Marshall’s win comes 50 years after crash

Redshirt freshman Grant Wells threw a season-high five touchdown passes, and No. 16 Marshall commemorated the 50th anniversary of the worst disaster in U.S. sports history during a 42-14 victory over Middle Tennessee on Saturday.

Marshall (7-0, 4-0 Conference USA) got another standout performance from its defense and turned three turnovers into scores on a day when the university and surrounding community remembered 75 people killed in a Nov. 14, 1970, plane crash.

Host Marshall wore special black uniforms and the No. 75 on its helmets to honor those who were lost, which included most of the Thundering Herd football team. The crash occurred as the team’s plane was returning from a game at East Carolina. There were no survivors.

Wells grew up 50 miles away in Charleston, West Virginia, and learned about the Marshall tragedy as a young child. He said this week that playing in the crash’s silver anniversary game was going to be surreal.

After several early overthrows, Wells found his groove, and Marshall kept the momentum for good. Wells finished 25 of 37 for 336 yards, all season highs. Twoof his TD passes each went to Corey Gammage and Willie Johnson.

Middle Tennessee (2-6, 2-4) couldn’t do much against the nation’s top rush defense. Quarterback Asher O’Hara, whose 476 rushing yards entering the game were the third most for a quarterback nationally, was limited to 39 yards on 11 carries. He ran for a score, threw for another and completed 29 of 44 passes for 241 yards.

(At) No. 22 Liberty 58, Western Carolina 14: Malik Willis threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two more scores, leading No. 22 Liberty over Western Carolina.

Liberty (8- 0) won its 10th straight game and remained second behind Notre Dame for the nation’s longest active winning streak. Playing their first game of the season, the Catamounts (0-1) trailed 14-7 early in the second quarter. Liberty then scored four straight touchdowns in the next 14 minutes.

Willis completed 14 of 19 passes with touch down strikes of 44, 40 and 83 yards. He scored on runs of 11 and 43 yards and rushed for 97 yards on eight carries.

Willis has accounted for 16 touchdowns in the past three games, including 12 in the air. He threw for just three TDs in the Flames’ first five games.

(At) Louisiana-Lafayette 38, South Alabama 10: Levi Lewis passed for 252 yards and three touchdowns, Louisiana-Lafayette gained 254 yards on the ground and the No. 25 Ragin’ Cajuns clinched a third straight Sun Belt Conference West Division title with a victory over South Alabama.

Lewis tossed TD passes of 5 yards to J al en Williams and 3 yards to Errol Rogers. He also hit running back Trey Ragas for a 25-yard score on a fourth-down conversion, with Ragas narrowly staying inside the left sideline to put the game away in the fourth quarter.

Chris Smith and Elijah Mitchell each had touchdowns rushing for Louisiana-Lafayette (7-1, 5-1 Sun Belt), which haswon four straight since its only loss on a last-second field goal to No. 15 Coastal Carolina.

South Alabama’ s Desmond Trotter was limited to 15- of -28 passing for 133 yards and one touch down for South Alabama (3-5,2-3).

Late Friday

(At) No. 7 Cincinnati 55, East

Carolina 17: Desmond Ridder had another big game, and Cincinnati’s defense got some revenge. Ridder threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score to help No. 7 Cincinnati rout East Carolina.

Cincinnati (7-0, 5-0 American Athletic) extended its school-record home winning streak to 19 games, the fourth-longest streak among FBS schools, and kept its hopes alive for a College Football Playoff berth.

Ridder has accounted for 17 touchdowns in the past four games, including nine rushing.

ECU (1-6, 1-5) had 293 total yards, more than 100 below its season average.