ATHENS, Ohio - Marshall and Ohio do have a long football rivalry, but it is often about as heated as a "Words With Friends" game on a smartphone.
As the teams gear up for their third game in three years today, that seems to have changed a bit. The stakes seem a little higher for the 7 p.m. kickoff at Peden Stadium. The 55th edition of this 106-year-old rivalry will stream live on ESPN3.com.
All the ingredients have conspired to make this the most interesting MU-OU game in years, perhaps dating to the "winner take all" battle Marshall won in 1997. Consider these factors:
The game is being played at its earliest date since 1988, when Marshall was a top Division I-AA school and the Bobcats were generally dismal.
The Bobcats are undefeated at 2-0, and in one of their better eras under seventh-year coach Frank Solich. Alumni and "O-Zone" students have responded, nearly filling up the 24,000-seat stadium last weekend for the home opener.
Marshall is coming off a confidence-boosting Conference USA win over Southern Mississippi, and should bring a few thousand fans the roughly hour and a half north.
That likely will mean a full house. About 1,500 tickets remained Friday afternoon.
Once upon a time in this series, Marshall was the little brother trying to bop big brother on the nose and not doing it often - Ohio enjoyed a 20-4 run from 1954 through 1980.
That is a memory from the Stone Age. Nowadays, Marshall is the bigger boy who left Ohio's Mid-American Conference neighborhood for the greener pastures of C-USA, and is 12-2 in the series since 1985.
But Marshall has won the last two years by a combined five points, surviving a two-point conversion with no time left to take the 2010 game.
Some would consider the talent to be about even, with the Bobcats fielding a more veteran squad. The oddsmakers agree, favoring Ohio by the margin of home-field advantage.
And finally . . . these guys are enjoying hitting on each other. With familiarity, this is starting to be viewed as more than a game.
"We've tried over the last two weeks to make it a physical game," said Chris Rippon, MU's defensive coordinator. "Well, we don't have to try that anymore - they're going to do it to us. We're looking forward to that challenge."
The punching - not literally, one hopes - will establish the tone, as it often does. On one side, Ohio will put an offensive line with 110 career starts against a Marshall defensive front that has squelched the run against West Virginia and Southern Miss.
The Bobcats mix in some option, and go about 60-40 in favor of the run.
"That's something we take pride in, people not [running the ball]," said Herd linebacker Tyson Gale. "It's a man issue, a manhood thing. If a team can run the ball on you at will, that just takes your pride away. Every week we say we're going to stop the run, and it starts Tuesday, our hard-hitting day, and it's something we carry throughout the week.
"On Saturday, people aren't going to run the ball on us."
If Ohio struggles on the ground, third-game starting quarterback Tyler Tettleton will be tested by a Herd pass rush that unleashed itself for five sacks last weekend. Tettleton can escape, and he has receivers such as speedster LaVon Brazill and veteran Riley Dunlop to find downfield.
When those Bobcat receivers do get the ball, the Herd's mission is simple: Get them down.
"We've got a goal every week of single-digit missed tackles; we weren't quite there [last week] but we were close," said Herd coach Doc Holliday. "As long as you can tackle and keep from giving up big plays you've got a great shot, and that's what our defense is doing a pretty good job of doing that right now. We work extremely hard on tackling."
Expect Ohio's linebackers to tackle well, because that's what they've done in the 2009 and '10 Marshall games. They held the Herd to 96 yards rushing last year, and held New Mexico State to 6 yards on the ground in OU's season opener.
Marshall players are assuming Bobcats middle linebacker Noah Keller will return after missing last week with a pulled hamstring. Keller, returning on a medical redshirt, was a sideline-to-sideline thorn in the Herd's side in the 2009 bowl game.
"I think he could play anywhere in the country," Holliday said. "He looks kind of like Tyson [Gale]. He has 'it,' runs around and makes plays."
Holliday may say that about his freshman quarterback, Rakeem Cato, someday - maybe someday soon. For now, "The Beard" will get his third test in his second strange venue.
Then again, it's a strange venue for all the Herd players and coaches, save for director of football operations Mark Gale. The last time the Herd visited was 2004, when Johnathan Goddard found yet another way to score a defensive touchdown in a 16-13 win.
That was a later-season MAC game, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Tonight, the crowd could be a lot more festive than an electronic version of Scrabble.
If that's the case, Marshall had better mind its P's and Q's, lest the good feeling of the Southern Miss win fizzle.
"The great thing about last week is they see what the results are, and we've got to build on that," Holliday said. "We've got to prepare like that every week or we've got no chance."
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