UConn and Marshall To Meet in Eighth Annual St. Petersburg Bowl
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (December 6, 2015) – The St. Petersburg Bowl has announced that the University of Connecticut (6-6, 4-4) from the American Athletic Conference and Marshall University (9-3, 6-2) from Conference USA have accepted invitations to play in this year’s game. The eighth edition of the bowl game will be played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Saturday, Dec. 26 at 11 a.m. EST on ESPN on ESPN Radio. This will be the first-ever meeting between UConn and Marshall.
“We have a very good matchup this year with UConn, a program on the rise that just knocked off undefeated Houston, and Marshall is one win away from notching its third consecutive 10-win season,” said Brett Dulaney, Executive Director of the St. Petersburg Bowl. “Surprisingly this is the first time that UConn is playing a bowl game in Florida so we hope to see many of their fans make the trip to take advantage of our tropical weather and bowl week events. We enjoyed hosting Marshall in 2011 and look forward to having them back again this year and seeing lots of Thundering Herd fans in St. Petersburg.”
UConn’s second-year coach Bob Diaco has led the Huskies to its first bowl appearance since the 2010 season when they earned a BCS bid to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The Huskies went 3-1 over their last four games and became bowl eligible with their win over Houston.
“The entire University of Connecticut Division of Athletics is excited and proud to accept an invitation in the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl,” said University of Connecticut Director of Athletics Warde Manuel. “Our football student-athletes and coaching staff have worked very hard this season and the results of those efforts have shown on the field. UConn Nation has a strong presence in Florida and we look forward to a strong showing of Husky fans at the game.”
“The UConn football family is very proud and honored to be playing in the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl,” said UConn’s Diaco. “I am especially excited for our senior class, who are an outstanding group of young men and have worked so hard for this. I also want to congratulate Marshall on their selection to the bowl and on an excellent season. We look forward to the challenge of meeting an outstanding football program. I know our strong fan and alumni base in Florida will be supportive of the St. Petersburg Bowl and will make their presence known.”
Marshall head coach Doc Holliday made his bowl head coaching debut in 2011 in St. Petersburg, where he led the Herd to a 20-10 win over FIU. Marshall is riding a four-game win streak in bowls and has won nine of its last 10 bowl games.
“Marshall athletics is overjoyed to return to Florida for the St. Petersburg Bowl,” said Marshall Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick. “Our bowl trips to Florida have been successful for recruiting and a treat for our alumni in the area. We look for that to continue and are ready to get down there.”
“Our players and coaches are tremendously excited to return to St. Petersburg for our bowl this year,” added Marshall’s Holliday. “We have a great challenge ahead of us in UConn and are eager to get to work on them.”
Tickets for the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl start as low as just $40. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or by phone at 1-800-745-3000.
The St. Petersburg Bowl is owned-and-operated by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, which manages 13 postseason bowl games.