Down by three touchdowns, Marshall coach Charles Huff turned to his backup quarterback.
But it wasn’t who fans thought it might be. Redshirt freshman Cole Pennington, not Rice transfer TJ McMahon, replaced starter Cam Fancher in the third quarter on Saturday against Coastal Carolina.
Citing overall health and general lack of execution, Huff made the change. A banged-up Fancher started the game but wasn’t effective after taking a couple of early hits, one that came late and another when he was caught from behind on a scramble.
Enter Pennington.
“Cam battled and got healthy this week, but we knew we maybe would have to go to (Pennington),” Huff said. “We stayed in his world, and it kind of minimizes it when you’re down 21 points, it would’ve been different if it was a three-point game, but what we were asking him to do, he had a good grasp of.”
On his first drive, Pennington led the Herd 60 yards down the field on 14 plays on a possession that chewed up more than five minutes of clock — the Herd’s longest offensive drive in each of those categories in the loss.
But that drive ended in a turnover on downs at the edge of the red zone after a fourth-and-1 was made five yards longer on a false start. After that, he threw two interceptions (one was tipped by DeMarcus Harris), fumbled once, and two of his drives ended in turnovers on downs.
“I think he did a pretty good job,” Harris said of Pennington. “He was making good reads in practice, driving the ball, and I think he played well.”
Given the circumstances, that’s likely a fair assumption. There were times when the right-handed Pennington was rolling to his left, forcing a cross-body throw, and trailing by three touchdowns isn’t the ideal spot to come in as a replacement.
Pennington went 12 of 23 on throws for 77 yards and a pair of interceptions. Fancher was 11 of 22 for 125 yards and also threw two picks in the 34-6 loss.
