Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Football schedule holds plenty of intrigue for 2020
1/9/2020 2:13:00 PM | Football, Big Green Scholarship Foundation, Word on the Herd
Eight bowl teams highlight Marshall's upcoming daunting slate
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Is Marshall's 2020 football schedule the most difficult in program history?
That's tough to say. To be fair, Doc Holliday's first two games as head coach here were at Ohio State and home against West Virginia. The next season, 2011, Holliday's Herd started the season at WVU, home vs. Southern Miss, at Ohio, home vs. Virginia Tech, at Louisville and at UCF. Whew.
But, there's no doubt this fall's football schedule, released Tuesday afternoon by Conference USA, is one of the most challenging we've seen 'round these parts, and that might be true for a long time. This schedule is also incredibly unique, which warrants a closer look.
The schedule features six home games and six road matchups. Among those dozen regular season games, there are eight programs that reached bowl season in 2019, including two conference champions. Marshall was 7-3 against its 2020 opponents last season, including a win at eventual C-USA champ FAU.
The newcomers to the schedule are the first two opponents of the 2020 season: East Carolina and Pittsburgh. ECU is part of a two-game home-and-home series that begins this year in Greenville, North Carolina, and concludes next season in Huntington. The Thundering Herd and Pirates have another home-and-home agreement for 2023 (at ECU) and 2025 (at Marshall).
ECU and Marshall are eternally and emotionally connected, and the scheduling of this game in this year at this location is part of the uniqueness of the 2020 slate. This season is the 50th anniversary of the Southern Airways Flight 932 plane crash that claimed the lives of 75 people associated with Marshall's football team, including 37 student-athletes. That flight was returning from Greenville, North Carolina, where the Herd had lost to East Carolina, 17-14, at Ficklen Stadium.
Pitt is one of two marquee home non-conference games, along with Boise State. Since the aforementioned 2011 schedule, which featured only five regular season home games and three non-conference road games, Marshall's schedule has included an FCS opponent every season except for 2017, in which two Mid-American Conference opponents visited Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Pitt and Boise State in the opening month of the season here in Huntington is daunting, but attractive. Those games will be huge opportunities for the Herd football program, for sure, and a boon to the local economy. In 2016, when nationally ranked Louisville visited with eventual Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Lamar Jackson, the game had a $9 million economic impact. Pitt, like Louisville, is a regional ACC opponent separated by a short drive. Boise State is a national brand with a fervent fan base and, based on their comments when we visited Idaho this past season, a large following is expected to travel across the country for that matchup.
Overall, alternating road and home games with ECU, Pitt, Ohio and Boise State in the first month will be a huge test.
Then October hits.
First, the unsavory news. Marshall has a five-game month in October, three of which are on the road. The C-USA opener at home against Rice might seem like a soft spot, but the Owls enter 2020 with the third-longest winning streak among C-USA programs. That's right, the 0-for-the-season Rice team that Marshall defeated last November rallied to win three consecutive games to end last season, and only trails FAU (seven consecutive wins) and WKU (four straight victories) for the longest win streak in the league.
Speaking of FAU and WKU, those opponents await in October, too. It wouldn't be a surprise to see both teams voted at the top of the preseason poll, along with Marshall.
Outside of those three opponents, the Herd has to travel to Louisiana Tech and FIU. Both of those teams reached bowl games in 2019.
The good news? Marshall went 5-0 against those teams in 2019. Repeating that in 2020 would be quite the feat.
November might seem to offer respite, especially considering the month begins with the only "bye" week of the season. Marshall will have two weeks to prepare for Middle Tennessee on the 50th anniversary of the 1970 plane crash, and then will stay home the next week for Senior Day against Charlotte. Spending the first three weeks of the month in Huntington sounds delightful after the challenges of September and October, but remember, MT and Charlotte defeated the Herd in 2019, losses that ultimately kept Marshall from a division title.
The regular season ends at Old Dominion on Nov. 28, the Herd's first trip to the Monarchs' renovated stadium in a matchup against a first-year coach.
After that, who knows what awaits? But the journey will be as challenging and intriguing as ever.
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).
