Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Connections run deep in UCF-Marshall bowl matchup
12/9/2019 11:15:00 AM | Football, Word on the Herd
Herd, Knights set to do battle Dec. 23 in Tampa, Florida
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Matthew Beardall, Marshall's senior long-snapper and a Florida native, tweeted at his high school teammate after Sunday's bowl pairings were announced.
Dylan Barnas, UCF's kicker, tweeted back: "Let the trash talk begin."
Beardall was Barnas' long-snapper on the Merritt Island Mustangs' football team, so some good-natured smack seemed necessary. They'll be on opposite sidelines on Monday, Dec. 23, when Marshall (8-4) faces UCF (9-3) in the Bad Boy Mowers' Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, Florida. The game, which will be played at Raymond James Stadium, the NFL home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will kick off at 2:30 p.m. and be televised nationally by ESPN.
The location, in the fertile recruiting areas of the Sunshine State, which has long been a pipeline for Coach Doc Holliday and the Herd, make this an ideal bowl to repeat in consecutive seasons. Marshall's roster is loaded with Floridians, and with a game two days before Christmas, a chunk of student-athletes will have short trips home after the bowl game.
But the pluses of this bowl game are more than about proximity. The NFL venue is a perk. On that day, the Gasparilla Bowl is the only college football game on the schedule. And, perhaps you've heard, UCF is a monster of an opponent as Holliday tries add another win to his perfect 6-0 bowl record. Marshall has won seven straight bowl games overall, the longest streak in the country, and the Knights are likely the greatest threat the Herd has faced in continuing that impressive run.
UCF is 34-4 the last three seasons, with all four losses coming by single digits. Last season, the Knights had their 25-game winning streak snapped in a Fiesta Bowl loss to LSU, which is now the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Since then, UCF has been 9-3, but those losses have been by a combined 7 points. In an early October loss to Cincinnati, the Knights had a 31-game streak of scoring 30-plus points snapped. Since then, UCF has scored 41, 63, 44, 31, 34 and 34 points in six games to end the regular season. The Knights are fourth nationally in total offense, trailing LSU, Oklahoma and Clemson – three of the four teams in the CFP semifinals.
That's the kind of opportunity that should have Marshall fans fired up, and that's the kind of opportunity the Thundering Herd football program should embrace. Â
There are more connections between the two programs, too.
Rich Worner, UCF's Director of Equipment Operations, used to be the head equipment manager at Marshall. The West Virginia State graduate joined the Herd in 2002. Dustin Stover, who is an assistant equipment manager at UCF, is a West Virginia native who studied at Marshall and was introduced to the athletic equipment field here. Brad Helton is UCF's Assistant Athletic Director for Video Operations. Helton spent 20 seasons as Marshall's Director of Video Services. Brad's wife, Tara, is the Associate AD for Academics at UCF, where she is the lead advisor for the football team's academics. At Marshall, Tara oversaw the Buck Harless Student-Athlete Program. They've witnessed both sides of this series. UCF and Marshall played every season from 2002-12.
There will be another brotherly battle going on, like last year's Marshall-USF matchup. In 2018, it was the Beardall brothers – Matthew for Marshall and Andrew for USF – going head-to-head in their home state. This time, former Herd linebacker Chase Hancock, who had seven tackles in his final collegiate game in last year's Gasparilla Bowl, will cheer on his former teammates on one side and his brother, Noah, on the other. Noah Hancock is a 6-foot-4, 290-pound junior from Beckley, West Virginia, who has 11 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks for the Knights this season.
The invitation extended by the Gasparilla Bowl to Marshall is a tribute to everyone who makes this football program attractive to bowls. Last December, Marshall defeated USF – in its home stadium – to cap off a fantastic week of events. The coaches, players, fan and others received a warm reception by the city and bowl organizers, and it's obvious the folks behind the bowl shared the same affinity for the Herd. A quick invitation back one year later is a strong endorsement, for sure.
This game also gives Marshall a unique opportunity. The Herd capped the 2018 season by defeating USF, a team from the American Athletic Conference. This season, Marshall defeated FAU and FIU, annual Conference USA opponents and the league's only Florida-based teams. Now, the Herd has an opportunity to add another AAC team from the Sunshine State to its list.
Hopefully, it's Beardall who gets the bragging rights.
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and a seven-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).
