Marshall Thundering Herd wide receiver Obi Obialo (7) catches a pass while guarded by Western Kentucky Hilltoppers defensive back Dionte Ruffin (26) during Marshall's 20-17 win over WKU on Saturday, September 29, 2018, at Houchens-Smith Stadium. (Austin Anthony/photo@bgdailynews.com)

Editor’s note: This is part eight of a 12-part series featuring Western Kentucky’s 2019 opponents. WKU will visit Marshall on Oct. 26. Saturday will feature Florida Atlantic.

FRISCO, Texas – Isaiah Green had immediate success in his first year quarterbacking Marshall.

Considering the signal caller has pretty much all of his supporting cast returning and the other side of the ball also returning a strong unit, there’s no wonder expectations are high around the Thundering Herd.

“Marshall’s standards and expectations never change,” Marshall coach Doc Holliday told the Daily News at the Conference USA Kickoff Event in July. “That’s a good thing. That being said, you have to embrace those expectations and go to work every day. … I think we have a lot of experience and potential to turn that into production.”

Holliday enters his 10th season coaching the Thundering Herd picked to win the C-USA East Division. Marshall went 9-4 last year and won four of its last five games that included a Gasparilla Bowl win over South Florida.

Holliday will have Green back at QB with eight other returning starters on offense. Green was the C-USA Co-Freshman of the Year by completing 187 passes on 330 attempts for 2,459 yards and 15 touchdowns against 10 interceptions.

In Green’s debut with Marshall, he ranked third in program history for completions by a freshman QB, third in attempts, second in passing yards and tied for second in passing touchdowns.

Green will have four returning offensive linemen, receiver Obi Obialo and two running backs Tyler King and Brenden Knox at his disposal this season.

“Any time you play a freshman quarterback you’re going to go through growing pains and we did a year ago,” Holliday said. “He’s grown up.”

Marshall has holes to fill on defense but returns six starters from a unit that never allowed an individual 100-yard rusher. The Thundering Herd must replace their top three tacklers and are led by linebacker Omari Cobb and cornerback Chris Jackson.

“If you have an opportunity to win championships it’s going to start with great defense,” Holliday said. “There are holes to fill there and we have potential to make that happen. We’re going to turn all that potential into production and there’s no question defensively we’re going to do the same thing.”

WKU will visit Joan C. Edwards Stadium on Oct. 26. The Hilltoppers and Thundering Herd quickly developed a rivalry when the Hilltoppers won the first meeting as conference opponents 67-66 in overtime in Huntington, W.Va. It handed Marshall its first loss and marked WKU’s first win over an Associated Press Top 25 opponent. The teams have split four meetings since that game.

Marshall’s 20-17 win in Bowling Green last fall was one of WKU’s closest losses of the year. The Thundering Herd took the lead with less than two minutes left and Steven Duncan led a drive that ended with a fumble inside the red zone.

“We’ve always had extremely tough games against Western Kentucky,” Holliday said. “Tyson (Helton) is a talented young coach and a good coach. I’m sure he’ll get the program back where they expect it to be because they’ve got good players and he works extremely hard to make that happen. He’s a hell of a coach and I’ve got great respect for him.”

Marshall 2019 Schedule

8/31 – VMI

9/6 – at Boise State

9/14 – Ohio

9/28 – Cincinnati

10/5 – at Middle Tennessee

10/12 – Old Dominion

10/18 – at FAU

10/26 – WKU

11/2 – at Rice

11/15 – Louisiana Tech

11/23 – at Charlotte

11/30 – FIU