Marshall running back A.J. Turner accounted for 207 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns and the Thundering Herd defense bowed its back late in the game to earn a 35-20 win over Georgia State in front of 20,703 fans at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
With the win, Marshall moved to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the Sun Belt Conference.
"They just bought in to what they built and believed in the process we built this summer," Marshall head coach Charles Huff said. "We said adversity was going to show up and when adversity shows up, obviously, it's not something you want, but what it does is give you an opportunity to respond. The character of a man or team is not shown in times of comfort or pleasure; it's shown in times of challenge and adversity. The players executed today and it was a really good job by all of them."
Turner capped his big day with the exclamation mark of the win – an 88-yard touchdown run in which he got good blocking, found a seam and out-raced the Georgia State secondary to the end zone.
The 88-yard run tied for the sixth-longest run in Marshall history and capped a 177-yard rushing performance for the Sun Belt's rushing leader, who now has 717 rushing yards on the season and is averaging more than 10 yards a carry.
"My O-Line, I couldn't have done it without them," Turner said. "They put me in the best position to be successful. I believe I've got one of the best O-Lines in the country."
Marshall's offensive line did not allow a sack and led the way for a 295-yard rushing performance.
Turner's big run came after Marshall's defense stood tall in the face of adversity with Georgia State looking to potentially tie up a one-score game in the fourth.
With the Panthers inside the Marshall 10-yard line, J.J. Roberts got a sack to force a third-and-long before the secondary did its job with Jacobie Henderson's fourth-down pass breakup turning the ball back over to the Herd.
Marshall jumped out to an 18-0 lead just one play into the second quarter, courtesy of a pair of Turner touchdowns and a 47-yard field goal by Rece Verhoff.
Turner's second touchdown run was of the highlight reel variety as he bounced off a tackle for loss, reversed field and got a big block from starting quarterback Braylon Braxton for a 23-yard score.
Braxton finished the game 11-of-20 for 132 yards with a touchdown – a 30-yard strike to Turner just before halftime that gave the Herd a 25-10 lead.
Defensively, Mike Green tied a career-high with 11 tackles while Roberts had 9 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, two pass breakups and the first sack of his career.
In addition to his 47-yard field goal, Verhoff added a 49-yarder, giving him five field goals in the last two games with four coming from 40-plus yards.
Marshall is now off for 16 days before coming back to Joan C. Edwards Stadium for their next contest – a Nov. 2 matchup with ULM.
