OXFORD, Ohio (AP) -- Marshall's dominating 32-14 road victory Saturday over Miami of Ohio came as no surprise to one of the head coaches.

Marshall coach Bob Pruett saw it coming.

	Marshall's James Williams hauls in a 41-yard TD from Chad Pennington.

"I told (former Marshall coach) Sonny Randle before the game that if we don't turn the ball over, we'll blow them out," Pruett said.

His prophecy was fulfilled as No. 17 Marshall's running backs didn't lose a fumble and quarterback Chad Pennington threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.

Marshall (5-0 overall, 2-0 Mid-American Conference) rolled to a 32-0 lead before allowing two late scores by Miami (3-2, 2-1) in a game billed as a showdown between the league's best teams.

Pennington, who was 18-of-35 passing, has thrown for 1,569 yards and 14 TDs with only five interceptions this season.

Miami's Travis Prentice, meanwhile, was held in check most of the game by an aggressive Marshall defense. He finished with 131 yards on 27 carries, but 83 yards came in the fourth quarter.

Prentice, considered the MAC's top running back, had only 18 yards on 13 carries in the first half.

"I was embarrassed today. Marshall is a really good team," Prentice said. "Offensively, we didn't do well at all. But we didn't quit."

While Pennington and Marshall moved almost at will, the Thundering Herd shut down a Miami offense that had been averaging 416 yards and 28.5 points a game. After three quarters, Marshall had gained 308 yards on 57 plays while Miami had 95 yards on 52 plays.

"Nothing we did worked in the first half," said Miami coach Terry Hoeppner. "They had us off balance a lot."

Pruett and several Marshall players said the team's game plan was to take away Miami's running game. That meant stopping Prentice, a player Miami has touted as a Heisman Trophy contender.

"We knew we had to stop (Prentice) in order to win," said Marshall linebacker John Grace. "He had all the petty yards in the fourth quarter so he could get his name in the paper tomorrow."

Marshall finished with 401 yards to Miami's 350.

Billy Malashevich set a Marshall record with four field goals, connecting from 42, 40, 41 and 31 yards.

Pennington was 10-of-20 for 155 yards in the half, including scoring tosses of 6 yards to Nate Poole and 41 yards to James Williams.

After Malashevich's 41-yard, third-quarter field goal increased the lead to 22-0, Pennington threw a 61-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Williams, who left several defenders grasping as he weaved his way to the end zone.

"I felt like I was having a bad game early. So I felt like I had to get into the end zone," Williams said.

Miami's Mike Bath threw late touchdown passes of 32 yards to Ty Buxton with 4:10 left and 12 yards to Prentice with 21 seconds remaining.

Bath, who started at quarterback, went to the sideline after a hard hit by Marshall linebacker Andre O'Neal and returned late only after backup Mike Schacke sustained a leg injury.