ODU Football Team Falls to Tulsa, 30-17, in Myrtle Beach Bowl

By Harry Minium

CONWAY, S.C. – The Old Dominion football team wanted so much more. The Monarchs came to the Myrtle Beach Bowl to claim a championship trophy and end a remarkable, turnaround season with their sixth consecutive victory.
 
But stymied by a large and powerful Tulsa defense, the Monarchs fell to the Golden Hurricane, 30-17, before a crowd of 6,557 at Coastal Carolina's Brooks Stadium.
 
The loss ended a memorable season for the Monarchs, who finished 6-7, their best record since 2016.
 
ODU was coming off three consecutive losing seasons, including a 1-11 record in 2019, and didn't play in 2020. After ODU lost six of its first seven games this season, the Monarchs were derided by some in the national media as one of the Sad Sacks in FBS.
 
At one time, cbssports.com rated ODU the second-worst team in FBS.
 
Yet the Monarchs won their final five regular-season games, including a 56-34 Conference USA victory over Charlotte on Nov. 30, to become a comeback story that drew national interest.
 
Regardless of the outcome of the Myrtle Beach Bowl, the Monarchs changed the perception of ODU football from a team drowning in mediocrity to a program to ascending back into its traditional role as a consistent winner. Prior to 2017, ODU had six winning records and one 6-6 mark in eight seasons.
 
More than 5,000 Monarch fans made the trip to Myrtle Beach, which thrilled bowl officials and gave ODU a decided home-field advantage.
 
Tulsa (7-6), from the American Athletic Conference, was the favorite and showed why with a hard-hitting performance from a bigger and more experienced team. Tulsa played a more difficult schedule than ODU, defeating SMU and Memphis and suffering narrow losses to Cincinnati and Oklahoma State.
 
With 25 seniors, more than double the number at ODU, Tulsa was a much more experienced team.
 
ODU's offense, which scored seven touchdowns against Charlotte, simply could not move the ball most of the game against a unique Tulsa defense. The Golden Hurricane generally rush three defensive linemen and play three safeties, leaving eight defenders in pass coverage on most plays.
 
ODU was outgained, 529-247, in offensive yardage.
 
"Tulsa played a real good football game. They coached a good game," coach Ricky Rahne said. "They had a good game plan.
 
"We didn't coach well enough and we didn't play well enough to win that game. Hats off to coach (Phil) Montgomery and his staff."
 
Rahne acknowledged that after such a bitter defeat, he was not in any mindset to reflect on the season.
 
"I would rather marinate in this pain a little bit," he said, "All emotion is good emotion, especially for men, who don't always show emotion with each other.
 
"I think it's good that you feel that pain and understand what it feels like."
 
It was a game ODU could have won, said ODU quarterback Hayden Wolff.
 
"That's a very good, a very well-coached team," he said of Tulsa. "But we had opportunities that we left on the field."
 
ODU trailed 17-10 at halftime and then was undone in part by a disastrous third quarter in which the Monarchs had a net loss of two yards on just six plays, including a key play in which what appeared to be a sure ODU touchdown turned into a touchback.
 
Tulsa extended the lead to 23-10 on a pair of Zack Long field goals, the second from 25 yards right after quarterback Davis Brin, who was still in the pocket, threw the ball into an area where there were no receivers.
 
Intentional grounding was not called. That would have made that field goal a 45-yarder, a much more difficult kick. Much to the chagrin of Rahne, after huddling briefly, the refs made no call.
 
Things then got a little crazy later on in the third quarter as Tulsa self-destructed on back-to-back plays and allowed ODU to get back into the game. The Golden Hurricane was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which turned a fourth and 1 from the 32 into fourth and 16 from the 47.
 
Punter Lacklan Wilson then tried an ill-advised fake punt that was snuffed out by freshman linebacker Jason Henderson at the ODU 48.
 
Blake Watson then ran for 22 yards and Wolff passed 30 yards to wide receiver Ali Jennings III on what may have been the game's biggest play. Had Jennings scored, ODU would have narrowed the lead to six points.
 
But only steps from the end zone, Jennings had the ball poked away from behind by Tyon Davis, who showed great hustle in catching Jennings from behind. The ball bounced out of the end zone for a touchback, which gave Tulsa the ball back with 13 minutes left.
 
Ethan Hall then extended the lead to 30-10 when he hauled in a 4-yard pass from Brin with 9:04 left.
 
"I know Ali feels terrible about that play," Rahne said. "But that kid made so many plays for us this year. We're not in the position we are without him making those plays this year.
 
"It's never one play, ever, ever, ever. One play never decides a game.
 
"We had so many other opportunities to change the game. He'll learn from that experience and I think that wil be fire for him, fuel for him in the offseason."
 
ODU then quickly scored on a 60-yard drive, capped by a two-yard touchdown run from Watson, to cut the lead to 30-17 two minutes later. But Tulsa then mounted a sustained drive that thwarted any chance for an ODU comeback.
 
 The game began as well as could be expected for the Monarchs as LaMareon James, the freshman from Indian River High School, electrified the crowd, and the ODU sideline, by returning the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown.
 
It was the second kickoff return of the season he returned for a TD.
 
But Rahne had warned that tackling was his biggest worry, because the Monarchs had not tackled live in nearly three weeks, and the rustiness showed as Tulsa responded with two quick touchdowns.
 
The Golden Hurricane drove 75 yards in just 1:34, with Shamari Brooks scoring from the one. Tulsa then took 3:46 to score again, as Brin capped a 75-yard drive with a 23-yard pass to Josh Johnson to give Tulsa a 14-7 lead.
 
Tulsa was again driving when the Golden Hurricane rolled the dice and went for it on fourth and 1 at the ODU 46. Linebacker Jordan Young shot through the line and tackled Brayton Braxton for a two-yard loss.
 
It was the 341st tackle of his career and set a new ODU tackling record. He finished with 10 tackles and 349 for his career.
 
"I'm very very thankful that he got the record," Rahne said. "I'm very thankful that ESPN and the Myrtle beach Bowl gave him that opportunity.
 
"He probably feels like his heart has been ripped out right now, but a month from now, that record is going to mean a lot to him."
 
Young, a sixth-year senior, said that given a few hours or a few days, coaches and teammates will begin to put the season in perspective.
 
"We should hold our heads high," he said. "We accomplished a lot of good things this year. There are a lot of things we should be proud of."
 
When asked what he told his team following the game, Rahne showed some perspective.
 
"I told them that they may never play for a team that's this tight and they may never play on a team that has the character of the the guys they played with this season," he said.
 
He said he wanted every player to "dap" all of their teammates, which means to give a high five, or congratulate each other.
 
"They don't know when they will ever see all of these guys again," he said.
 
Rahne came to ODU from Penn State, where he was offensive coordinator and this was his 11th season in a row, not counting 2020, in which he has gone to a bowl. Yet this team, he said, will always occupy a huge place in his heart, he said.
 
"I'm never going to forget this team, ever, as long as I live," he said. "I have not been good at keeping memorabilia. I've probably lost some things I wish we'd kept.
 
"But we're going to need a storage facility because I'm going to keep a lot of things from this team. This team means so very much to me."
 
NOTES:  ODU played in its second bowl game and first since the 2016 Bahamas Bowl, a 24-20 win over Eastern Michigan … Jordan Young and Isaac Weaver tied the ODU career record for starts with 48. They are tied with Craig Wilkins and Oshane Ximines … Jordan Young surpassed Craig Wilkins as ODU's all-time leading tackler. Young needed two tackles to pass Wilkins. He finished the game with 10 tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack … Jason Henderson, R'Tarriun Johnson and Terry Jones each recorded career highs in tackles ... Henderson, a true freshman, and Johnson each had 13 tackles, Jones had 12 … Blake Watson rushed for 77 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown … He finished the season with 1,112 yards, third most in a single season at ODU.