To play, or not to play: should West Virginia, Marshall play a home-and-home football series?
By Joseph Smith
There are two universities within the state of West Virginia that sponsor Division 1 football at the FBS level -- West Virginia University (WVU) and Marshall University. This September, it will mark 12 years since the two programs have met on the gridiron.
In football, the rivalry doesn't run quite as deep for WVU as does The Backyard Brawl with Pittsburgh or the Battle for the Black Diamond Trophy with Virginia Tech. And for Marshall, the Battle for the Bell with Ohio and The Old Mountain Feud with Appalachian State have a deeper history and more prominent place in program history.
Indeed, the rivalry between Marshall and WVU runs deeper in basketball, where the two programs have met multiple times each decade dating back to the 1970s -- but not once have the two met in the 2020s, signaling a shift in priority regarding the series for both teams.
In football, the two teams have met 12 times throughout their history -- the most recent stretch in the series was from 2006-2012, where they met seven times over seven years. The Mountaineers hosted five games, while the Thundering Herd hosted two. Marshall has not yet managed to triumph over WVU on the gridiron, with the Mountaineers hosting a 12-0 lead in the series.
It's often a hotly debated topic between fans of the programs as to whether or not the series is worth scheduling and if so, how often each team should host. So, let's talk about why these two in-state programs should or should not regularly schedule each other, potentially in a home-and-home series?
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