HUNTINGTON, WV – Morgan State's defense recorded a turnover on Marshall's opening drive and forced the Herd to trot out their punt team during their second drive of the game.
 
However, the Herd had other thoughts in mind as they picked up a first on a punt fake and proceeded to march down the field on their Baltimore opponents.
 
Chase Litton tossed a 21-yard strike to Michael Clark for what became just the beginning of a 62-0 lopsided Marshall win over Morgan State Saturday in front of an opening day crowd of 26,488.
 
Litton went 13 for 16 and threw for 309 yards and six touchdowns – in just first half. Michael Clark had 56 yards and two touchdowns, while Deon-Tay McManus, Emanuel Byrd, Justin Hunt, and Ryan Yuracheck each caught one.  Tony Pittman added 68 yards on the ground and scored a TD for the Herd, who posted a total of 530 yards.
 
"It's definitely disappointing when you don't score any points and you turn the ball over like we did," said MSU interim head coach Fred Farrier. "I feel like looking back, I have to do a better job of preparing the kids to play. Marshall is a good football team, but they are not a team we should lose 62-0."
 
George Davis added a fumble recovery for a 95-yard return for a touchdown. The Herd defense forced four Morgan State fumbles and recovered three.
 
"Too many turnovers and simple mistakes, which I have to do a better job of making sure the offense, defense, and special teams are ready to play," said Farrier. "The way we played today was unacceptable, I take the blame for it and we have to find a way to play better."

Marshall scored 21 points in the first and 28 in the second for a 49-0 lead at the half.
 
"They made some big plays, and they had players who made some really nice plays. For us, it's not just getting in position to make the play, but we have to get there and make the play when the opportunity is there to stop big plays like they had."

Marshall's defense harassed the Bears quarterbacks throughout the game and collected 10 quarterback hurries, nine tackles for loss and four sacks. Those statistics don't include at least another handful of big hits.

MSU's starting quarterback Chris Andrews lasted until halftime and finished the night just 6 of 17 passes for 84 yards. The Bears' true freshman backup DeAndre Harris played the entire second half. Harris threw for 91 yards on 9 for 16 passing, and was sacked three times.
 
By the end, Marshall handed the Bears its first shutout loss since dropping a 45-0 decision at North Carolina A&T on Nov. 8, 2014. 

"Our kids need to pull the trigger and trust the coaches and themselves better," Farrier said. "There are some things to build on, we have a bye week next and us as coaches will look at the film and build on this to prepare our team better."

Bear Bits
On Marshall's first drive, LB Damare Whitaker (9 tackles) forced a fumble by RB Hyleck Foster that LB Greg Gibson (game-high 12 tackles) scooped and returned before he was hit from behind and fumbled, but it was recovered by Whitaker at the Herd 37 with 13:24 remaining in the first quarter.

WR Thomas Martin led the Bears with 4 receptions for 72 yards; WR Ladarious Spearman had 4 catches for 37 yards

Alex Raya had a season-best 45-yard punt, inlcuding three punts inside the 20

LB William White recorded his first career sack and finished with four stops