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Marshall

Thundering Herd · Sun Belt

Head coach Tony Gibson Year 2 with Marshall

Year-2 HCs (2015-2024) averaged +0.09 W vs. preseason expectation

Season Projection · 2026 W2

10,000 sims
6.7
Expected wins
7-5
Proj record
4 to 10
Win range (90%)
#85 (63–109)
Final rank (90%)
0%
Make playoff
4%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

0%

Baseline projection.

  • at Missouri State
    Away · Sep 19
  • at Missouri State
    Away · Sep 19
  • at Missouri State
    Away · Sep 19
  • at Missouri State
    Away · Sep 19
  • at Missouri State
    Away · Sep 19

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2026

79 score
  • Quarterback 98% (5/6 )
  • Offensive line 94% (17/18 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 68% (25/28 )
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 56% (22/29 )
  • Secondary 92% (19/20 )
  • Special teams 0% (1/5 )

Share of last season's production each unit returns. Higher means more continuity: 70%+ is healthy, 45–70% a normal rebuild, under 45% a major turnover.

Portal additions · 2026

-1.1 rating

23 proven transfers in, carrying the production below from their prior school.

  • Owen Sweeney WR ← VMI 66 impact
  • Charles McCartherens DB ← Buffalo 37 impact
  • TJ Lester RB ← West Georgia 32 impact
  • Chris Culliver WR ← North Carolina 18 impact
  • Khalil Wilkins QB ← West Virginia 18 impact
  • Christian Hamilton WR ← West Virginia 5 impact

Impact scores offensive skill additions (QB/RB/WR/TE) — prior-season production normalized within position (100 ≈ a 90th-percentile producer at that spot) and discounted for non-FBS competition, so a top back counts alongside a top quarterback. Defensive and O-line additions count as transfers but aren't box-score measurable, so they carry no impact score. The rating figure is this class's portal contribution vs. the FBS average, capped at ±2.5.

If QB1 is out (Carlos Del Rio-Wilson)

GIE projects a 0.2 rating drop and a 0.7pp shift in playoff probability if Marshall loses its QB1 for an extended stretch. (n=1 historical samples; pooled across recent seasons.)

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 34.1% 33th — below avg
  • Red-zone TD rate 11.0% 20th — bottom tier
  • 4th-down aggression 30.9% 25th — below avg
  • Late & close 6.4 yds/play 80th — strong

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

Latest Stories

  • Recap

    Marshall: 2025 Week 16 recap

    Marshall sits at 5–7 after a 24–19 home loss to Georgia Southern in Week 14, dropping the Thundering Herd to a GIE rating of –4.5 and a ranking of 86th nationally. The defeat underscored persistent offensive struggles—Marshall managed…

More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.