Tonight in Huntington, West Virginia, the Bulldogs square off in a battle of East vs. West as they take on the Marshall Thundering Herd. Each week, I'll take a look at the opponent and offer some last second advice on how to win the game. Hopefully the coaches are reading!

1) Slow down Brenden Knox

Marshall was probably hoping to get a bit more than they have out of their sophomore quarterback Isaiah Green. But they've gotten more than they bargained for with their redshirt sophomore tailback Brenden Knox. He's racked up 933 yards on 164 carries, which puts him at 5.7 yards per carry (44th in FBS). The key to slowing Marshall's offense, which focuses on running the football and using RPOs to keep defenses honest, is to stop Knox from controlling the game. In Marshall's three losses (to Boise State, Cincinnati, and MTSU), Knox was held to 71, 49, and 99 yards. Meanwhile, when Marshall beat FAU last month, he ran for 220 yards and two scores against a run defense that's statisically the same as Tech's. The Owls have allowed only 2.6 more yards per game than the Bulldogs on the ground in 2019, and that's WITH Knox's 220 yard game. If Tech wants to win, they'll have to keep #20 bottled up.

2) Take advantage of Marshall's aggressive defense

Marshall's pass defense is not the strength of the team. The Herd's 237 yards per game ranks 80th nationally. To try to help cover this weakness they dial up a lot of pressure with linebackers. They've been successful thus far, generating 32 sacks (3.56 per game). Unfortunately for Tech, Marshall has an undersized, speed-based defensive line. Their best pass rusher is a 238(!!!) lb defensive end named Darius Hodge. He's got 7 sacks, and uses his speed around the edge to create pressure. To beat Marshall's defense, J'Mar will have to find the open man quickly. Skip will need to keep the Herd guessing with RPOs, play action, and quick screen passes to beat the pressure.

3) Contain the big guys in the passing game

It's safe to say that most C-USA teams don't line up in three tight-end sets very often. In fact, until recently I didn't know it was legal to even have a tight end in our league! But Marshall is revolutionizing the use of tight ends in a C-USA offense. Two of Green's top three targets this year are TEs in Armani Levias (39 catches, 442 yds, 3 TDs) and Xavier Gaines (23 catches, 276 yds, 2 TDs). That's not something Tech sees every day, so it will be imperative for Diaco and the gang to have a plan to deal with the mismatches that tight ends create. Also, a fun tidbit, Xavier Gaines sometimes lines up at QB in a wildcat type formation, so be on the lookout for that as well!

Evan is also a contributor for gtpdd.dog, a lighthearted Louisiana Tech blog. Be sure to follow @gotechplsdntdie on Twitter for more!