HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Despite a 142-yard rushing performance from Darius Marshall, the Marshall offense was unable to overcome cold, sloppy weather in a 30-14 Conference USA loss to UCF on homecoming night at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

Marshall (4-6, 3-3 C-USA) must now win its two remaining games in order to achieve its goals of a potential postseason berth.

Darius Marshall led the Thundering Herd offense with 205 all-purpose yards. The sophomore from Milledgeville, Ga. Now has a career high 883 yards rushing on the season.

Quarterback Mark Cann had just 32 yards through the air and completed 4-of-17 passes, including a 15-yard touchdown to tight end Cody Slate. Brain Anderson entered the game in the fourth quarter and completed 3-of-12 passes for 52 yards. Slate led Marshall with 46 yards receiving and recorded his fifth consecutive contest with a touchdown reception.

Defensively, the Herd was stout all night, limiting UCF to just 242 yards, including a mere 29 yards of passing. Two of UCF's touchdowns came courtesy of Herd turnovers that set up the Knights deep in Marshall's territory. Mario Harvey continued his stellar play, leading Marshall with 14 tackles.

Special teams play was the story of the game. Both teams were able to capitalize on first-and-goal situations set up by muffed punts. UCF punter Blake Clingan converted two fourth down plays, rushing for a total of 21 yards.

Marshall was down 20-7 at the half but looked to be on the verge of a comeback when Cann completed his touchdown pass to Slate. However, the UCF defense and cold weather continued to befuddle Marshall's passing game and the Knights held on for the win.

The Herd will have its final road game of the season next Saturday as it travels to Houston to face Rice at 3:30 EST. The game will be televised on CBS College Sports.

GAME NOTES:

Homecoming Streak Snapped:
Marshall had its streak of 15 consecutive homecoming wins snapped. Marshall is now 56-42-8 all-time in homecoming games. The last time Marshall lost a homecoming game was in 1992 when it suffered a 37-34 loss to Appalachian State. The 15-game streak was the longest in school history.

UCF v. Marshall: Series Update:
UCF now leads the series 4-3. UCF won its fourth consecutive game against the Herd. The Knights have beaten Marshall in every season since the Herd joined Conference USA.

Winter Blues:
Marshall suffered its first Conference USA loss for Marshall in weather below 50 degrees. The Herd was 5-0 in such games coming into Saturday's contest.

Marshall Carries Herd:
Darius Marshall eclipsed 100 yards rushing for the sixth time this season. Marshall finished with 142 yards on 16 carries. Marshall now has a career-high 883 rushing yards on the season

Slate Continues Streak:
Cody Slate has now caught a touchdown pass in five consecutive games since rebounding from his injury. Slate caught a 15-yard scoring pass from Mark Cann with 9:50 left in the third quarter.

Passing Woes:
Saturday marked the first time that Marshall failed to pass for more than 100 yards since it totaled just 92 against Kansas State on Sept. 16, 2006. It was also the first time that Marshall held an opponent to less than 100 yards passing since the 2007 season opener at Miami. The 29 yards passing by UCF was the fewest by any Marshall opponent since Memphis had -3 against the Herd in 2005.

UCF head coach George O'Leary:

"I'm happy for our football team. I thought it was a solid win against a Marshall team that has been playing fairly consist this year. I'm happy for our players because we've had a tough season."

"Our nemesis of every game has been the second half. In eight games this year, six of the eight we're either leading or tied at the half and the others we were behind by three points. Today I thought the kids went out and played a full game making some plays when they needed to make them."

On defense:
"I thought they were very solid like they have been all year. They've been stingy on giving plays up. They weren't even on the field for that first touchdown but defensively they played well enough to win seven games if we could contribute offensively."

"We ran the ball today because it's what we had to do. Again, I think we had some good passes dropped for touchdowns but I thought the game plan going in was to control the ball as much as we could and keep Marshall off the field."

"I was concerned that we keep our sense of urgency and intensity in the second half. I wrote the word 'pride' on the board for finishing the season right."

Marshall head coach Mark Snyder:
"Two weeks in a row we've been anemic on offense and have had a couple of busts in special teams."
"We've brought a lot of it on ourselves; it's been self-inflicted. We're not making plays when we need to make plays."

On playing with a young team:
"It showed up a few times. It's shown up quite a bit all year but that's no excuse. Each week brings a new set of circumstances."

On bringing Anderson in:
"I was just trying to get a spark. There was really nothing to it, just trying to see if we could get a spark."

On Darius Marshall:
"He played well again today. Offensively he's a bright spot for us in the last couple weeks and also on special teams with his kick return ability."