HUNTINGTON Ƶ There were several potential bowl landing spots for the Marshall football team, but the athletic department had its sights set on one the whole time.
Marshall wanted to play in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, Director of Athletics Christian Spears said in a Sunday press conference. The Thundering Herd checked that off its wish list Sunday, even after a couple curveballs were thrown in the way after championship weekend.
ƵThen the wrench came in with some weird and awkward outcomes in championship games and then suddenly it kind of gets shuffled again,Ƶ Spears said. ƵBut we ended up exactly where we planned and tried to plan so it worked out.Ƶ
Marshall will play UConn in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, which is set for 2:30 p.m. Dec. 19 at Brooks Stadium on the campus of Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
The Myrtle Beach Bowl is one of 20 postseason games that ESPN Events owns the rights to. Marshall was one of seven bowl eligible teams in the Sun Belt and will play in one of the five bowl games directly affiliated with the league.
Those five spots were filled by Marshall (Myrtle Beach Bowl), Sun Belt champion Troy (Cure Bowl), South Alabama (New Orleans Bowl), Georgia Southern (Camellia Bowl) and Southern Miss (Lending Tree Bowl).
Louisiana landed in the Independence Bowl, taking advantage of a new partnership between the bowl game and the league to allow a Sun Belt team to fill that spot if FBS-independent Army is not bowl eligible, which it wasnƵt.
Coastal Carolina, which lost to Troy in the SBC championship game, was the only team to land in a bowl that didnƵt have a direct affiliation with the league, that being the Birmingham Bowl, which ESPN owns the rights to.
ƵThere are a couple of ESPN Event bowls that we were able to attract out of the Sun Belt because we had seven eligible for five spots,Ƶ Spears said. ƵSo (there was) lots of conversation about who ends up in the ESPN Event bowls but we wanted a tie-in bowl, one thatƵs directly affiliated with the Sun Belt Conference, and we got that.Ƶ
In addition to the destination, there was also excitement about the opponent, the Huskies, who will making their first bowl appearance since facing Marshall in the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl, a 16-10 win for the Herd.
ƵIt gives us an opportunity to play an opponent we may not have scouted all year and tracked all year, which, to me, helps you focus in a little bit more on what really matters, which is the film and the study and the preparation,Ƶ head coach Charles Huff said. ƵAnytime you get the opportunity to play a solid program outside of your conference, it allows you to focus in on the details and what really matters.Ƶ
It is the ninth time in the last 10 seasons that Marshall will have played in a bowl game, and sixth straight appearance since 2017. The HerdƵs all-time bowl record is 12-6, but Marshall lost its last three.
Luke Creasy is a reporter for The Herald-Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @LukeCreasy or reach him by phone at 304-526-2800.
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