Old Dominion vs. Marshall Final Score: Thundering Herd Move to 5-0 with 56-14 Rout of Monarchs

Let's look at the positive for the Old Dominion Monarchs in their 56-14 loss to the Marshall Thundering Herd: they didn't get shut out.

The reality, of course, was that it was no contest from the start.

It was another clear message sent to the rest of the league by Marshall that they're certainly the team to beat in Conference USA. The Herd raced out to a 28-0 first quarter lead on three touchdown runs (two by Devon Johnson, one by Remi Watson) and a blocked punt recovered by Raheim Huskey for a score. Taylor Heinicke hit Zach Pascal for a 21-yard score, but that was all they'd get until the 4th quarter with the Herd's backups in as Marshall rattled off the next 28 points to open up a 56-7 cushion after 45 minutes.

Rakeem Cato didn't put up huge numbers by any stretch of the imagination (18 for 23, 198 yards, two touchdowns). He didn't need to as Johnson (19 for 191) and Watson (13 for 102) combined for 293 rushing yards and a pair of scores each as the senior QB was lifted after three quarters with the contest well in hand.

The Monarchs' defense, meanwhile, was lit up once more. They allowed 354 yards on the ground and a total of 591 offensive yards. In their last two games combined, they've allowed a total of 97 points, 1,130 yards of offense, and 634 rushing yards. Heinicke, just 10 of 25 for 85 yards and a touchdown, was barely a factor in this one.

ODU's next game is under the lights at UTEP next week (8pm ET). Marshall hosts Middle Tennessee a week from today at noon.