There was a big football game the other day. Maybe you heard about it.
The biggest of football games and we witnessed it all. Hell, we’ve been there from the very beginning.
I graduated from Old Dominion University in 1990. We didn’t have a football team then, so all the attention was on basketball. I went to all the games that I could and loved every moment of it. But I also loved football. If only we had a football team. A vocal group late in my time at ODU started a movement to try to bring football to campus. I was a small part of that group, helping to get signatures for a petition and crowding a Board of Visitors meeting with signs imploring them to look into starting up a team. It didn’t work. Not even the shirts one of my fraternity brothers sold that said ODU Football – Undefeated worked. The people running the school just didn’t have the appetite to start up something as monumental as a football team. So basketball it was. And we were huge fans. After graduating we bought season tickets. We traveled with friends to away games, cheered at tournaments and watched when we went to the NCAA Tournament on numerous occasions. We also watched with pride as our new on-campus basketball arena was built and was in awe when we got to sit in our season ticket seats for the first game in the new arena vs UNC. It was so beautiful and such a leap forward. Then a few years later something crazy happened. The university announced they were going to start a football team.
We were all in, of course. We bought season tickets. We gave enough money to get a tailgating spot. We watched the coach get hired, and a team form, and the football stadium get upgrades, and then in 2009 we went to the first game. It was unbelievable. None of us could believe we actually had a team. And we won!
And now we are already in our 10th year of college football. So much has happen in all those years. We quickly climbed the ranks of FCS football getting to the second round of the playoffs in only our 3rd season and the quarterfinals in our 4th. We jumped to the FBS and joined Conference USA and in 2016 won our first bowl game. We have numerous NFL players playing today, including Taylor Heinicke of the Carolina Panthers, Rick Lovato of the Eagles, and Zach Pascal of the Colts. We also sold out every game of our first 9 seasons.
Back in 2012 shortly after we announced that we were moving up to FBS football, Virginia Tech agreed to play us in a multi year home and away series. That would mean Virginia Tech would be coming to our campus and playing us on our field. It was scheduled for 6 years from then – in 2018. That date quickly was circled on the calendar.
Virginia Tech is the highest profile team in Virginia. They really helped us out by scheduling this series because it put us on the map. Shortly after their deal, others rolled in. We have already played home and aways with NC State and UNC and have UVA, ECU and Wake Forest in the coming years. We also have a lot more games with Virginia Tech. Five more home games and six more in Blacksburg. Needless to say it was a big deal getting Tech on our schedule. Big for other reasons too. We live with the presence of Virginia Tech everyday. This area is full of alumni and parents who’s kids go or went to Tech. We work with alumni and live in the same neighborhoods with alumni. I’ve had numerous bosses over the years that had gone there and still had football season tickets. Let me tell you, it is very popular amongst this group to have a large framed picture of Tech’s stadium hanging in their office. The other thing that is very popular about the Virginia Tech fans is that they love to brag about their team. Especially if they are talking to someone who is from a school like ODU. It’s always been a struggle to be part of the conversation, because we didn’t have a football team, or we now had a football team but we were not like them. Even beating them 3 out of 4 years in basketball didn’t change things – expect the fact they stopped playing us in basketball. So the date has been circled for a long time. We may not beat them, but we will be on the same stage, and in our house.
As the years got closer we kept saying things like, can you believe that in only 3 years Tech will be coming here to play us? It’s going to be crazy! OMG. The Tech game is next year! We hosted multiple biggest games ever the past few years against NC State and UNC, but nothing was going to compare to the visit by Tech and all their fans. Could we win a game like this? I have been saying for long time that I thought we eventually could. Why not? JMU had beaten them in 2010 and we have beaten JMU every time we’ve played them. ECU has beaten them and we played very competitively against them at their stadium a few years ago. We had the chance to pull ahead late in the third quarter before we gave up a turnover. As it got closer to this season, though, I wasn’t so sure this would be the year. Tech was really good and we have been struggling to find a quarterback. Our offense hasn’t been as dynamic lately. If only this was the team that won 10 games and a bowl the year before last. Then I noticed that Tech lost a couple high profile defense players over the summer and that their secondary was mainly very young. Freshman and sophomores. Hmmm. Maybe they won’t be as good this year? But they looked so good against #18 FSU in the Monday Night season opener. Pretty dominant. I guess this won’t be the year. But then FSU lost badly to Syracuse, so FSU wasn’t really all that good. Maybe the big win over them didn’t show all that much after all. Hmmm. But we are really struggling. Losing the first three games of the season in games we were all favored to win. We are going to get pummeled by Tech. But, we have a lot of really good players, a lot of seniors, and we are deep. If we could figure out the problems we are having we should be a really good team. The main problem was consistency at QB. We were having too many three and outs which led to the defense being on the field too much – which led to fatigue late in the game – which led to loses. If we could get the offense moving, and we had the players to do that, we could start winning again. But against the #13 team in the country? Ugh.
Gameday. It was finally here! The people we tailgate with have a lot of deep connections with Tech, so we had a joint tailgate. They had some of their Tech friends there and I had some people come, so it was a good mix of blue and orange. The campus was buzzing. There were going to be Seals parachuting into the stadium just before the game! The weather was nice and sunny. It was an epic tailgating day.
The electricity and anticipation in the stadium was high as we took our seats and the surreal scene unfolded. The band, the Seal Leapfrog team, the team entrance, and the Hokies trailer looming in the distance.
Then there was finally a game. And what a game it was. Regardless of the outcome, it was a back and forth thrill fest. Every time Va Tech knocked us down and scored, we got right up and returned the favor. They had big plays. We had big plays. It was a perfect night of football.
The longer we stayed in it, though, the louder the crowd got and the looser our players played. Like they had nothing to lose. It was amazing. Still, I felt that somehow by the end of the game the Hokies would find a way to win. That’s just what happens in these match ups. But I was hoping and wishing we could find a way to pull it out. Late in the game we stopped them on a drive and then marched down and scored to take the lead. Then they were driving to tie the game, but our defense forced a fourth down by knocking down a pass. Tech went for it on fourth down and for the second play in a row our defense broke up the pass – and we all went nuts. My family and I were jumping up and down and I yelled – we are going to win this game! There was still over two minutes left in the game, though. Too much to run out the clock. Tech still had all their time outs and could still get the ball back, so we needed first downs. We moved the ball and got a first down and then instead of taking a knee to run the clock down, our running back broke free for a 40 yard touchdown to seal the game. It was magic. When the clock ran out and students ran out on the field and the celebration began, it didn’t feel real. The unbelievable ended up happening!
Afterwards I was down in the concourse waiting for my family to come out of the bathroom when a group of older Tech fans walked by me. One of the ladies looked up at me and said that it was a great game and congratulations. Then a man who had to be in his 80’s came up to me and shook my hand and also told me what a great game it was and that ODU deserved to win. They were all class. It looks like we are finally part of the conversation…
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