HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall will renew an old Southern Conference gridiron rivalry against Appalachian State in 2021 and 2022.
The Thundering Herd, in announcing the home-and-home series Wednesday, will visit Boone, N.C., on Sept. 25, 2021. Appalachian State will return to Huntington on Sept. 17, 2022.
“It is great to get Appalachian State back onto our schedule and with that, we can give our fans another drivable road game,” Marshall athletics director Mike Hamrick said in a release. “Appalachian has a wonderful tradition and is already one of the top teams in the Sun Belt Conference.”
Marshall and Appalachian State squared off 21 times as members of the Southern Conference. Between 1985 and 1996 one of the teams was nationally ranked in the matchup 11 times, and in eight games both teams were nationally ranked in the I-AA polls.
Since Marshall jumped to the FBS level in 1997, it has only faced the Mountaineers once—winning 50-17 at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in 2002.
Since then, the Mountaineers also have jumped to FBS and are favorites to win the Sun Belt Conference in 2015.
The 2021 game at ASU gives the Herd three non-conference dates that season, joining Navy in Annapolis, Md. (Sept. 4) and home against East Carolina (Sept. 11).
In 2022, Marshall’s nonleague schedule features a home game against the Midshipmen (Sept. 3).