We are...Marshall

Maybe it's the brain damage incurred the last few days in New Orleans, maybe it's the spell that dreamy Matthew McConaughey has cast on me (yes, I did just link to perezhilton.com), but for some reason I feel like throwing some love this morning the way of the Marshall Thundering Herd...

Chad Pennington - James Chadwick Pennington (seriously, that's his name) is of course the starting QB for the New York Jets, and despite having a throwing shoulder held together by paper mache and silly string, he has been an efficient and effective NFL QB, after being a superstar at Marshall (by my fuzzy math he's 26-20 in the regular season and 2-2 in the postseason). Pennington's emergence (along with the fellas below) helped put the MAC Conference on the map in the late 1990s. He won three MAC titles while at Marshall, and his 123 TDs and 14,098 passing yards established school career records. While at Marshall, Pennington threw quite a few TDs to a guy further down the page, and actually finished 5th in the 1999 Heisman Trophy voting. Along with new head coach Eric Mangini, Pennington has led a 2006 Jet-aissance, capped by last week's 17-14 win over New England which puts the Jets at 5-4, only a game back of the AFC-East leading Patriots (6-3, and a split against the Jets). That loss to the Browns going into the bye continues to kill me, though it looks like Cleveland isn't as terrible as once thought. Man, if the Jets could ever upset the Bears in the Meadowlands this weekend...

Byron Leftwich - Big Boi Byron (his middle name is Anton...what's up with these Marshall QBs?) is probably best remembered for being carried down the field by his offensive lineman in that Akron game in 2002 after breaking his shin...but there's also that epic 64-61 GMAC Bowl comeback win over East Carolina (they were down 30), in which Leftwich threw for 576 yards and 4 TDs (he also rushed for a TD). He's second to Pennington in most of the major school passing categories. Though Jacksonville head coach Jack Del Rio recently replaced Leftwich as the starter with David "Don't Call Me Jean-Luc" Garrad, Garrad's four picks last week against the woeful Texans might have Byron starting again soon. Leftwich is a D.C. native, and if Jacksonville truly doesn't want him, I'll throw this possibility out there - Danny Snyder will try to bring in Leftwich in two years if the Jason Campbell era turns out to be a major disaster for the Redskins.

Randy Moss - Ah yes, how can we forget Randy...even though he has faded to Bolivia in Oakland the last two years. But don't worry, this week's Moss outburst will certainly put him back on the front page (that is, as long as the media can let the Bobby Knight story go...settle down fellas, it's not like Knight choked a guy or anything). After catching 26 TD passes from Chaz Sexington in 1997 (at that time an NCAA single-season record), Moss was 4th in Heisman voting (that's the year Swint's boy Charles Woodson took home the trophy). Moss finished up his career at Marshall (only two seasons) first in TD receptions (53), third in receptions (174) and second in yards (3,529 yards). Oh yeah, back to his big mouth - the other day Moss said he's dropping passes and struggling because he's feeling down. "Maybe because I'm unhappy, and I'm not too much excited about what's going on, so my concentration and focus level tends to go down when I'm in a bad mood. So all I can say is, if you put me in a good situation and make me happy, man, you get good results." Yep, Randy Moss, continuing to define class and professionalism.

Billy Crystal - I had absolutely no idea Billy Crystal went to Marshall. It's a crying shame he didn't go down in that plane crash. Then he and Jack Palance could write City Slickers 3 while traipsing around hell.