Army had its mind on Navy on Saturday. The brass at the Independence Bowl were worried about who was going to play the Cadets in its game.

That’s because Marshall decided it would opt out of the game because it has more than two dozen players in the transfer portal.

Marshall has notified officials that it is opting out of the Independence Bowl vs. Army, sources tell @YahooSports.

Absent of 6-6 teams, officials are working to determine a replacement thru a ranking of NCAA APR scores of 5-7 teams. Marshall has lost 25+ players in the portal.

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) December 14, 2024

The mass exodus from the Thundering Herd started because the Conference USA champs saw coach Charles Huff leave for Southern Miss the day after they won the championship game.

Huff says the decision was mutual but the players loved their coach and weren’t sticking around to play for someone else.