HUNTINGTON - Marshall enters its 10th game of the season perhaps a little hungrier than it was at this point in the forgettable 2007 season.

Thundering Herd players are a bit irritated, and with good reason - a missed kick here, a foot or two there and Marshall could be 5-0 in Conference USA and 6-3 overall.

But the Herd is 4-5 overall, 3-2 in league play. So close, but yet so far.

As Marshall prepares for its homecoming game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday against Central Florida, it has to put its 19-16 overtime loss to East Carolina in the rear-view mirror. Even for the veterans, it's not easy.

"It's a little harder," said right guard Matt Altobello. "The game was on replay and I watched it this morning. You know, it kind of made me sick to my stomach, but you've just got to take it and make what you did correct, and fix your mistakes and go on to the next game."

There were the missed kicks, a 26-yard field goal and an extra-point that clanked off an upright. Those were by Craig Ratanamorn, and backup Tyler Warner pushed a 42-yard field goal in overtime to open the door for the Pirates.

But there were other "inch here, inch there" opportunities. Take the first play of Marshall's overtime possession, the much-debated "double pass" call.

As Herd players will point out, it nearly worked. One purple-shirted defender, end Zach Slate, stayed home to break up the pass from receiver Bryant Milligan back to quarterback Mark Cann. The other 10 Pirates were chasing Milligan.

Cann said Milligan made a good enough throw, and the play was executed as it has been practiced.

"We were an inch or two away from having that one," Cann said. "Some people may second-guess that call, but I feel like it was an inch or two away. It was close.

"The defensive end fell back off; he made a great play."

The Herd's next two scrimmage plays were breakdowns in execution. Chubb Small let a perfect pass squirt through his arms, turning a third-and-3 into a third-and-10. And then the offensive line, which still leads the league in fewest sacks allowed, permitted Slate to hit Cann and disrupt the third-down throw.

As that series illustrates, it isn't just the kicking game that stands in the way of a dream season. An inch here, a missed assignment there ...

"It's a little irritating, but there's stuff that everybody can do," Altobello said. "You can't pinpoint one thing on one person, saying kicking game or anything like that. We can go around and there's stuff everybody can fix and everybody can change.

"Things could be different, but we're 3-2 going into the next game, and we have to have a win."

On Monday, ECU defensive back Emanuel Davis and kicker Ben Hartman were named C-USA players of the week on defense and special teams, respectively. They were the second and third players to be honored at the Herd's expense, with Alabama-Birmingham linebacker Joe Henderson being the other.

Davis had two interceptions and tied a career high with six tackles. Hartman kicked four field goals, including a 51-yarder and the game-winner from 27.

As one would expect, Pirates coach Skip Holtz was exuberant after the victory. In his press conference Monday, he heaped praise on his defense, which has suffered the brunt of the team's injuries.

"Outside of two big pass plays, I think our defense played one of its best games of the entire season," Holtz said. "I thought they did just a great job of keeping the ball in front of them and keeping contain, outside of the one touchdown pass [34 yards to Cody Slate] and the deep ball from when Marshall was backed up deep in their own end [a 51-yard bomb to Darius Passmore] where we just had a mistake."

The Pirates suffered another season-ending injury when receiver T.J. Lee broke his leg on a kickoff return. Lee had a game-turning blocked punt in the season-opening win at Virginia Tech.

Reach Doug Smock at 348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.