Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: 2021 schedule once again has challenges, intrigue
1/27/2021 11:43:00 PM | Football, Word on the Herd
New head coach Huff will open C-USA play at Middle Tennessee
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A year ago this month, the 2020 Marshall football schedule was revealed. A column written by yours truly appeared on this same website and ended with this line: "But the journey will be as challenging and intriguing as ever."
That prediction is at least half true. There's no way any of us knew at the time that was written what the coronavirus pandemic would deliver, and how it would alter collegiate athletics in the short and long term. There's no way we'd know that of the 17 potential weekends of football – from the last weekend of August when Marshall was scheduled to open at East Carolina through the rescheduled Conference USA championship on Dec. 19 – that 14 of the Herd's weekends would see either a cancellation, postponement, rescheduled game or new addition.
That left a little intrigue – mostly exhaustion and frustration, really – but plenty of challenges.
So here's to the full 2021 schedule, which was officially released Wednesday afternoon. Marshall's non-conference opponents had been known for quite some time, and the C-USA East Division foes are annual features, but putting dates and an order to the schedule is refreshing. Hopefully, this schedule goes according to plan.
So, what to expect with this schedule, which will be the first for new head coach Charles Huff?
Huff's debut will be at Navy, a program that is coming off a 3-7 season but has crept into the Top 25 in four of the last six seasons. The series with the Midshipmen has been on our radar for almost a full decade, a home-and-home deal that was first announced on July 13, 2011. This game was originally supposed to be played in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2016, with the return date in 2018, but was later scheduled. Navy, by the way, will make its Huntington trip in 2023, which will likely be the Herd's regular season and home opener that year.
Huff then gets consecutive games at home: first against North Carolina Central, and then against East Carolina. Both carry great significance.
N.C. Central will visit Joan C. Edwards Stadium for Huff's first game in Huntington, and that also happens to be the 20-year anniversary of 9/11. Meanwhile, Marshall and ECU did not get to play in 2020 on the 50th anniversary of the Southern Airways Flight 932 tragedy that claimed the lives of 75 people, but the Pirates will make the trip to Huntington during a season that will celebrate the Young Thundering Herd. In fact, Marshall and ECU will play on Sept. 18, one week shy of the 50th anniversary of the Herd's first win after the crash, a 15-13 win on Sept. 25, 1971.
Then, on the precise date of that 50th anniversary win against Xavier, Marshall will travel to Appalachian State as part of a home-and-home agreement that was announced in June 2015. Overall, the Herd and Sun Belt Mountaineers will meet four times this decade. Marshall will complete this home-and-home series next season, and the last-minute schedule addition of Appalachian State last season will conclude in 2029 with Marshall's next trip to Boone, North Carolina.
After that, the conference race begins.
Marshall alternates road and home contests throughout C-USA play, traveling to Middle Tennessee, returning home for Old Dominion, heading back to North Texas for the first time since 2016, and then hosting FIU. After a week off, the Herd begins a stretch of at FAU, home against UAB, at Charlotte and home against WKU.
Marshall will host the Blazers for the Memorial Game on Nov. 13. The rival Hilltoppers make for an intriguing conclusion to conference play.
The C-USA schedule increases in difficulty as the season goes, too. None of the Herd's four October opponents had a winning record in league play in 2020, while none of the four November opponents had a losing record last season.
Those reading this probably do not need a reminder: UAB defeated Marshall for the Conference USA championship in Huntington last month, so the Blazers' return for the annual Black Out Game will be highly anticipated.
Now, let's try this again: This schedule has challenges and intrigue. This time around, let's hope the Herd gets to play it as is.
September 4   at Navy                                  Annapolis, Md.
September 11 North Carolina Central          Huntington, W.Va.
September 18 East Carolina                         Huntington, W.Va.
September 25 at Appalachian State             Boone, N.C.
October 2       at Middle Tennessee             Murfreesboro, Tenn.
October 9       Old Dominion                       Huntington, W.Va.
October 16     at North Texas                       Denton, Texas
October 30     Florida International             Huntington, W.Va.
November 6   at Florida Atlantic                 Boca Raton, Fla.
November 13Â UABÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Huntington, W.Va.
November 20 at Charlotte                          Charlotte, N.C.
November 27 Western Kentucky                Huntington, W.Va.
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and an eight-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).