HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall and East Carolina’s football game, originally scheduled for September 5 in Greenville, N.C., has been moved up to “Week Zero”, the two schools announced Wednesday.
The game will now be played Saturday, August 29 and will be carried on a national broadcast.
The two schools have been forever linked since the tragic crash of Southern Airways Flight 932 on Nov. 14, 1970, which claimed the lives of all 75 aboard following ECU’s 17-14 home victory earlier that afternoon.
The events of the day were depicted in the 2006 Warner Bros. motion picture We Are Marshall, starring Matthew McConaughey.
The two schools have met 15 times previously, with ECU winning 10.
One of Marshall’s victories was a thrilling comeback win in the 2001 GMAC Bowl, which saw the Herd emerge with a 64-61 double overtime victory on the arm of MVP Byron Leftwich, who passed for a bowl-record 576 yards to bring the Thundering Herd back from a 38-8 halftime deficit.
“We are grateful to Jon Gilbert and everyone at East Carolina University for their efforts in making this schedule change come to fruition,” said Mike Hamrick, Director of Athletics at Marshall.
“Our people, our universities and our football programs will forever be linked by the tragedy that occurred 50 years ago. This change will allow a national audience to join us in paying proper respect to the 75.”
Marshall and ECU are also set to meet three more times: September 18, 2021 in Huntington, September 9, 2023 in Greenville and September 13, 2025 in Huntington.