Twenty years ago, Marshall football took a huge step towards returning to Glory when they made an unexpected run to the Division 1-AA National Championship Game. Over the next several weeks, we are going to relive that special season here on Looking Back with Herdnation.com.

In August of 1987, second year Head Coach George Chaump started practice to gear up for the season. Practice began on August 13th, as Chaump welcomed in 28 new players. Among those new players were 7 JUCO's who were expected to provide some immediate help (Orlando O'Farrill, Dan Jackson, Ken Pepe, Keith Powell, Larry O'Dell, Brian Shannon and Jeff Ward.) Key Freshman expected to provide some help on the field were Michael Gill and Matt Downey, along with running backs Brae Bryant and Michael Bryant. Two players expected to participate were lost due to being casualties of proposition 48, those were offensive lineman Don Mahoney and defensive back Tracey Woods. Some good news came shortly before practice started when talented defensive lineman Tony Bolland was awarded a fifth season of eligibility from the NCAA due to personal hardships he suffered with his family during his freshman season.

The team would begin practice each morning on the grass fields in front of Gullickson Hall. The team had to practice there due to the turf being replaced at Fairfield Stadium. Marshall was replacing its old SuperTurf, with a more up to date and modern OmniTurf. The SuperTurf, which was being replaced, was worn very thin. The turf itself was only a quarter of an inch thick, and the padding was only an additional half of an inch thick. This meant that for the past two seasons, the Herd had been playing on a piece of field which had less than an inch between it and solid asphalt. The new turf was set in place and would be able to be moved to the new stadium if it was built within the next seven years. Practices began early in the morning and were open to the public.

Practice progressed throughout the month with very few injuries or setbacks. During one scrimmage session, only WR Vincent Bodie sat out due to injury. Returning starting quarterback Tony Peterson was able to retain his starting spot over John Gregory. Linebacker Jerome Hazard was moved to fullback and was playing both ways at the time. Mike Barber was named to Dan Henson's Division 1-AA preseason All American team.

Heading into the season, Marshall had sold 2,700 season tickets. The home slate included games against Morehead State, Youngstown State, East Tennessee State, VMI, and Western Carolina. Season ticket packages at that time were $50 between the 20's, and $38 outside of the 20's.

Coach Chaump rarely made predictions on what he thought about his team, and when he did, he was conservative. However, this season, something led Chaump to do and believe otherwise. In a quote made on August 26th, Chaump declared that his team could very well be a contender, stating, "you can just sense it as a coach….an attitude…a sense of pride and determination." Little did he know, he would prove to be correct in his initial prognostications.

- An interesting note regarding the preseason AP Top 20, and proof that very little has changed in the minds of voters in the past twenty years, not one current non BCS school is listed in the Top 20.

- In other Marshall sports news in August of 1987, the basketball team was hit with a potentially huge jolt, as returning starter Dwayne Lewis was ruled academically ineligible to play the upcoming year. Lewis was second on the team in scoring in 1987 averaging 15 points a game, he also pulled in 5.7 rebounds a game.

Forty Years Ago:

Twenty years prior to 1987, Marshall was led by Head Coach Charlie Snyder. Snyder was determined to have a more pass oriented offense. His goal was to start sophomore Tim Deeds or senior James Torrence. Torrence would eventually win the job to lead this supposedly pass happy team, after Deeds completed only two of nine passes during a "pass practice."

The team struggled throughout the season, and finished with zero wins and ten losses. Torrence won out on the quarterback battle and finished the year completing only 42 passes out of his 124 attempts for 490 yards. He threw only one touchdown pass compared to ten interceptions. He had a quarterback rating of 53.6, the lowest in school history in the modern era. Marshall was led in offense by running back "Choo Choo" Charlie Jones who ended the season with 535 rushing yards and two touchdowns

100 Years Ago:

Flashing way back to September 28th, of 1907, the Huntington Advertiser announced a game to be played between Marshall College and Morris Harvey College of Charleston on Thanksgiving Day. The writer clearly was wearing his Kelly Green glasses, and wrote the following message, " While neither college team has yet been whipped into proper shape, there is plenty of excellent material on hand at both schools and good teams will be developed." Marshall went on to win that game 5 – 0, the game was played in Huntington. Marshall finished the season with 3 wins, 2 losses and one tie. The wins came over Morris Harvey, Georgetown College, and Mountain State School of Business, losses against West Virginia Wesleyan, and Charleston AC, the tie came against Ashland YMCA. Captain of the team was T.J. Robinson.

Wrapup:

The past forty years have been interesting for Marshall University. Forty Years ago, was arguably one of the worse on the field seasons in the history of the school. The Herd was outscored 311 to 72 in what would prove to be Charlie Snyder's last year as head coach. Twenty years ago was arguably the highest of on the field highs for the Herd at that time, as they went all the way to the National Title game. Now here we are today, in a state of flux, with a team that could go either way. They have the talent to please us all. On the other hand, they have the inexperience and question marks to make us think back about the way things used to be. But alas, how far back do you go. If you go back 20 years you are disappointed. However, if you go back forty years, you should consider yourself very lucky to be where we are today.