HUNTINGTON - The worst fears for Cody Slate, the most accomplished tight end in Marshall history, were realized Tuesday: His college career is over.

"Cody does have [a torn anterior cruciate ligament], so he is out for the year," MU coach Mark Snyder confirmed Tuesday. "And he's such a great kid, such a great leader. He told his mom yesterday, 'You know, I'm a captain of this team, I'm going to stick around for this team, see this thing through.' His fortitude has been unbelievable."

Slate finishes his Marshall career with 199 receptions for 2,619 yards and 23 touchdowns, tops among all Thundering Herd tight ends. But he will be reduced to a coaching role of sorts when the Herd takes on Southern Methodist at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

So as it was with the final three-plus quarters against Southern Mississippi, the Herd will have Lee Smith as its marquee tight end, with redshirt freshman Jamie Hatten serving at the No. 2.

The challenge for both of them is to be able to replicate the two-tight-end sets the Herd was using with Slate and Smith. Smith seemed to be up to the challenge immediately, catching six passes for 77 yards.

"The main thing I have to do is make sure we can stay with our offense," Smith said Saturday. "That's been pretty successful all year. We can't let our offense change because Cody went down. He's irreplaceable, but I'm going to do my best to allow us to stay with our offense, keep [quarterback] Brian [Anderson] in his comfort zone, run the same offense we've run all year, so we can be successful and win these last two games."

"A few times when Cody was out at practice we would put a [true freshman] named Billy Mitchell that we threw in there every now and then at Cody's spot and Lee looks at me and says, 'Don't even think about it!' " Snyder said. "He has been waiting for his turn. I think he did a good job stepping in. He is a  big target with nice soft hands and he can run people over."

But Smith did come to Huntington with high expectations, being a 6-foot-6 man-child who started his career at Tennessee. Hatten wasn't as highly touted, though he is growing into the role physically at 6-5, 231.

But Hatten, with a 4.0 grade-point average in biology, was prepared for his sudden change in fate.

"Coaches always tell me I'm one play away from playing 50 plays a game," he said. "When [Slate] went down, it wasn't like we were panicking. I've had to learn both roles, Cody's and Lee's. When I went in, we were ready."

HUNTINGTON - The worst fears for Cody Slate, the most accomplished tight end in Marshall history, were realized Tuesday: His college career is over.

"Cody does have [a torn anterior cruciate ligament], so he is out for the year," MU coach Mark Snyder confirmed Tuesday. "And he's such a great kid, such a great leader. He told his mom yesterday, 'You know, I'm a captain of this team, I'm going to stick around for this team, see this thing through.' His fortitude has been unbelievable."

Slate finishes his Marshall career with 199 receptions for 2,619 yards and 23 touchdowns, tops among all Thundering Herd tight ends. But he will be reduced to a coaching role of sorts when the Herd takes on Southern Methodist at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

So as it was with the final three-plus quarters against Southern Mississippi, the Herd will have Lee Smith as its marquee tight end, with redshirt freshman Jamie Hatten serving at the No. 2.

The challenge for both of them is to be able to replicate the two-tight-end sets the Herd was using with Slate and Smith. Smith seemed to be up to the challenge immediately, catching six passes for 77 yards.

"The main thing I have to do is make sure we can stay with our offense," Smith said Saturday. "That's been pretty successful all year. We can't let our offense change because Cody went down. He's irreplaceable, but I'm going to do my best to allow us to stay with our offense, keep [quarterback] Brian [Anderson] in his comfort zone, run the same offense we've run all year, so we can be successful and win these last two games."

"A few times when Cody was out at practice we would put a [true freshman] named Billy Mitchell that we threw in there every now and then at Cody's spot and Lee looks at me and says, 'Don't even think about it!' " Snyder said. "He has been waiting for his turn. I think he did a good job stepping in. He is a  big target with nice soft hands and he can run people over."

But Smith did come to Huntington with high expectations, being a 6-foot-6 man-child who started his career at Tennessee. Hatten wasn't as highly touted, though he is growing into the role physically at 6-5, 231.

But Hatten, with a 4.0 grade-point average in biology, was prepared for his sudden change in fate.

"Coaches always tell me I'm one play away from playing 50 plays a game," he said. "When [Slate] went down, it wasn't like we were panicking. I've had to learn both roles, Cody's and Lee's. When I went in, we were ready."

At his weekly press conference Tuesday, Snyder told of his team's desire to gain that elusive sixth victory, one that eluded the Herd in close losses to Central Florida and Southern Miss.

With a long trip to El Paso, Texas, to finish the season, the Herd might want to take care of its bowl eligibility at home this week. A sixth win does not guarantee a bowl, but the way the Conference USA schedule falls, six C-USA teams are expected to be eligible - filling the five contracted bowls and Army's spot in the EagleBank Bowl in Washington.

Marshall remains a popular pick to fill that spot, perhaps against a Mid-American Conference team. The Atlantic Coast Conference is very doubtful for filling the EagleBank Bowl with a No. 8 team.

(As an aside, an EagleBank Bowl official said this week that if Army cannot fill its spot - the Black Knights are 4-6 with games left against North Texas and Navy - the bowl slot goes straight to Conference USA, and not to seven-win teams from the national at-large pool.)

Snyder said he wasn't sure what a bowl appearance would do for a certainly fractured Marshall fan base, but he knows it would do wonders for his program's morale.

"I would like to not be home for Christmas again, as weird as that sounds," Snyder said. "I just don't like being home for Christmas. It was OK the first year [at Marshall, 2005] because I hadn't been home for Christmas in a long time. But it wears on you. My kids want a Christmas tree in a hotel room somewhere because that was how they were brought up. I want to be at a bowl game."

The extra month of practice would also be welcome, particularly with the Dec. 29 date of the Washington bowl.

"We would laugh about that extra month. When I was in I-AA [at Youngstown State], we would get an extra month, but we were actually playing competition," Snyder said. "That extra month of practice helps tremendously. When you start that next year ... That is where you see the improvement because you are already ahead of the curve.

"You don't start with the first three or four games feeling your way through. You know exactly where you are at. When I look at a Southern Miss, or an East Carolina, they have had an extra month in the past couple of years that we haven't had. All things being relative, we have played a lot of close games and have had an opportunity to win them. Would that extra month have made the outcome different? I don't know."     

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.