Marshall spent 2025 relearning how to win football games. UL Monroe has spent the better part of a decade never figuring it out at all, and that gap should show up big on the scoreboard.
Bush’s Picks
MRSHULM
MRSHULM
OverUnder
Best BetMarshall
Marshall's talent gap here is real even accounting for last year's rebuild — Del Rio-Wilson is a proven Sun Belt playmaker and ULM is still hunting its first winning season since 2012. Back the Herd to win outright; this profile screams heavy favorite once lines actually post.
Marshall
+Del Rio-Wilson reigning Sun Belt Preseason Offensive Player of Year
+Program won Sun Belt title as recently as 2024
+Facing a West team with no winning season since 2012
−Offensive line largely rebuilt via portal, unproven
+Key linemen and injury returnees add some continuity
+Nothing to lose — pure rebuild-year expectations
This one closes out the regular season on Friday, November 27, and by then we'll know a lot more about where both programs actually stand. Marshall opens 2026 at Penn State and leans on quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, the reigning Sun Belt Preseason Offensive Player of the Year after posting 2,704 total yards and a 151.8 QB rating a season ago. ULM, meanwhile, is banking on offensive coordinator Jesse Montalto unlocking more out of Aidan Armenta after a 2025 that produced just 3 wins.
Marshall's 2025 was a gut check. Tony Gibson took over after Charles Huff bolted for Southern Miss following the Herd's 2024 Sun Belt title, and the portal exodus that followed left Gibson scrambling just to field a roster. The result was a 5-7 finish, a 3-5 Sun Belt mark, and a four-of-five losing skid to close the year that included a 44-27 blowout loss at Coastal Carolina — the program's most lopsided Sun Belt defeat. Marshall was actually one win from bowl eligibility with two games left and blew it. That context matters heading into a rematch with a West Division team the Herd should be favored against.
Show fees
11:00 PM CT
Spread
ML
Total
MRSH Marshall
ULM UL Monroe
ULM's story is even bleaker. Bryant Vincent is 8-16 in his 3 seasons running the program, and the Warhawks haven't posted a winning season since 2012 — 39 years into their FBS tenure with only 3 winning campaigns total. Last season ended with a 3-9 record and a brutal 1-7 mark in conference play, capped by an overtime loss at Louisiana to close things out. The 2026 hope in Monroe is modest: snap the bowl drought, or at minimum avoid a fourth-straight sub-.500 slide.
Marshall Thundering Herd
Nov 20?vs Georgia State—
Nov 13?vs App State—
Nov 6?@ Georgia Southern—
Oct 30?@ Old Dominion—
Oct 20?vs South Alabama—
Oct 9?vs Coastal Carolina—
Oct 2?@ James Madison—
Sep 26?vs Gardner-Webb—
Sep 19?@ Missouri State—
Sep 12?vs Middle Tennessee—
Sep 5?@ Penn State—
UL Monroe Warhawks
Nov 20?@ App State—
Nov 12?vs Louisiana—
Nov 7?@ Arkansas State—
Oct 30?vs Southern Miss—
Oct 16?vs Louisiana Tech—
Oct 2?@ South Alabama—
Sep 25?vs Florida Atlantic—
Sep 19?vs SE Louisiana—
Sep 12?@ UAB—
Sep 5?@ Mississippi State—
Recent form.
Marshall's roster overhaul continues this offseason with names like Jamarion Wilcox and Josiah McLaurin stepping in at running back after Antwan Roberts left for Arizona, and West Virginia transfers Robby Martin and Xavier Bausley joining a patched-together offensive line. It's still very much a work in progress, but with Del Rio-Wilson back and healthier depth than last year's skeleton crew, Marshall enters the West Division slate as the clearly more talented team on paper.
Marshall Thundering Herd
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
UL Monroe Warhawks
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
ULM does have a few building blocks — senior linebacker Noah Flemmings anchors the defense, and returning linemen David Applewhite and Drew Hutchinson give some continuity up front, with Roscoe Tucker and Reese Steele also expected back from injury. But rebuilding a roster that's lost 4 straight non-winning seasons doesn't happen in one offseason, and there's little in ULM's recent history to suggest a jump against a Marshall team that, even in a down year, still finished with more than double the Warhawks' win total.
