Central Florida took advantage of 'soft' play from Herd in 47-13 rout

ORLANDO, Fla. - Mark Snyder prefers certain things being soft.

His ice cream, for instance, not to mention his mashed potatoes.And, of course, his butterfly kisses from his daughters.

But there's one thing that Marshall's head football coachabsolutely, positively can't stand being soft - his players.

That's what happened here Saturday when Marshall (1-8, 1-4Conference USA) suffered an embarrassing 47-13 loss to CentralFlorida (6-3, 4-1) in front of 46,103 fans at Bright House NetworksStadium.

"Uh, huh, it did," said Snyder during his post-game pressconference. "I just know this: they played more physically than wedid ... a lot more physically.

"We are not going to play soft football around here."

The Herd certainly played soft football around here Saturday,particularly in the offensive line. Marshall's offensive front waswhipped thoroughly all day by UCF.

"We got beat up front," Snyder said. "They kicked our butt upfront in the trenches - both sides of the ball."

The offensive line didn't appear to be able either to pass or runblock.

"I think that's a fair statement," the Herd coach said.

Besides yielding a season-high seven sacks, MU's offensive linealso produced only 88 yards rushing on 26 attempts. What was worse,45 of those 88 yards were on one, freak, 45-yard touchdown run byChubb Small.

"We found a little kink in their defense," said Small of thefourth-quarter burst. "It was just the right play at the right time.Their defensive front and linebackers had been keying us all game... it just happened. It was just one little kink that one time. Andit just happened."

But that one lucky play was about it for the game in the runninggame.

Otherwise, UCF's defense was logging a season-high seven sacksand allowing a season-low 13 points.

"We couldn't run the ball and we couldn't pass protect," Snydersaid. "That's not a good combination."

Not being able to mount any semblance of a rushing attack wasespecially significant.

"That was a major factor in today's game," said quarterbackBernard Morris, who completed 18-of-31 passes for 239 yards besidesrushing for 40 yards on a team-high 13 attempts.

"Once those guys got up 17-0, we had to pass. And once you get inthat pass mode it's kind of hard because those guys are just goingto sit back in coverage ... the clock is on their side. I missed afew throws and those guys didn't catch everything.

"As a team, we didn't play to our full ability today. UCF tookadvantage of all our mistakes."

Morris was sacked six times and, then, third-string quarterbackWesley Beardain also suffered a sack late in the game. The finalsack especially bothered Snyder.

"That was our No. 1 offensive line in against their No. 2defensive line," he said, "because we didn't take the No. 1offensive line out. We need all the work we can get."

But can you work on not playing soft?

"Yes, but you have to be blessed with some attributes, too,"Snyder said. "Yeah, a bunch of it is mental. But you have to beblessed with some strength and some want-to ... there's a lot moreinvolved to it, but a lot of it is heart and want to. And I think alot of it is philosophy, too.

"I mean, a lot of that is philosophical."

The disturbing part for Snyder is playing soft is a completecontradiction to his personality.

"It's not who I am," he said emphatically. "That's just what Itold my team. That's not who we're going to be here. That's not whowe're going to be."

It seemed to stick in his craw like hard, lumpy mashed potatoes.

"It hurts really bad," said Snyder. "That hurts as much as theloss."