FAU-Marshall at a glance

When: Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Where: Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Huntington, W.Va. TV: Stadium; Radio: 640-AM Weather: 53 degrees, cloudy (20% chance of precipitation) Online: Coverage at SunSentinel.com/fau ; @ khobi_price on Twitter Odds: The Thundering Herd are favored by 16 ½ points. Stadium safety protocols: Marshall is limiting attendance to season ticket holders, students, players’ families and visiting fans, with a limited number of single-game tickets being sold. The Charleston Gazette-Mail estimated the school is allowing around 13,000 spectators, with an announced attendance of 12,050 at the Thundering Herd’s last home game Sept. 19. Social-distancing protocols are in place inside the stadium. Tailgating won’t be allowed before games and face masks are required at all times inside the stadium. Quick slant: Saturday’s matchup will be a showdown between who were expected to be at the top of Conference USA’s East Division before the season started. Marshall was the only team in C-USA to beat FAU last season. About FAU (1-0, 1-0 C-USA): The Owls, who are coming off a bye week, will play their second game of the season. Their Oct. 10 matchup against Southern Miss was postponed after FAU had a COVID-19 outbreak. The Owls beat Charlotte 21-17 in their lone game of the season on Oct. 3, led by a strong defense that didn’t allow the 49ers to score in the middle two quarters and an efficient rushing attack. About Marshall (4-0, 2-0 C-USA): The Thundering Herd have had a dominant start to the season. They’ve won all four of their games by double digits, including a 35-17 victory against Louisiana Tech on Oct. 17. Marshall is third in the nation in points allowed per game (9.5). Three things to watch 1. FAU didn’t commit a turnover against Charlotte and it’ll have to continue to be stingy with the ball against a Marshall team that’s recorded two takeaways per game, which is tied for 10th in the nation. 2. Marshall doesn’t allow many chunk plays. The Thundering Herd only concede 6.6 yards per pass and 2.3 yards per rushing attempt. FAU will have to take advantage of the short plays Marshall will allow while taking advantage of the occasional shot down the field. 3. The Owls will need a strong tackling performance against Marshall redshirt junior running back Brenden Knox, who ran for a career-high 220 yards and two touchdowns on 23 attempts against FAU last season.