MARSHALL SID

 

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The Marshall football team will return to Tropicana Field to face Connecticut Huskies in the St. Petersburg Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 26, the Conference USA office announced Sunday afternoon.

The game, which will be televised on ESPN and broadcast ESPN Radio, starts at 11 a.m.

This is the eighth year of the St. Petersburg Bowl, which saw the Thundering Herd emerge victorious with a 20-10 triumph over now-Conference USA member FIU in 2011.

With a victory, Marshall (9-3) would become the only Group of 5 school with 10-plus wins in each of the past three seasons and would join the likes of Alabama, Baylor, Clemson, Florida State, Michigan State, Ohio State and Oregon in doing so.

St. Petersburg Bowl tickets can be purchased online through HerdZone.com immediately. Tickets can then be purchased by phone beginning Monday at 8:30 a.m.

Marshall fans can use their online account to purchase tickets. Tickets ordered prior to end of business day on Wednesday will be allocated in Big Green Scholarship Foundation priority point order.

All tickets purchased after that date will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. When ordering bowl game tickets through Marshall athletics, Big Green members will earn a priority point.

UConn second-year coach Bob Diaco has led the Huskies to their first bowl appearance since the 2010 season when they earned a BCS bid to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

The Huskies, of the American Athletic Conference, are 6-6 after going 3-1 over their last four games to become bowl-eligible with their win over Houston, which grabbed the Group of 5’s coveted “New Year’s Six” spot and will play Florida State in the Peach Bowl.

“Marshall Athletics is overjoyed to return to Florida for the St. Petersburg Bowl,” MU Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick said.

“Our bowl trips to Florida to have been successful for recruiting and a treat for the alumni in the area. We look for that to continue and are ready to get down there.”