HUNTINGTON - None of the current Marshall players or coaches were around for the sunny Saturday in September 2004 when the Thundering Herd made Ohio State sidestep a major upset on national television.

But as they prepare to open the Doc Holliday era Thursday, they will try to match that effort, maybe exceed it and shock the nation. Whatever the case, the Herd travels to Columbus to take on the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Entering that Sept. 11, 2004 game at Ohio Stadium, the Herd was picking up the pieces from a 17-15 opening loss to Troy. After DeMarcus Ware laid waste to the Herd’s offensive line, the two-week stretch of No. 9 Ohio State and No. 3 Georgia looked impossible.

But there the Herd was in Columbus, scoring defensive touchdowns, driving the length of the field and stiffening on defense. Somehow, some way, the game was tied at 21 with overtime looming. Much of Ohio was watching, probably in anxious silence.

“I [was watching], and I was listening to it on the radio, too,” said Herd center Chad Schofield, a native of northeast Ohio. “At the time I was rooting for Ohio State, and I was saying, ‘Jeez, who are these guys, Marshall, about to beat Ohio State?’ It ends up I come here, it’s unbelievable.”

The MU secondary had massive trouble that day dealing with Santonio Holmes, who struck for touchdown catches of 80 and 47 yards in the first half. Justin Zwick threw another touchdown pass late in the second half, but that only gave the Buckeyes a 21-14 lead - in part because Marshall’s Johnathan Goddard returned a fumble 27 yards for a touchdown.

Goddard had a way of equalizing those games. In 2003 at sixth-ranked Kansas State, his 86-yard runback of an intercepted pitchout turned a probable 14-0 deficit into a 7-7 tie and set the stage for the Herd’s 27-20 upset.

Back to Columbus in 2004. Marshall attempted a fake field goal late in the third quarter and failed, but tied the game at 21 with 8:40 left on Stan Hill’s 23-yard pass to Chillicothe, Ohio, native Brad Bates.

In the waning minutes, Marshall decided to play for overtime, rushing three times and punting. It wasn’t necessarily bad strategy, as the Herd had blanked the Buckeyes in the second half, holding them to three first downs.

But Ian O’Connor’s punt went just 26 yards, giving Ohio State the ball on its 45-yard line with 25 seconds left. Zwick hit three short passes to the Herd 32, well within rocket-leg Mike Nugent’s field goal range.

Zwick nearly ran out of time after his last pass, spiking the ball with 2 seconds left. His team wasn’t close to getting set on the snap, though, so the Buckeyes had to pay a 5-yard penalty in the process. But that penalty meant the clock would stand still until the next snap, allowing Nugent to attempt a 55-yard field goal.

As the 104,622 in attendance held their breath, the ball shot off Nugent’s foot with an audible thump. It had the distance for a 70-yard try, sailing between the uprights to win it for the Buckeyes 24-21. After the game, Marshall coach Bob Pruett expressed confidence that his team looked fresher and would have carried the extra periods.

The Herd then went to Athens, Ga., showing up as 181/2-point underdogs, and didn’t even allow the Bulldogs to score that many. The visitors struggled offensively, but not on the other side of the ball. Georgia’s 13-3 win had Bulldogs coach Mark Richt comparing the Herd to other Southeastern Conference opponents.

In addition to scaring the bejeebers out of two top-10 opponents, Marshall didn’t need an official’s timeout for injury. As Pruett proudly pointed out, more Buckeyes and Bulldogs hobbled off than his troops.

Six years later, today’s Herd players are preparing for their toughest test in terms of poll ranking. Marshall hasn’t played anybody so highly regarded since losing to preseason No. 1 Florida 49-14 to kick off the 2001 season.

Some, such as Schofield, remember the 2004 OSU-Herd game, or learned about it later.

“I had no idea I’d be wearing the green at that point in my life, to be honest with you,” said tight end Lee Smith, a Tennessee native who began his career with the Volunteers. “But I’ve heard plenty about it, and that speaks for itself right there. The 2004 team wasn’t the best team in the country - I don’t know if they won the MAC [no, MU did not] - but they went up there and competed.”

The Herd did a poor job “playing up” during the five years of Mark Snyder’s coaching tenure. The most notable exception is the first such game in 2005, in which Marshall lost 21-19 at home to Kansas State. The late-game interception thrown by Herd quarterback Jimmy Skinner caused much anguish among the home fans.

Snyder’s last such game wasn’t terrible, as the Herd trailed just 10-7 in the fourth quarter last year at West Virginia. WVU freshman Geno Smith threw a perfect 33-yard touchdown pass to Alric Arnett to break that game open and the Mountaineers won 24-7.

The 11 Herd vs. BCS contests between the Kansas State game in 2005 and last year’s battle against WVU can be described as nothing but ugly, with the Herd losing by an average of 27 points.

Not since Missouri in 1992 had the Herd defense been sliced for 600 total yards, as it was last year by Virginia Tech. Not since Louisville in 1977 had a foe scored 51 unanswered points, as Wisconsin did in 2008. Only once in the previous 16 years had the offense failed to score as it did in 2006 at Kansas State.

And so on.

Holliday doesn’t really care about the Herd’s recent history versus so-called BCS teams. It seems his focus, while extremely intense, will be the same for Saturday’s game as it will be for the home game against Memphis later this fall.

It must be noted, however, that Holliday is coaching his first game on the “non” side of a BCS vs. non-BCS contest. His three stops, at any coaching level, are WVU, North Carolina State and Florida…….

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