Marshall football to open 2025 season at Georgia

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — Marshall football announced a one-game deal that will see it travel to Athens, Georgia, for a matchup with the perennial national championship contender Bulldogs.

The contest between the Thundering Herd and University of Georgia will be the 2025 season opener on Aug. 30 at Sanford Stadium, according to a news release from Marshall Athletics.

“This is who we want to be as a program – willing to line up with the best in the country,” Christian Spears, Marshall’s director of athletics, said in the news release. “College football is dramatically changing and Marshall deserves to be in the conversation with the best of the best. Our tradition, our story, our fans, and our community deserve amazing experiences like the one we will see at Georgia as we hunt for national respect.”

The contest between Marshall and Georgia will be the second meeting between the programs in history.

The first contest between the two teams came on Sept. 18, 2004, when Marshall traveled to Sanford Stadium to take on No. 3 Georgia and fell 13-3 in a defensive struggle that went down to the wire.

The announcement of the 2025 game with Georgia means that Marshall will play five Power Four opponents in a five-year stretch, starting with the 2024 season.

This year, the Thundering Herd have a pair of Power Four contests – one at Virginia Tech on Sept. 7 and another at Ohio State on Sept. 21.

In addition to the Georgia game in 2025, other future Power Four contests include a 2026 game at Penn State and a 2028 contest at Wisconsin.

Marshall 2025 out-of-conference schedule also features matchups against Missouri State and Middle Tennessee State.