Marshall University Athletics
BOGACZYK: Herd Football Lands Big One - Boise State
10/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERDZONE.COM COLUMNIST
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. –Athletic Director Mike Hamrick has said repeatedly he wants Marshall football to be the best program among the Group of Five conferences.
The Herd took another scheduling step toward that desire today.
Less than a week after announcing a future home-and-home series with Cincinnati, Marshall and Boise State – recognized as the premier program among the Group of Five schools – have scheduled a home-and-home series with games in 2019 and 2020.
Marshall will visit the Broncos’ blue-turfed Albertsons Stadium on Sept. 21, 2019. Boise will return the game to Joan C. Edwards Stadium on Oct. 3, 2020.
“Boise State has had one of the top programs in college football, not just the Group of Five or as a so-called ‘BCS buster’ in the recent past,” Hamrick said. “They’re at the top of the Mountain West. We’re at the top of Conference USA.
“Our goal is to play for the College Football Playoff access bowl berth that Boise gained last year, that Group of Five spot. The only way you can do that is to win your conference title and then play against and beat the best teams from the other leagues. That’s how you get there.
“A series with Boise State is something to get excited about.”
The home date with Boise State finishes the Herd’s 2020 non-conference schedule with all FBS opponents, with visits to East Carolina (Sept. 5) and Ohio (Sept. 19), and home dates against Pitt (Sept. 26) and Boise State (Oct. 3).
“Those two home games in the same season should be very attractive for our fans,” Hamrick said. “We have Louisville at ‘The Joan’ next season (2016). From 2018 through 2022, we have home games scheduled against NC State, Cincinnati, Boise State, Pitt, East Carolina, Navy and Appalachian State.
“We need to fill our stadium. We need to sell season tickets to support our entire athletic program. Those games should help us do that.
“Our fans have said they wanted stronger schedules. Adding a Boise State and a Cincinnati to the previous future games surely does that.”
The 2019 game at Boise State adds to Marshall home games against Ohio and Cincinnati that season. A fourth and final game outside Conference USA has not been announced.
In 2014 – the first season of the College Football Playoff – Boise State downed Arizona, 38-30, in the Fiesta Bowl after gaining the one Group of Five available berth. That was the Broncos’ third Fiesta trip since the 2006 season – when a 43-42 overtime upset of Oklahoma solidified BSU’s place in college football lore.
Boise State has won all three of its Fiesta Bowl appearances and owns an active 13-year bowl streak (8-5).
Marshall and Boise have played once previously – in the NCAA Division I-AA playoff semifinals in 1994. The host Broncos won 28-24, and then Boise trekked to Huntington the following week and fell to Youngstown State in the national championship game at then-Marshall University Stadium.
With the addition of Boise State, Marshall now has at least one non-conference future series against teams from each of the Group of Five leagues besides Conference USA – American, Mountain West, Mid-American and Sun Belt.
Among future games with power conference teams, Marshall finishes a home-and-home with an Edwards Stadium date against Louisville next season, and also plays Pitt (2016 away, 2020 home) and NC State (2017 away, 2019 home).
The Herd ended a home-and-home with Purdue – the first Big Ten Conference football visitor to Huntington -- with a 41-31 victory in this season’s opener.
Cincinnati (2017 and ’19) joins East Carolina (2020 and ’21) and Navy (2021 and ’22) as the Herd’s future AAC foes.
Marshall also has future home-and-homes with Appalachian State (2021 and ’22), Miami of Ohio (2017 and ’18) and longtime neighboring rival Ohio (2019 and ’20), and remaining Edwards Stadium dates from home-and-homes with Akron (2016) and Kent State (2017).
All of those series were scheduled by Hamrick since his return to his alma mater as AD in July 2009.
