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NORFOLK
An hour after his Old Dominion football team had crushed Marshall, 38-14, coach Bobby Wilder stood up to leave from his post-game press conference. But then he bent down to make one final comment.
"Let's go somewhere warm in a month," he said.
ODU is indeed headed somewhere warm. Honolulu perhaps? The Bahamas, Florida, the beautiful terrain in New Mexico or the Big Easy?
For the first time in its eight seasons of football, ODU is headed to a bowl game. The Monarchs became the fourth Conference USA team to become bowl eligible and the league has six bowls, all in tropical locations or in the scenic Southwest.
ODU (6-3, 4-1 C-USA) could still win the Conference USA championship, although that remains a long-shot
There are three games left, and after Southern Mississippi was upset by Charlotte, 38-27, Saturday night, it seems likely that ODU will be favored in all three games. The Golden Eagles come to Foreman Field next weekend.
A 9-3 record could make ODU a more attractive bowl option, and alter where the Monarchs go.
For now, here are some questions and answers about ODU's postseason future:
Where are the Monarchs most likely headed?
It's too early to say with any certainty, but I think ESPN and USA Today are as close to being correct as anyone.
USA Today has ODU playing Memphis in the Marmot Boca Raton Bowl, as does ESPN's Brett McMurphy.
+11
However, ESPN's Mark Schlabach has ODU playing New Mexico at its home stadium in Albuquerque. That would be a difficult game in a hostile environment, but the great thing about the New Mexico Bowl is that it is the first bowl game of the season. It would give ODU a lot of TV visibility.
+11
By Harry Minium
The Virginian-Pilot
Conference USA has ties to four other bowls: the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the Heart of Dallas Bowl, the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl and the Hawaii Bowl.
Quick aside: Notice that every game is in an attractive city. Although Conference USA has its detractors, its bowl agreements are perhaps the best among the mid-major schools.
There's also a secondary agreement with the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. Shreveport doesn't have the allure of Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas or Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but it likely would offer a chance to play a Power 5 school. The bowl has agreements with the ACC and SEC, but C-USA could provide a team if either conference does not have enough that qualify.
While some analysts have predicted ODU will play in Dallas and New Orleans, I don't think the stars will align for ODU with either bowl.
A team that plays in the C-USA championship game, which at this point appears likely to be Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky, would probably head to New Orleans to meet the Sun Belt Conference champion.
The other championship contestant is likely to play in the The Heart of Dallas Bowl. It's the only game in which Conference USA faces a Power 5 school, from the Big Ten. Bowl officials want a competitive game and C-USA would want to send the best team possible against a name opponent.
Either game would especially make sense for Louisiana Tech, which is within driving distance of Dallas and New Orleans.
ODU's basketball team and about 100 fans are headed for a tournament in the Bahamas Thanksgiving week. Stranger things have happened, but it doesn't seem to make sense for the Monarch football team, and many of those same fans, to return just a few weeks later.
Boca Raton, however, would be an attractive bowl for the Monarchs. It's the closest bowl game with a C-USA tie-in to Norfolk. ODU took several hundred fans to Boca Raton two years ago when the Monarchs played Florida Atlantic. ODU figures to take a decent following to South Florida for its first bowl game, which would have to be attractive to bowl officials.
If ODU is forced to head across the country, then New Mexico seems like a likely place. It's generally slotted for Texas teams, but it's possible that no Texas teams will qualify.
Albuquerque doesn't have a beach, but it is one of America's most scenic and historic cities.
The Hawaii Bowl is a wild card. The game will attract a very good Mountain West team, perhaps Boise State or Air Force, and bowl officials might want a more established program, such as Middle Tennessee or Western Kentucky.
But like I said, if ODU goes 9-3 and plays in the C-USA championship game, perhaps the Monarchs become one of those established teams.
How will Conference USA's 6 bowl bids be parceled out?
I emailed Merton Hanks, C-USA's senior associate commissioner, last week to discuss that, and he said it would be more appropriate to talk about that when the bowl games get a little closer.
Fair enough.
Here's what I know about the bowl selection process:
Once a week, Conference USA officials hold a teleconference to discuss the bowl games. Who might go where. What the bowl officials are saying. How would certain bowls fit into the winter graduation schedule for C-USA schools.
In other words, discussions, and even lobbying, are already occurring.
Generally, bowl selections come down to something of a group decision. The league champion generally gets the call as to where it wants to play.
However, bowl game officials, ESPN, which televises all six games and has an ownership interest in some of the games; C-USA officials and the schools themselves will all have a say. In the end, if a school is told to go to a bowl it might not find that attractive, officials will salute and go.
I asked senior associate athletic director Bruce Stewart and he confirmed that the school got passports for players and coaches just in case they head to the Bahamas. NCAA rules allow schools to purchase passports for their players.
Bowl bids will be announced on December 4, the day after the C-USA championship game.
Could more than six Conference USA teams qualify for bids, and if so, does that mean ODU might not go to a bowl?
ODU, Western Kentucky, Louisiana Tech and Middle Tennessee State are the four schools to qualify. And no, I can't think of any scenario in which ODU is excluded from a bowl game.
Southern Mississippi (5-4) and Texas-San Antonio (5-4) are a victory away from qualifying, while North Texas (4-5), Charlotte (4-5) and UTEP (3-6) still could become bowl eligible.
That doesn't mean nine teams will be bowl eligible. They will knock each other out of bowl contention in the coming weeks. C-USA could again end up with five bowl teams, as it did last season. More likely, six or seven will qualify.
The good news for ODU is that the Monarchs would get the nod for a bowl bid ahead of UTSA, Charlotte and UTEP because they have beaten all three teams.
Late-season results in C-USA have been fascinating and full of upsets. Charlotte, UTSA and North Texas were not expected to be contenders. Charlotte is just in its fourth season of football, yet the 49ers have won three of four games since being blown out at home by ODU, 52-17.
UTSA will be a huge underdog at Louisiana Tech and Texas A&M the next two weeks. The Roadrunners conclude the season on Nov. 26 against Charlotte, a game that could decide a bowl bid.
After opening with a 44-35 victory at Kentucky, Southern Miss was expected to waltz to a bowl bid, but limps into Foreman Field next week to play ODU having lost three of its last four games.
North Texas must win two of its last three, and begins with a difficult road trip to Western Kentucky.
We'll know more in a couple of weeks.
Something to keep in mind is that last year, the bowls came up a couple of teams short of schools with the minimum 6-6 record. Two 5-7 teams went to bowl games.
That could happen again this year. So far, 50 teams have qualified to fill 80 slots.
If C-USA produces more than six bowl teams, some could end up playing in bowl games aligned with other conferences. Games in Miami Beach and Montgomery and Mobile, Ala. seem to be potential candidates.
Can ODU really win the East Division title?
Possibly but not likely. The Monarchs caught a break Saturday night when UTSA stunned Middle Tennessee, 45-25, and knocked the Blue Raiders (6-3, 3-2) into third place. ODU is tied for first in the loss column with Western Kentucky.
However, because WKU has beaten ODU, the Hilltoppers need only to win their final two games to claim the East title. And I think they will win both games handily. They host North Texas next week, and after a bye, travel to Marshall on Nov. 26.
Marshall has a great program, but from what I saw of the Herd against ODU, they just don't have the talent to defeat WKU.
There have been horror stories about schools losing hundreds of thousands of dollars going to bowl games. Could that happen to ODU?
Not a chance, says athletic director Wood Selig. C-USA combines TV and bowl payouts, puts them in a pot and distributes them to teams to offset travel costs.
"It's as good a conference plan as I've ever seen," he said. "It's designed so that no one goes into debt because of their on the field success."
Conference USA picks up the tab for a travel party of 200 people and pays their hotel and meal expenses as well, regardless of whether you're headed to Boca Raton or Honolulu.
"You keep the first $100,000 revenue you make from game tickets," he said. "That gives everyone the incentive to sell tickets.
"They give you a per diem for a travel party of up to 200 people. That's very generous.
"They even have provisions to help the band and cheerleaders to travel. It's a very competitive plan that leaves participating bowl institutions in good financial shape.
"I've talked to schools that went last year and most were averaging traveling parties between 215 to 225. So there will be some expenses. There will be gifts for the players and other things.
''But Conference USA's bowl setup makes it a very painless process financially."
Where would ODU like to go to a bowl?
Said Selig: "We'll be happy with any bowl that we're selected for. It's a very historic moment.
How did the players react to becoming bowl eligible in the locker room? After all, coach Bobby Wilder had indicated that the team's primary goal was to compete for the East Division title and not clinch a bowl bid?
Minutes before the game ended, Wilder got a Gatorade bath. He described the locker room scene as a pep rally. "It was pure joy," he said.
Yes, earning their first bowl bid was a big deal.
He recalled the pain ODU has suffered, including an 80-20 loss at North Carolina in 2013, and a 49-0 beatdown at home last season to Appalachian State, the last four seasons as the Monarchs made the move up.
"Starting three years ago, we tried to start redshirting players," Wilder said. "We knew that would probably cost us in some games and we would take some lumps. We were 6-6 two years ago and 5-7 last year. But now we are starting to see the benefit of redshirting all of the players that we did and that is how we improved. We redshirted players and allowed them to grow and develop."
Did Wilder seem more emotional than usual?
He did. The last three years have been a difficult experience for a program that began with four winning seasons.
"When you are a startup program and your historic moment happens at home, it is really hard to describe," Wilder said. "I don't even have any words to describe to you what the locker room just felt like.
"I asked Dr. Selig and Bruce Stewart to come in. Bruce has been here with me from almost the start. That was really special and it meant a lot to me to have them be a part of it. This has been a really rewarding and sometimes painful process for the last three years and to get to a bowl game makes it special."
ODU's incoming recruiting class isn't that all highly rated. Will this help recruiting?
Inclement weather forced two of ODU's first three games to be pushed back or forward, and so recruiting trips scheduled for that weekend were postponed. Saturday night, more than 50 potential recruits walked the sidelines before the game, watched the game from the stands and then were in the locker room when the Monarchs celebrated.
ODU's class won't be rated highly because it's going to be small, perhaps 15 players. ODU has just 14 seniors. That means 101 of 115 players are returning, including the vast majority of starters and nearly every backup. At most positions (quarterback remains a big question mark), ODU will be improved next season.
ODU captains Rashaad Coward, David Washington, T.J. Ricks and Zach Pascal dumped two containers of liquid on Wilder, but it looked clear. Did he truly get a Gatorade bath?
"Yes it was," Wilder said. "That was the best Gatorade bath ever. It was direct hits on both of them. They did not miss. I loved it."
NORFOLK
An hour after his Old Dominion football team had crushed Marshall, 38-14, coach Bobby Wilder stood up to leave from his post-game press conference. But then he bent down to make one final comment.
"Let's go somewhere warm in a month," he said.
ODU is indeed headed somewhere warm. Honolulu perhaps? The Bahamas, Florida, the beautiful terrain in New Mexico or the Big Easy?
For the first time in its eight seasons of football, ODU is headed to a bowl game. The Monarchs became the fourth Conference USA team to become bowl eligible and the league has six bowls, all in tropical locations or in the scenic Southwest.
ODU (6-3, 4-1 C-USA) could still win the Conference USA championship, although that remains a long-shot
There are three games left, and after Southern Mississippi was upset by Charlotte, 38-27, Saturday night, it seems likely that ODU will be favored in all three games. The Golden Eagles come to Foreman Field next weekend.
A 9-3 record could make ODU a more attractive bowl option, and alter where the Monarchs go.
For now, here are some questions and answers about ODU's postseason future:
Where are the Monarchs most likely headed?
It's too early to say with any certainty, but I think ESPN and USA Today are as close to being correct as anyone.
USA Today has ODU playing Memphis in the Marmot Boca Raton Bowl, as does ESPN's Brett McMurphy.
+11
However, ESPN's Mark Schlabach has ODU playing New Mexico at its home stadium in Albuquerque. That would be a difficult game in a hostile environment, but the great thing about the New Mexico Bowl is that it is the first bowl game of the season. It would give ODU a lot of TV visibility.
+11
By Harry Minium
The Virginian-Pilot
Conference USA has ties to four other bowls: the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the Heart of Dallas Bowl, the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl and the Hawaii Bowl.
Quick aside: Notice that every game is in an attractive city. Although Conference USA has its detractors, its bowl agreements are perhaps the best among the mid-major schools.
There's also a secondary agreement with the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. Shreveport doesn't have the allure of Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas or Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but it likely would offer a chance to play a Power 5 school. The bowl has agreements with the ACC and SEC, but C-USA could provide a team if either conference does not have enough that qualify.
While some analysts have predicted ODU will play in Dallas and New Orleans, I don't think the stars will align for ODU with either bowl.
A team that plays in the C-USA championship game, which at this point appears likely to be Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky, would probably head to New Orleans to meet the Sun Belt Conference champion.
The other championship contestant is likely to play in the The Heart of Dallas Bowl. It's the only game in which Conference USA faces a Power 5 school, from the Big Ten. Bowl officials want a competitive game and C-USA would want to send the best team possible against a name opponent.
Either game would especially make sense for Louisiana Tech, which is within driving distance of Dallas and New Orleans.
ODU's basketball team and about 100 fans are headed for a tournament in the Bahamas Thanksgiving week. Stranger things have happened, but it doesn't seem to make sense for the Monarch football team, and many of those same fans, to return just a few weeks later.
Boca Raton, however, would be an attractive bowl for the Monarchs. It's the closest bowl game with a C-USA tie-in to Norfolk. ODU took several hundred fans to Boca Raton two years ago when the Monarchs played Florida Atlantic. ODU figures to take a decent following to South Florida for its first bowl game, which would have to be attractive to bowl officials.
If ODU is forced to head across the country, then New Mexico seems like a likely place. It's generally slotted for Texas teams, but it's possible that no Texas teams will qualify.
Albuquerque doesn't have a beach, but it is one of America's most scenic and historic cities.
The Hawaii Bowl is a wild card. The game will attract a very good Mountain West team, perhaps Boise State or Air Force, and bowl officials might want a more established program, such as Middle Tennessee or Western Kentucky.
But like I said, if ODU goes 9-3 and plays in the C-USA championship game, perhaps the Monarchs become one of those established teams.
How will Conference USA's 6 bowl bids be parceled out?
I emailed Merton Hanks, C-USA's senior associate commissioner, last week to discuss that, and he said it would be more appropriate to talk about that when the bowl games get a little closer.
Fair enough.
Here's what I know about the bowl selection process:
Once a week, Conference USA officials hold a teleconference to discuss the bowl games. Who might go where. What the bowl officials are saying. How would certain bowls fit into the winter graduation schedule for C-USA schools.
In other words, discussions, and even lobbying, are already occurring.
Generally, bowl selections come down to something of a group decision. The league champion generally gets the call as to where it wants to play.
However, bowl game officials, ESPN, which televises all six games and has an ownership interest in some of the games; C-USA officials and the schools themselves will all have a say. In the end, if a school is told to go to a bowl it might not find that attractive, officials will salute and go.
I asked senior associate athletic director Bruce Stewart and he confirmed that the school got passports for players and coaches just in case they head to the Bahamas. NCAA rules allow schools to purchase passports for their players.
Bowl bids will be announced on December 4, the day after the C-USA championship game.
Could more than six Conference USA teams qualify for bids, and if so, does that mean ODU might not go to a bowl?
ODU, Western Kentucky, Louisiana Tech and Middle Tennessee State are the four schools to qualify. And no, I can't think of any scenario in which ODU is excluded from a bowl game.
Southern Mississippi (5-4) and Texas-San Antonio (5-4) are a victory away from qualifying, while North Texas (4-5), Charlotte (4-5) and UTEP (3-6) still could become bowl eligible.
That doesn't mean nine teams will be bowl eligible. They will knock each other out of bowl contention in the coming weeks. C-USA could again end up with five bowl teams, as it did last season. More likely, six or seven will qualify.
The good news for ODU is that the Monarchs would get the nod for a bowl bid ahead of UTSA, Charlotte and UTEP because they have beaten all three teams.
Late-season results in C-USA have been fascinating and full of upsets. Charlotte, UTSA and North Texas were not expected to be contenders. Charlotte is just in its fourth season of football, yet the 49ers have won three of four games since being blown out at home by ODU, 52-17.
UTSA will be a huge underdog at Louisiana Tech and Texas A&M the next two weeks. The Roadrunners conclude the season on Nov. 26 against Charlotte, a game that could decide a bowl bid.
After opening with a 44-35 victory at Kentucky, Southern Miss was expected to waltz to a bowl bid, but limps into Foreman Field next week to play ODU having lost three of its last four games.
North Texas must win two of its last three, and begins with a difficult road trip to Western Kentucky.
We'll know more in a couple of weeks.
Something to keep in mind is that last year, the bowls came up a couple of teams short of schools with the minimum 6-6 record. Two 5-7 teams went to bowl games.
That could happen again this year. So far, 50 teams have qualified to fill 80 slots.
If C-USA produces more than six bowl teams, some could end up playing in bowl games aligned with other conferences. Games in Miami Beach and Montgomery and Mobile, Ala. seem to be potential candidates.
Can ODU really win the East Division title?
Possibly but not likely. The Monarchs caught a break Saturday night when UTSA stunned Middle Tennessee, 45-25, and knocked the Blue Raiders (6-3, 3-2) into third place. ODU is tied for first in the loss column with Western Kentucky.
However, because WKU has beaten ODU, the Hilltoppers need only to win their final two games to claim the East title. And I think they will win both games handily. They host North Texas next week, and after a bye, travel to Marshall on Nov. 26.
Marshall has a great program, but from what I saw of the Herd against ODU, they just don't have the talent to defeat WKU.
There have been horror stories about schools losing hundreds of thousands of dollars going to bowl games. Could that happen to ODU?
Not a chance, says athletic director Wood Selig. C-USA combines TV and bowl payouts, puts them in a pot and distributes them to teams to offset travel costs.
"It's as good a conference plan as I've ever seen," he said. "It's designed so that no one goes into debt because of their on the field success."
Conference USA picks up the tab for a travel party of 200 people and pays their hotel and meal expenses as well, regardless of whether you're headed to Boca Raton or Honolulu.
"You keep the first $100,000 revenue you make from game tickets," he said. "That gives everyone the incentive to sell tickets.
"They give you a per diem for a travel party of up to 200 people. That's very generous.
"They even have provisions to help the band and cheerleaders to travel. It's a very competitive plan that leaves participating bowl institutions in good financial shape.
"I've talked to schools that went last year and most were averaging traveling parties between 215 to 225. So there will be some expenses. There will be gifts for the players and other things.
''But Conference USA's bowl setup makes it a very painless process financially."
Where would ODU like to go to a bowl?
Said Selig: "We'll be happy with any bowl that we're selected for. It's a very historic moment.
How did the players react to becoming bowl eligible in the locker room? After all, coach Bobby Wilder had indicated that the team's primary goal was to compete for the East Division title and not clinch a bowl bid?
Minutes before the game ended, Wilder got a Gatorade bath. He described the locker room scene as a pep rally. "It was pure joy," he said.
Yes, earning their first bowl bid was a big deal.
He recalled the pain ODU has suffered, including an 80-20 loss at North Carolina in 2013, and a 49-0 beatdown at home last season to Appalachian State, the last four seasons as the Monarchs made the move up.
"Starting three years ago, we tried to start redshirting players," Wilder said. "We knew that would probably cost us in some games and we would take some lumps. We were 6-6 two years ago and 5-7 last year. But now we are starting to see the benefit of redshirting all of the players that we did and that is how we improved. We redshirted players and allowed them to grow and develop."
Did Wilder seem more emotional than usual?
He did. The last three years have been a difficult experience for a program that began with four winning seasons.
"When you are a startup program and your historic moment happens at home, it is really hard to describe," Wilder said. "I don't even have any words to describe to you what the locker room just felt like.
"I asked Dr. Selig and Bruce Stewart to come in. Bruce has been here with me from almost the start. That was really special and it meant a lot to me to have them be a part of it. This has been a really rewarding and sometimes painful process for the last three years and to get to a bowl game makes it special."
ODU's incoming recruiting class isn't that all highly rated. Will this help recruiting?
Inclement weather forced two of ODU's first three games to be pushed back or forward, and so recruiting trips scheduled for that weekend were postponed. Saturday night, more than 50 potential recruits walked the sidelines before the game, watched the game from the stands and then were in the locker room when the Monarchs celebrated.
ODU's class won't be rated highly because it's going to be small, perhaps 15 players. ODU has just 14 seniors. That means 101 of 115 players are returning, including the vast majority of starters and nearly every backup. At most positions (quarterback remains a big question mark), ODU will be improved next season.
ODU captains Rashaad Coward, David Washington, T.J. Ricks and Zach Pascal dumped two containers of liquid on Wilder, but it looked clear. Did he truly get a Gatorade bath?
"Yes it was," Wilder said. "That was the best Gatorade bath ever. It was direct hits on both of them. They did not miss. I loved it."
