The Marshall Thundering Herd college football team competes as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), representing Marshall University in the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC). Since the establishment of the team in 1895, Marshall has appeared in 20 bowl games (officially 19).[1] They have accrued a record of 13–7 (officially 13–6) in their 20 bowl appearances. Their latest bowl win was a victory in the 2022 Myrtle Beach Bowl. Their most recent bowl appearance was a loss in the 2023 Frisco Bowl.
In addition to the below listed bowl games, Marshall withdrew from the 2024 Independence Bowl following a large number of players entering the NCAA transfer portal.[2]
Bowl games
General | † | Bowl game record attendance | | ‡ | Former bowl game record attendance | | | |
List of bowl games showing bowl played in, score, date, season, opponent, stadium, location, attendance, head coach and MVP[A 1] | # | Bowl | Score[A 2] | Date | Season[A 3] | Opponent[A 4] | Stadium | Location | Attendance[3] | Head coach | MVP |
| 1 | Tangerine Bowl[A 5] | L 0–7 | January 1, 1948 | 1947 | Catawba Indians | Tangerine Bowl | Orlando | 9,000 | Cam Henderson | Don Gibson (End) |
| 2 | Motor City Bowl | L 31–34 | December 26, 1997 | 1997 | Ole Miss Rebels | Silverdome | Pontiac | 43,340‡ | Bob Pruett | – |
| 3 | Motor City Bowl | W 48–29 | December 23, 1998 | 1998 | Louisville Cardinals | Silverdome | Pontiac | 38,016 | Bob Pruett | Chad Pennington (QB) |
| 4 | Motor City Bowl | W 21–3 | December 27, 1999 | 1999 | BYU Cougars | Silverdome | Pontiac | 52,449‡ | Bob Pruett | Doug Chapman (RB) |
| 5 | Motor City Bowl | W 25–14 | December 27, 2000 | 2000 | Cincinnati Bearcats | Silverdome | Pontiac | 52,911‡ | Bob Pruett | Byron Leftwich (QB) |
| 6 | GMAC Bowl | W 64–61 | December 19, 2001 | 2001 | East Carolina Pirates | Ladd–Peebles Stadium | Mobile | 40,139 | Bob Pruett | Byron Leftwich (QB) |
| 7 | GMAC Bowl | W 38–15 | December 18, 2002 | 2002 | Louisville Cardinals | Ladd–Peebles Stadium | Mobile | 40,646† | Bob Pruett | Byron Leftwich (QB) |
| 8 | Fort Worth Bowl | L 14–32 | December 23, 2004 | 2004 | Cincinnati Bearcats | Amon G. Carter Stadium | Fort Worth | 27,902 | Bob Pruett | – |
| 9 | Little Caesars Pizza Bowl | W 21–17 | December 26, 2009 | 2009 | Ohio Bobcats | Ford Field | Detroit | 30,331 | Rick Minter | Martin Ward (RB) |
| 10 | Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl | W 20–10 | December 20, 2011 | 2011 | FIU Panthers | Tropicana Field | St. Petersburg | 20,072 | Doc Holliday | Aaron Dobson (WR) |
| 11 | Military Bowl | W 31–20 | December 27, 2013 | 2013 | Maryland Terrapins | Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium | Annapolis | 30,163 | Doc Holliday | Rakeem Cato (QB) |
| 12 | Boca Raton Bowl | W 52–23 | December 23, 2014 | 2014 | Northern Illinois Huskies | FAU Stadium | Boca Raton | 29,419† | Doc Holliday | Rakeem Cato (QB) |
| 13 | St. Petersburg Bowl | W 16–10 | December 26, 2015 | 2015 | Connecticut Huskies | Tropicana Field | St. Petersburg | 14,652 | Doc Holliday | Deandre Reaves (WR) |
| 14 | New Mexico Bowl | W 31–28 | December 16, 2017 | 2017 | Colorado State Rams | Dreamstyle Stadium | Albuquerque | 26,087 | Doc Holliday | Tyre Brady (WR) Channing Hames (DL) |
| 15 | Gasparilla Bowl | W 38–20 | December 20, 2018 | 2018 | South Florida Bulls | Raymond James Stadium | Tampa | 14,135 | Doc Holliday | Keion Davis (RB) |
| 16 | Gasparilla Bowl | L 25–48 | December 23, 2019 | 2019 | UCF Knights | Raymond James Stadium | Tampa | 28,987 | Doc Holliday | – |
| 17 | Camellia Bowl | L 10–17 | December 25, 2020 | 2020 | Buffalo Bulls | Cramton Bowl | Montgomery | 2,512 | Doc Holliday | – |
| 18 | New Orleans Bowl | L 21–36 | December 18, 2021 | 2021 | Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns | Caesars Superdome | New Orleans | 21,642 | Charles Huff | – |
| 19 | Myrtle Beach Bowl | W 28–14 | December 19, 2022 | 2022 | Connecticut Huskies | Brooks Stadium | Conway | 12,023† | Charles Huff | Rasheen Ali (RB) |
| 20 | Frisco Bowl | L 17–35 | December 19, 2023 | 2023 | UTSA Roadrunners | Toyota Stadium | Frisco | 11,215 | Charles Huff | – |
Notes
- ^ Statistics correct as of 2022–23 NCAA football bowl games.
- ^ Results are sortable first by whether the result was a Marshall win, loss or tie and then second by the margin of victory.
- ^ Links to the season article for the Marshall team that competed in the bowl for that year.
- ^ Links to the season article for the opponent that Marshall competed against in the bowl for that year when available or to their general page when unavailable.
- ^ The Tangerine Bowl was unsanctioned by the NCAA until 1968. As such, the 1948 appearance in the game is not included in the official NCAA bowl listing for Marshall.[4]
References
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National championship seasons in bold |