After seeing a staggering number of players enter the transfer portal, the Marshall Thundering Herd is reportedly abandoning its place in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl.
Why is Marshall pulling out of their bowl game and more importantly, who will replace the Thundering Herd?
Who Replaces Marshall in the Independence Bowl?
Rumors from media outlet Sidelines surfaced on Saturday morning, suggesting that Marshall may be forced to drop out of the Independence Bowl. Ross Dellenger confirmed that the Thundering Herd won’t play in the bowl game.
According to Action Network’s Brett McMurphy, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, who finished 5-7 this season, will replace the Thundering Herd. Although they weren’t the first team up in terms of the NCAA’s bowl eligibility rules, their proximity to the Shreveport location for the Independence Bowl does make sense.
The situation is as bizarre as it sounds. Marshall won the Sun Belt title at the third time of asking this fall, beating the favored Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in convincing fashion.
However, head coach Charles Huff wasn’t extended by the program, and with his contract expired, the highly-regarded head coach was allowed to leave the Thundering Herd, becoming the Southern Miss Golden Eagles head coach.
An exodus of players followed Huff out of Huntington. Over 25 players have either entered the transfer portal or declared for the 2025 NFL Draft, decimating their roster to the point that player safety has become an issue for the team ahead of their Independence Bowl date with the new AAC champion Black Knights.
With Marshall pulling out of the Independence Bowl, NCAA bowl eligibility rules are brought into the spotlight. All teams that reached the magic six wins required to gain bowl eligibility this season qualified for the postseason. There were no 6-6 teams that had wins against an FCS team that discounted them from eligibility.
The next rung down on the bowl eligibility ladder is teams who played 13 games but ended the season with a 6-7 record. After that, it is teams who were in their second year of reclassification from the FCS to FBS level. There were no teams that met either of those eligibility issues in the 2024 college football season.
The fourth element of the bowl eligibility states that:
“Teams with at least 5 wins and no more than 7 losses, in order of their Academic Progress Rates (APRs).”
Cincinnati is the sixth-ranked program in the country for Academic Progress Rate, as revealed by the NCAA earlier this season. There are four programs ahead of them (the Ohio State Buckeyes, Alabama Crimson Tide, North Carolina Tar Heels, and Clemson Tigers) who are already bowl eligible. The Northwestern Wildcats (tied third for APR) only have four wins in 2024.
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However, teams aren’t mandated to accept a bowl invite, and that appears to be the case here as the Bearcats won’t play in the Independence Bowl. Instead, it will be Louisiana Tech, who hasn’t reached a bowl berth since playing in the 2020 New Orleans Bowl.
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