By Harry Minium
The memory is a fickle thing. You might remember an event in your life, or a game in which you played or watched, not quite the way it really happened.
Your mind might exaggerate details that are fond and forget those that are unpleasant. When you get old like me, you take photos or write things down to remember them.
Fortunately, I was on the sidelines with an IPhone and took some video on Sept. 22, 2018, when Old Dominion shocked the college football world by upsetting 13-ranked Virginia Tech, 49-35.
I remember the crowd buzzing like I've never heard before at Foreman Field. The emotion of the home crowd was as intense as I experienced at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium.
I watched all of that video Monday night and it confirmed that most of my memories of that historic night were spot-on.
If you were there, and a record crowd of 20,583 crowded into the 82-year-old stadium, the video below is a 2-minute look back at that memorable night, some of it behind the scenes. I'm far from the best videographer in the world but seeing the emotion in the locker room was priceless.
If you're thirsting for a longer look back, and if you're an ODU fan you should be, then head towww.odusports.comWednesday night at 7 when ODU replays the original broadcast of the game from the CBS Sports Network.
The network broadcast did not begin until five minutes were gone, meaning all of you watching on TV missed when it when Blake LaRussa, the walk-on from Chesapeake, entered the game on the second series and completed a 30-yard pass to Travis Fulgham that marked the beginning of one of the greatest quarterback performances in ODU history.
The CBS Sports Network found those five minutes and have added them to the broadcast.
Instead of advertisements, you will hear interviews with some of the guys who pulled off this mammoth upset, including LaRussa, now-New York Giants defensive end Oshane Ximines, Fulgham and center Nick Clarke.
Eric Bohannon, Tina Price, Ted Alexander, Boyzie Hayes, Paul Briggs and others worked hard to put this together. Hook your computer to your TV, pop some popcorn and enjoy the fruits of their labor: one of the most improbable victories in modern college football history.
You may not remember what a mammoth upset it turned out to be.
ODU was 0-3 and was a month removed from a 52-10 beat-down at Liberty University, which was a year removed from FCS.
Tech was 2-0, and crushed Florida State in Tallahassee. Even on the road, the Hokies were 29-point favorites. ESPN gave ODU a 1.8 percent chance of winning, and in some circles, even that was generous.
At the time, the Hokies were the New England Patriots of Virginia college football. They had been to 29 consecutive bowl games and had won 14 in a row over archrival Virginia. And their fan base dominated the commonwealth.
The stature of Tech's program, and the fact that the game was played in Norfolk, made it (in my opinion) the greatest moment in ODU sports history.
Yes, the women's basketball program won three national titles and the men a Division II national crown. And there was that 1981 men's basketball upset of No. 1 DePaul.
But it's much, much harder to build a football program in a mid-major conference that can compete with the Power 5 school ranked among the nation's elite. And for one night, ODU not only competed, the Monarchs won convincingly.
By midway through the fourth quarter, the Monarchs had worn down the Hokies. They rang up 632 offensive yards, the most ever allowed by a defense coached by Tech's legendary coordinator Bud Foster. The Monarchs scored on their last four possessions and did so with apparent ease.
LaRussa was the story of the game. He came off the bench to complete 30 of 49 passes for 495 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another.
Let me repeat what I said about Blake earlier – he walked-on at ODU without a scholarship. He had no Division I offers playing at Catholic High in Virginia Beach and since making the roster at ODU, had not distinguished himself in previous game appearances.
He stands 5-foot-11 on a good day and isn't particularly fast.
But he's smart, is a great passer and used his instincts and football IQ to bedevil the Hokies. Several times he faked a handoff to Cox and then shot around the end for a much-needed gain, including a third-down run for a first down when the Monarchs were nursing a 7-point lead with 2:45 left.
When he passed, and a receiver was covered, he gave the receiver a chance to catch the ball.
And did Travis Fulgham (nine receptions for 188 yards and a touchdown) and Jonathan Duhart (nine receptions for 142 yards and three touchdowns) ever go up in the air and grab some big receptions.
A photograph of them leaping in the air and doing an air high-five has become an iconic symbol for ODU.
Running back Jeremy Cox played the game of his injury-plagued career, rushing 20 times for 130 yards and two touchdowns, the last a 40-yard jaunt in which he broke a couple of tackles and then outran the safety to score with 1:34 left.
The TV announcers correctly said that ODU could have clinched the victory by simply taking a knee. But taking a knee was the last thing on anyone's mind.
At that point, the 4,000 or so Tech adherents began departing while the home fans screamed with delight. People in the stands were hugging each other and the students were already itching to storm the field. Few departed to beat the traffic jam. Nearly every ODU fan stayed to enjoy the celebration.
I was behind the goal post in the south end zone and turned to see Jena Virga, who heads athletic fundraising for ODU, and former Monarch publicist Debbie White both crying. Bruce Stewart, the senior associate athletic director who is in charge of football, wasn't crying, but his face was a ball of emotion and his eyes misty.
As time expired, the fog horn atop the Atlantic Bay Football Complex sounded for a minute or so. Most players ran to midfield to celebrate but others got down on their knees and prayed. Some fell on the field, unable to quite take in what they had done, including LaRussa, who when asked, do you realize what you accomplished tonight said, no, he had no idea.
Ximines and other teammates motioned for the student body to crash the gate holding them back in the north end zone and what seemed like 2,000 students came rushing onto the field.
Head coach Bobby Wilder gathered them around him in a celebratory mash pit.
"I know I'll cherish this forever," Wilder said, later in the locker room.
I had only recently been added to ODU's staff and it was only my second time in the locker room following a game. There were some magical moments that occurred out of sight of most fans.
President John R. Broderick and his wife, First Lady Kate Broderick, had been to Connecticut that morning, at the funeral of his father, Donald Broderick. They flew back to Norfolk and arrived as the game was being played.
"This morning might have been the saddest of my life," President Broderick told the players.
"This morning, we buried my dad. And to come back here and to get this, I can't thank you enough. And I know somewhere up there, because he was a big fan of coach Wilder's, he's looking down here and saying . . . "
The rest of what he said was drowned out by players cheering.
Athletic director Wood Selig, who scheduled the game, and has scheduled five more home games with the Hokies in the future, told the players something they may not have realized at the time, but clearly do today.
"This is something you will remember the rest of your life," he said. "You will never forget what happened tonight."
Most of us who were there won't forget it either.
ODU failed to gain momentum from that victory. The Monarchs went 3-5 the rest of the season and 1-11 in 2019.
Wilder resigned and was replaced in December by Ricky Rahne, the former offensive coordinator at Penn State. When hired, he said that the victory over Virginia Tech had raised a lot of eyebrows at Penn State.
I believe that night was an example, in time, of what ODU's program could become. Hampton Roads is a recruiting hotbed and Monarch football is the biggest game in a region with 1.7 million people. There is vast potential here.
Rahne and his staff are recruiting as well as officials had hoped. He will rebuild this program and lead it back to respectability in short order.
When that will happen, we're not sure. The pandemic that has caused so much death and economic pain has put the 2020 football season in jeopardy.
Just one more reason to fret.
But for one night, forget all of your problems and spend a few hours taking a look back at a simply joyous night for ODU football.
I'll be watching with you.
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Minium: Take Some Time Wednesday Night to Relive ODU's Greatest Football Moment, a 49-35 Win Over Virginia Tech
