HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Last week, the Marshall Thundering Herd left Virginia Tech an embarrassed team.

So it was the entire team that did something about it Saturday night.

The Herd offense used a strong ground game led by Darius Marshall and a clutch defense led by Albert McClellan as Marshall kept the Bowling Green high-powered offense in check and posted a 17-10 win over the Falcons.

“It was a good team win tonight. The defense and offense were feeding off each other. It felt really good,” said Marshall coach Mark Snyder.

Marshall finished with 21 carries for a career-high 186 yards including an 80-yard dash for the go-ahead touchdown. He also had a 72-yard run called back on a penalty midway through the fourth quarter.

Marshall’s 80-yard run came with 10:29 left in the fourth quarter and gave the Herd a 14-7 lead.

Defensive lineman Vinny Curry recovered a Sheehan fumble to set up a 31-yard field goal by Craig Ratanamorn that extended the Herd’s lead to 17-7 with 8:46 to play.

The first quarter was scoreless although the Herd moved the ball up and down the field but failed to capitalize on its opportunities.

The Falcons (1-2) took a 7-0 lead with 10:25 to play in the half when Tyler Sheehan hit Chris Wright with a 50-yard scoring strike.

The Herd (2-1) tied the game on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Brian Anderson to Antavious Wilson with 5:49 left in the third quarter. The play capped a 78-yard, 12-play drive.

Bowling Green got within 17-10 with 3:19 left on a 30-yard field goal by Jerry Phillips.

The Falcons drove to the Marshall 15-yard line with time running out, but linebacker Mario Harvey forced Sheehan to hurry a pass that was incomplete, then got a sack for an 11-yard loss.

A third down pass was incomplete as Sheehan was under heavy pressure again, and a fourth down pass was dropped with 1:47 to play.

“I’m so proud of my defense. Their backs were against the wall. They played lights out, I thought,” said Snyder.

Sheehan was 43-of-62 for 383 yards. Freddie Barnes had 17 catches for 109 yards and Wright five grabs for 104 yards and the touchdown.

The Falcons needed Sheehan’s performance. The Herd defense held BGSU’s ground game to a mere 10 yards on 20 attempts. It was the lowest total allowed since giving up 25 yards to UTEP in 2006.

Leading the Herd defense was McClellan, the senior end who had 15 tackles and two sacks. He now has 20 career quarterback sacks and is sixth on the school’s all-time list.

The defense had a total of six sacks of Sheehan.

Led by Marshall, the Thundering Herd had 346 yards total of offense with 246 on the ground.

Anderson had 100 yards passing as he completed 11-of-21 attempts. Anderson would have had better numbers but was victimized by several dropped passes in the first half.

The Herd plays at 1 p.m. Saturday with a visit to Memphis in their first Conference USA game of the season.