The Marshall Thundering Herd won’t participate in this year’s bowl festivities. Why? They don’t have enough players to suit up.
A swath of Thundering Herd players have entered the NCAA transfer portal following the regular season. Marshall doesn’t have enough scholarship players to sustain the blow the program’s taken. As a result, they were painted in a corner. They got themselves out of it by declining the Independence Bowl invite.
“Marshall has withdrawn from playing Army in Independence Bowl because of number of players in transfer portal,” CFB reporter Brett McMurphy posted on BlueSky.
“The game is Dec. 28. Because most players have left campus it may be tough to find a 5-7 team to replace Marshall.”
Marshall has withdrawn from playing Army in Independence Bowl because of number of players in transfer portal, sources said. The game is Dec 28. Because most players have left campus it may be tough to find a 5-7 team to replace Marshall. Bad look by Marshall & Sun Belt
— Brett McMurphy (@brettmcmurphy.bsky.social) December 14, 2024 at 1:31 PM
Commenters replied to McMurphy’s report by suggesting the NCAA has done this to themselves. In a way, they’re right.
Transfers happening before bowl season is a two-way street. It makes sense for teams that don’t make bowl games. But the teams that do still deal with the effects.
It makes it tougher on them, cheapens the bowl games, and leaves mostly everybody unsatisfied.
If that sounds like the modern-day NCAA, it probably should. Nonetheless, Louisiana Tech has opted to replace Marshall in this year’s Independence Bowl, per McMurphy.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022