HUNTINGTON - Marshall appears to be heading to a bowl game, but Army is complicating matters a bit.

The Thundering Herd (6-5, 4-3) became the sixth team in Conference USA to reach six victories, the minimum for attaining bowl eligibility. The league has five contracted bowl spots, and has a backup agreement for Army's spot in the Washington-based EagleBank Bowl, and the Texas Bowl.

The EagleBank has looked to be an open spot all along, but Army improved to 5-6 by beating North Texas. The Black Knights are underdogs against rival Navy, but here is a complication: That game isn't played until Dec. 12. If Marshall finishes 6-6, it faces the real possibility of waiting two weeks to see if it gets that bowl, or nothing.

Teams with seven or more wins will be placed before any 6-6 team, so it would help the Herd to win next week at 3-8 Texas-El Paso. But that is a long trip, UTEP has a dangerous offense and the Herd has never won in the state of Texas.

Three C-USA teams have hit the seven-win mark - Houston, East Carolina and Central Florida. Southern Mississippi was ahead 44-28 against Tulsa in its bid to become the fourth team. The game was delayed by lightning at press time.

If the result holds up, Tulsa would be 4-7 and therefore eliminated. Alabama-Birmingham lost to fall to 5-6, and plays UCF at home next weekend. With soft fan support, UAB would not be a good candidate at 6-6.

Southern Methodist fell to 6-5 with its loss to Marshall, but is expected to beat Tulane next weekend in Dallas. So it's very possible there could be six seven-win teams, still awaiting the Army-Navy game (or an at-large berth opening elsewhere).

"We're conditionally bowl eligible. To put it in concrete, we've got to win another game," said Herd coach Mark Snyder. "But we feel pretty good. We travel well. Anyway, it all will work out in the wash. Feels good to get over that hump, to be above .500."

Remember when Aaron Dobson was an odds-on favorite to redshirt?

No, really, he was, and the South Charleston High graduate remembers it well.

"I came in with expectations of being redshirted," he said. "Now that I'm playing, I'm glad I'm playing."

Fast-forward, through his unexpected playing time at Virginia Tech to now. He is not only playing as a true freshman, he is starting to win games. Arguably, he did that as much as anybody in the Herd's win over SMU.

He not only caught four passes for 127 yards, but those passes were critical. He scored two touchdowns and his other two receptions set up a touchdown and a field goal. So that is 24 of the Herd's 34 points.

Way back in August, nobody expected him to be the Herd's deep threat. Snyder expected it to happen in, oh, 2010 or 2011, but not now.

"I remember vividly being at his basketball game with my wife, watching my daughter cheer against his team," Snyder said. "And he took over the basketball game, and I looked at Beth and said, 'We're taking this guy.' Because he can leap, he's got tremendous hands, and you think someday this is going to be the guy you want at wide receiver.

HUNTINGTON - Marshall appears to be heading to a bowl game, but Army is complicating matters a bit.

The Thundering Herd (6-5, 4-3) became the sixth team in Conference USA to reach six victories, the minimum for attaining bowl eligibility. The league has five contracted bowl spots, and has a backup agreement for Army's spot in the Washington-based EagleBank Bowl, and the Texas Bowl.

The EagleBank has looked to be an open spot all along, but Army improved to 5-6 by beating North Texas. The Black Knights are underdogs against rival Navy, but here is a complication: That game isn't played until Dec. 12. If Marshall finishes 6-6, it faces the real possibility of waiting two weeks to see if it gets that bowl, or nothing.

Teams with seven or more wins will be placed before any 6-6 team, so it would help the Herd to win next week at 3-8 Texas-El Paso. But that is a long trip, UTEP has a dangerous offense and the Herd has never won in the state of Texas.

Three C-USA teams have hit the seven-win mark - Houston, East Carolina and Central Florida. Southern Mississippi was ahead 44-28 against Tulsa in its bid to become the fourth team. The game was delayed by lightning at press time.

If the result holds up, Tulsa would be 4-7 and therefore eliminated. Alabama-Birmingham lost to fall to 5-6, and plays UCF at home next weekend. With soft fan support, UAB would not be a good candidate at 6-6.

Southern Methodist fell to 6-5 with its loss to Marshall, but is expected to beat Tulane next weekend in Dallas. So it's very possible there could be six seven-win teams, still awaiting the Army-Navy game (or an at-large berth opening elsewhere).

"We're conditionally bowl eligible. To put it in concrete, we've got to win another game," said Herd coach Mark Snyder. "But we feel pretty good. We travel well. Anyway, it all will work out in the wash. Feels good to get over that hump, to be above .500."

Remember when Aaron Dobson was an odds-on favorite to redshirt?

No, really, he was, and the South Charleston High graduate remembers it well.

"I came in with expectations of being redshirted," he said. "Now that I'm playing, I'm glad I'm playing."

Fast-forward, through his unexpected playing time at Virginia Tech to now. He is not only playing as a true freshman, he is starting to win games. Arguably, he did that as much as anybody in the Herd's win over SMU.

He not only caught four passes for 127 yards, but those passes were critical. He scored two touchdowns and his other two receptions set up a touchdown and a field goal. So that is 24 of the Herd's 34 points.

Way back in August, nobody expected him to be the Herd's deep threat. Snyder expected it to happen in, oh, 2010 or 2011, but not now.

"I remember vividly being at his basketball game with my wife, watching my daughter cheer against his team," Snyder said. "And he took over the basketball game, and I looked at Beth and said, 'We're taking this guy.' Because he can leap, he's got tremendous hands, and you think someday this is going to be the guy you want at wide receiver.

"Did you ever expect he'd do it as a freshman? No. Someday, did you think he would do that someday? Yes, watching hoops. There's no question about it. He's developed a lot faster than anybody would think, because he's a great kid, he takes coaching, he's got a great family, he doesn't get too high or too low. With the receivers we've had going down this season, I'm glad he and Antavious [Wilson] have stepped up."

Horrifying stat of the day: Marshall committed a whopping 15 penalties for 144 yards. Perhaps even worse: Six of those fouls came on special teams.

Several came on returns, putting the Herd in difficult field position. Others were even more costly - Brandon Campbell's false start killed a play in which Craig Ratanamorn kicked a 31-yard field goal. When Ratanamorn lined up a 36-yarder from the left hash, he missed.

Darius Marshall dressed and went through full warm-ups, even splitting repetitions in the walk-through segments. But coaches decided to hold him out with his high ankle sprain, banking on Martin Ward and Terrell Edwards-Maye to ably carry the load.

The younger backs didn't do too poorly, becoming the first tandem to top 100 yards apiece against a Bowl Subdivision opponent since Earl Charles and Butchie Wallace did it in 2003 against Ohio. Ward had 136 yards on 25 carries, while Edwards-Maye had 113 yards on 22 attempts.

That was a sharp contrast to the season opener, when the pair gained just 82 yards on 29 carries combined while Marshall was suspended.

Briefly

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