AP and staff reports

YOUNGSTOWN – Marshall University has lined up an old football rival to fill a hole in the schedule created by the cancellation of the Thundering Herd’s Sept.

Friday, September 21, 2001

YOUNGSTOWN – Marshall University has lined up an old football rival to fill a hole in the schedule created by the cancellation of the Thundering Herd’s Sept. 15 game against Texas Christian.

Marshall will host Youngstown State on Nov. 24, Youngstown officials announced Thursday.

For Youngstown, the game will replace a Sept. 15 contest against Toledo that also was canceled in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

”We are thrilled to get the chance to play eleven regular season games and this is a good opportunity for our team,” Youngstown coach John Heacock said.

Before Marshall jumped to Division I, it battled Youngstown for the Division I-AA national title three times in the early 1990s.

November’s game will mark the 10th meeting between the schools.

”We had many classic games with Marshall in the early 1990s and that became a great rivalry,” said Youngstown Athletic Director Ron Strollo.

Youngstown St. won two of the three championship meetings with Marshall in Huntington, W.Va.

The Penguins won 25-17 in Statesboro, Ga., for the I-AA title in 1991. The following year in Huntington, Marshall won the championship game 31-28. YSU returned to Huntington in 1993 for the title game and beat the Herd 17-5.

Youngstown St. won the I-AA championship again in 1994 in Huntington, but it wasn’t against Marshall, but Boise State instead. The Herd lost at Boise State the previous week.