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The Independence Bowl will replace Marshall with Louisiana Tech, the bowl game confirmed Saturday evening.
Marshall was forced to withdraw from the bowl game on Dec. 28, claiming that it had lost too many players to the transfer portal. So, Louisiana Tech, which only went 5-7 in the regular season, will step in and face Army in a couple of weeks.
The Black Knights were busy Saturday completing their regular season in the annual rivalry game against Navy and went into the game against the Midshipmen with an 11-1 record. Army took down Tulane on Dec. 6 in the AAC Championship Game.
Marshall had a banner season in 2024. The Thundering Herd went 9-3 in the regular season, then dominated Louisiana last Saturday to win the Sun Belt Conference title. That means the Independence Bowl was supposed to be a battle of conference champions, with Army winning the AAC and Marshall winning the Sun Belt.
But because the Thundering Herd roster was decimated so badly by the transfer portal after the portal opened on Monday, Marshall was forced to opt of the Independence Bowl and in stepped Louisiana Tech. Over 30 Thundering Herd players entered the portal after the departure of now-former head coach Charles Huff.
Louisiana Tech finished 5th in Conference USA this season with a 4-4 mark while finishing under .500 overall with that 5-7 record.
The Bulldogs and Black Knights will kick things off in the Independence Bowl in a Saturday night affair at 9:15 p.m. ET on ESPN from Shreveport, La.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
