Marshall out of Independence Bowl vs. Army due to player exodus; Louisiana Tech enters

No. 22 Army has a new opponent in the Dec. 28 Independence Bowl, as Marshall “notified officials” that it’s opting out of the bowl game due to the high volume of players it has lost to the transfer portal, according to Yahoo Sports.

The Independence Bowl later announced on its X account Saturday that Louisiana Tech, which went 5-7 in the regular season, will replace Marshall.

The Thundering Herd is 10-3 this season and won the Sun Belt championship. Mere hours after winning the conference, head coach Charles Huff left Marshall to become the new head coach of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The Thundering Herd then hired former North Carolina State Wolfpack assistant Tony Gibson as their new head coach.

Below are some of the 2024 Marshall players who have entered the portal:

• QB Braylon Braxton (1,624 passing yards, 19 passing touchdowns, two interceptions, 154.9 passer rating, 60.2% completion percentage, 610 rushing yards, four rushing touchdowns)
• QB Stone Earle (673 passing yards, seven passing touchdowns, two interceptions, 117.2 passer rating, 54.2% completion percentage, 207 rushing yards)
• QB Cole Pennington (5 of 7 completions)
• RB A.J. Turner (864 yards and six touchdowns on 8.3 yards per carry)
• LB Jayden Yates (120 combined tackles, two fumble recoveries)
• LB Landyn Watson (65 combined tackles, one interception)
• CB Jacobie Henderson (50 combined tackles, two interceptions)

Marshall went a combined 32-20 under Huff from 2021-24 and was bowl-eligible every season.

Army entered its annual rivalry game against Navy on Saturday with an 11-1 record and came in fresh off winning the AAC championship in what is its first season in the conference.

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