College football team backs out of bowl appearance after losing over two dozen players to transfers
College football players opting out of bowl games has become a common ordeal as athletes try to stay healthy for the NFL Draft. But an entire team has decided to forgo its bowl appearance this year after losing too many players.
The Marshall Thundering Herd football team has notified officials that they will withdraw from the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl this season. according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports. DailyMail.com has contacted the school to confirm this.
After winning the Sun Belt Conference championship, the 10-3 Thundering Herd will no longer play the No. 22 ranked Army Black Knights (11-2).
This news comes days after head coach Charles Huff decided to leave the team to take the job at Southern Mississippi.
Not only has the coach left, but more than 25 Marshall players have decided to enter the transfer portal, with some following Huff.
Three of the team’s quarterbacks, Marshall’s leading rusher from the season before, three of their top seven receivers and their star linebacker are among the names leaving the team.
The Marshall University football team will withdraw from their appearance at the Independence Bowl
Coach Charles Huff left school for Southern Miss and more than two dozen players have entered their names in the transfer portal – including multiple offensive and defensive starters
The NCAA Transfer Portal officially opened last Monday and will remain open until December 28.
Players will need to leave their current schools well in order to enroll at their new institutions in time for the spring semester.
According to On3 Sports, more than 2,800 FBS scholarship players added their names to the portal last season. Not all of these players found new schools, as some withdrew from the portal while others turned pro.
Now the NCAA is in the tough position of finding a new team to replace Marshall.
Teams are considered bowl eligible when they achieve a record of 6-6. But this season, all teams with that record had been awarded bowl berths.
Now the NCAA must determine the replacement using a ranking of NCAA Academic Progress Report scores of teams that went 5-7 this season.
After this story was first published, college football insider Brett McMurphy reports that Louisiana Tech would replace Marshall.
Louisiana Tech, with a 5-7 record, is located in Ruston, LA and is the closest school to the city of Shreveport, LA, where the Independence Bowl is played.