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Two college football programs finalize future home and home series

A pair of G5 teams with some successful history have arranged a new matchup.
Joe Cox|
Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss is one an alum of Marshall, where the Thundering Herd have an intriguing new non-conference matchup arranged.
Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss is one an alum of Marshall, where the Thundering Herd have an intriguing new non-conference matchup arranged. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Marshall Thundering HerdWestern Kentucky Hilltoppers

College football scheduling figures to get a little more generic atop the sport, with leagues increasingly going to nine-game conference slates. Most major programs have one virtually etched in stone non-conference rivalry (think South Carolina/Clemson, Georgia/Georgia Tech, Kentucky/Louisville) and then will add a pair of cupcakes for easy wins.

But Group of Five teams still have the freedom to be creative and a pair of intriguing G5 programs have arranged a home-and-home battle to take place in 2031 and 2032 in an effort to provide some intrigue to the non-conference portion of each team's schedule.

Marshall and WKU have scheduled a future series, per college football writer Brett McMurphy. The Hilltoppers are slated to be the home team in the 2031 matchup, while the Thunder Herd will host in 2032.

WKU's Future Schedules and Recent History

WKU, now a member of Conference USA, is not hiding from top talent. The 2026 slate ambitiously includes trips to Georgia and Indiana, while the 2027 schedule tentatively includes a visit to Oregon. Indiana is again on the 2029 schedule, and the 2031 matchup with Marshall is actually the second non-conference game the Hilltoppers have set, with South Florida (on the road) as the other.

WKU won a national title in FCS in 2002 and completed its move to FBS in 2009. The Hilltoppers have won eight bowl games since then, and have had some impressive runs, including winning 12 and 11 games in 2015 and 2016 under Jeff Brohm, with a pair of CUSA conference titles included.

Marshall's Future Schedules and Recent History

Marshall tends to play one major non-conference power each season, with Penn State ahead for 2026. The Herd are set to play at Alabama in 2027 and at Wisconsin in 2028. Marshall is nearly finished with its 2031 non-conference slate, with the WKU game added to home games with Toledo and Eastern Michigan. A road trip to Toledo is already set for 2032 to go with the home battle with WKU.

Marshall was an FCS (or then I-AA) power, finishing up at that level by winning the 1996 national title. Marshall then made a bowl in each of its first six FBS seasons, winning the Mid-American Conference title in five of those six seasons. Marshall has finished the season in the top 25 of one or both major polls four times in 30 years of FBS football, most recently in 2014. The Herd left Conference USA after 2021 and have played in the Sun Belt Conference since.

The WKU/Marshall Rivalry

Marshall and WKU were both members of CUSA from 2014 to 2021, and they played annually in that run, splitting the games 4-4. That included a 67-66 shootout that WKU won in 2014. The overall series count is 8-5 in favor of Marshall.

Brohm
Louisville coach Jeff Brohm had a successful run directing the WKU football program when the Hilltoppers and Marshall were conference opponents in CUSA. | Scott Utterback/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Joe Cox
JOE COX

Joe is a journalist and writer who covers college and professional sports. He has written or co-written over a dozen sports books, including several regional best sellers. His last book, A Fine Team Man, is about Jackie Robinson and the lives he changed. Joe has been a guest on MLB Network, the Paul Finebaum show and numerous other television and radio shows. He has been inside MLB dugouts, covered bowl games and conference tournaments with Saturday Down South and still loves telling the stories of sports past and present.

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