WOAY – Marshall football’s 2020 opener at East Carolina has been moved to Saturday, August 29, known as “Week Zero,” following an NCAA waiver. It was originally scheduled for the following Saturday, September 5th, the first official weekend of the college football season.
The game will be broadcast to a nationwide audience, with several activities planned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Marshall plane crash.
On November 14, 1970, the Thundering Herd was returning from a game at East Carolina when its charter flight crashed into a hillside near the Tri-State Airport. All 75 people on board died in the crash – five crew members and 70 passengers.
This is the Thundering Herd’s first game with East Carolina since 2013. The Pirates are a former Conference USA rival who joined the American Athletic Conference in 2014
Marshall is scheduled to host Middle Tennessee on November 14, which would be 50 years to the date since the plane crash. All game times this season have yet to be determined.