble ran for 60 yards and two scores.
Being Miami's first home game, more than 12,600 people showed up. But the exits got crowded after halftime as interest waned and the score increased.
Marshall 0 0 0 6 - 6
Miami 17 14 21 14 - 66
Miami--Showalter 18 run (Graham kick)
Miami--Hitchens 5 run (Graham kick)
Miami--Wernecke 29 field goal
Miami--Hitchens 5 run (Graham kick)
Miami--Williams 1 run (Graham kick)
Miami--Hitchens 1 run (Graham kick)
Miami--Williams 1 run (Graham kick)
Miami--Harmony 5 run (Graham kick)
Marshall--Jordan 36 return of blocked punt (Smith kick failed)
Miami--Showkier 46 pass from Williams (Graham kick)
Miami--Harmony 3 run (Graham kick)
att--12,600
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