Marshall Football to Play at NC State in 2023

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall University will visit North Carolina State for a non-conference football game on Oct. 7, 2023, the schools announced Monday. This completes the Thundering Herd's 2023 non-conference portion of the schedule.

Marshall had a vacancy on next year's schedule after Navy decided to cancel the agreement. Navy plays in Ireland in Week Zero and did not feel comfortable playing Marshall with limited time to prepare after returning from international travel. The Midshipmen will instead play at home against Wagner.

Marshall will receive a $250,000 buyout as part of the game contract originally signed in 2011.

Non-conference football negotiations rarely happen a year out, but Marshall, Cincinnati and NC State worked together to manage a unique situation. The Bearcats and Wolfpack were scheduled to play in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2023, but Cincinnati negotiated an early exit from the American Athletic Conference to enter the Big 12 on July 1, 2023, and reached an agreement with NC State to terminate their non-conference game.

"Part of that agreement allowed Marshall to find a replacement game for Navy as well as secure a game guarantee versus a well-respected opponent in a great location that we anticipate Thundering Herd fans will want to visit with us," Spears said.

MU will receive $850,000 from Cincinnati and $150,000 from NC State as part of the agreement.

"We understand the decision made by Navy and we are grateful for the relationships we have in college athletics," Spears said. "These things can get complex but when you have strong relationships they tend to get managed at a high level with trust and transparency and that is what happened here."

This will be the sixth time the Herd and Wolfpack have met in football, with the last matchup coming in Huntington in 2018.

The remainder of the non-conference games on the Thundering Herd's schedule in 2023 are at East Carolina (Sept. 9), Virginia Tech (Sept. 23) and Central Connecticut State (TBA).

---HerdZone.com---

Marshall University Athletics

Related Videos