(This story has been updated to add new information).
Opting out of bowl games has become a common occurrence in the modern college football landscape, with players choosing not to play in the postseason for various reasons, often to prepare for the NFL draft.
Heading into this year’s bowl season, there’s an entire team making the decision not to play.
Marshall has informed officials from the Independence Bowl that it will not play its scheduled game against Army on Dec. 28 in Shreveport, Louisiana, with the bowl’s leadership confirming the move Saturday.
Marshall will be replaced in the game by Louisiana Tech, which finished the regular season 5-7. The Bulldogs’ proximity to the Independence Bowl, with the school’s Ruston, Louisiana campus only about an hour away from Shreveport, made them an enticing option as a relatively late replacement.
Independence Bowl officials cited ‘player unavailability due to activity in the transfer portal’ as the reason for the move.
The Thundering Herd has hemorrhaged players in recent days, with 29 scholarship players leaving the program since Dec. 8, according to 247Sports. The player departures stem from Marshall coach Charles Huff leaving the university for the same position at Southern Miss, a fellow Sun Belt Conference member.
Huff helped led the Thundering Herd to a 10-3 record this season, capped off by a 31-3 rout of Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt championship game last Saturday.
Despite that success, Huff had been coaching on a contract that was set to expire after this season and, after not making progress with the school on an extension, he left. Marshall quickly replaced him with NC State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson, a West Virginia native who has spent much of his coaching career in the state.
The matchup between the Thundering Herd and Black Knights had been rated by USA TODAY Sports as the fourth-best non-playoff bowl game.
Independence Bowl statement on Marshall opt-out
‘It is unfortunate that Marshall determined they won’t be able to compete in the bowl in a couple of weeks. Our goal was to create the best matchup possible for our local fans and college football fans throughout the country, and we think we did that with two conference champions. Moving forward we are very excited to host Louisiana Tech and are thrilled we found an opponent for Army. We appreciate La Tech AD Ryan Ivey, Coach Sonny Cumbie, their players, and support staff for their willingness to step up and play in our bowl game.’
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NCAA bowl replacement rule
With no other bowl eligible teams remaining to choose from, the Independence Bowl will have to find a replacement to face off against Army, the American Athletic Conference champions and the No. 18 team in the latest US LBM Coaches Poll.
An opponent for Army will be determined based on 5-7 teams with the highest NCAA Academic Progress Rate scores.
Here are the steps that are taken to select sub-.500 teams for bowl games, according to the 2024-25 NCAA postseason bowl handbook1:
a. All teams meeting deserving team status must be placed in available bowl opportunities.
b. Once all deserving teams are exhausted, an Academic Progress Rate listing of teams in rank order is established and confirmed by NCAA staff.
c. If more than one bowl slot is available, that number of teams, in APR rank order, establishes the pool that moves to eligible status for placement. (Example: If three teams with five wins are needed to fill three open bowl spots, the pool will consist of the top three APR teams in descending order.)
d. If a conference has a team in the APR pool and a primary contract with a bowl game with an opening, that conference team will fill the spot.
e. Other placements will be made through conference office, bowl partner and institutional discussions.
f. Contractual arrangements lie with the conference/institution and the bowl partner and are not the authority of the NCAA or Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee.