Last season (2016), Marshall opened with a 62-0 whipping of Morgan State. This easy win over a bottom of the barrel MEAC opponent didn't help Marshall prepare for game 2. Marshall lost 65-38 to an average Akron team. The following week, Marshall embarrassed itself against Louisville. And the season went down the tube from there, finishing 3-9.

Ohio just beat another MEAC team, Hampton by 59-0. According to Sagarin, Hampton is about nine points better than Morgan State, and that's the margin Hampton beat them by last year. So while Hampton is better than Morgan State (and Hampton is better by the eye test too, as Morgan State looked like poorly conditioned athletes vs Marshall), this 59-0 Ohio win may not mean that much. Will this easy Ohio win help them prepare for Purdue....unlike how Marshalls easy win over Morgan State actually hurt them vs Akron last year?

I don't have a problem with us playing one FCS opponent per season...I just hope that the players and staff don't get overconfident in the aftermath of the 59-0 blowout win. That seemed to be what happened to Marshall last year, and it set in motion the dominoes falling toward a bad season.

Frank Solich > Doc Holiday

In the immortal words of Alfred E. Neuman,"What me worry?"

Agree that playing a Big Ten will help ensure mental and physical prep. And Solich is good with stuff like this.

A big win doesn't prove anything, but it's better than the alternative. FCS teams do upset G5 and P5 teams sometimes. The other benefit of this being a dominating win is that no one got hurt, and the starters were able to leave early. Since this is a short week, that could help, come Friday night.

To me the single most positive thing about this game was how dominant Ohio's offensive line was, which enabled them to push the ball into the endzone every time they were in the Red Zone. I don't expect them to be that totally dominant going forward, but if they continue to be improved from prior years, it will be a good season.

Even though we are D1 program as well, those programs are in need of money as well playing us. I wonder how much we paid Hampton? Even though Purdue has struggled with MAC Teams in the last few years, they are only paying us $600,000 for the game in West Lafeyette. We need that money as well for our program and it gives us an opportunity to strut our stuff against a BIG10 program. FCS Liberty Caylin Newton (Cam Newton's little brother) led a victory against UNLV in Nevada this past weekend. Never take an FCS team lightly because their games against us are their SUPER BOWLS.
It gives the coach an opportunity to show how much the team has developed over summer and it allows us to disguise our Week 2 plans when we use more 2nd and 3rd team players. It also allows our starters to get reps like (NFL Preseason) and not get hurt; a la Florida State's QB. Granted our rivals Akron and Kent always schedule top tier competition (look at those teams past 5-8 year schedule), however, they do not finish well and have more injuries from the beginning of the year. I do not think FCS wins should count toward bowl eligibility, especially any POWER 5. Just my opinion though fellas!

UNLV pays $600k, the same amount that we took from a Big10 school. That going rate from the Big 10 is approaching $800k to 1.2million.

You are correct Jeff. It was Howard. Apologies

Let me don the ol' tinfoil hat and point out how curious it is that the losing team in this biggest upset ever was the University of Nevada - Las Vegas.

Speaking of the Howard-UNLV game. My youngest daughter's father-in-law went to Howard. He would very much like to view the video of this game. I've search high and low for an archived video of the game and can't find one. All I can find is very short excerpts -- not even highlights. Can anyone point me to the location of a game archive? Thanks.