Minium: Coming Off a Big Victory, ODU Football Could Claim an Even Bigger Win Saturday at JMU

NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion's football team won a big game last weekend when the Monarchs toppled Appalachian State, and the reaction among the media was predictable.
 
Picked dead last among the 14 Sun Belt schools in nearly all preseason polls, the Monarchs (4-3 overall, 3-1 Sun Belt), who have won three of their last four games, are now getting some respect from the media that has oft belittled them much of this season.
 
I saw headlines such as "ODU Proves It's for Real" on football web sites and several sites who rank Sun Belt teams moved the Monarchs from near the bottom to the middle of the 14 teams. And it wasn't just football that benefited from ODU's 28-21 victory.
 
ODU head baseball coach Chris Finwood had a slew of recruits at the game and they drank in the atmosphere created by the crowd of 20,017 in a game not decided until the final play.
 
"Our players and their families had a great time," Finwood said. "The crowd was amazing. It was a big win for our football program. And it was also a big win for the school."
 
The Monarchs could claim a much bigger victory on Saturday when they travel to James Madison for an 8 p.m. game to be televised on ESPNU.
 
This game would be a big deal under any circumstances. When JMU and ODU joined the Sun Belt, they instantly became arch rivals.


 
The teams met only twice when they were both FCS schools, and ODU won both games. They've only met once in FBS, last season when JMU defeated ODU at S.B. Ballard Stadium.

ODU head coach Ricky Rahne said at his weekly press conference Monday that most Monarchs fans consider JMU the University's biggest football rival.

There's a reason, he added, that TowneBank sponsors the Royal Rivalry competition between the two schools, in which every game in every sport between ODU and JMU counts.
 
ODU center Xavier Black, who grew up 34 minutes away from Harrisonburg in Fishersville, Virginia, said "it's personal for a lot of us" because so many players on both teams know each other.
 
"This will always be a big game," he said, adding, "we have a lot of respect for their program and their great history."
 
The circumstances this season make it a little bigger than usual.
 
The Dukes (7-0, 4-0) are unbeaten and jumped into the national Top 25 in both the coaches' and sports writers' polls. And alas for JMU, the Dukes are ineligible to play for the Sun Belt championship or go to a postseason bowl game.


 ODU quarterback Grant Wilson on the move.

An aside here: I think, in the end, the Dukes will go bowling. There's a good chance there won't be enough teams that are 6-6 or better to fill all the bowl bids. And if that's the case, the Dukes will get a bid.
 
Saturday's game is another case for JMU to show on national TV that it's ready to play with the big boys.
 
JMU coach Curt Cignetti has downplayed his team's eligibility status, but echoed ODU's players and coaches this week about the nature of the rivalry with the Monarchs
 
"It's a state rivalry," Cignetti. "This game means a lot to a lot of people at JMU."
 
The game is also a huge opportunity for ODU. Win and the Monarchs are tied for first place in the Sun Belt East. And with four games left to play, they would need just one more victory to become bowl eligible.


 Keshawn Wicks carries an App State tackler with him.

JMU is a 19 1/2-point favorite and part of the reason is a sellout crowd of more than 25,000 people that will make a ton of noise.
 
Rahne said the rivalry with JMU is one of many benefits of having joined the Sun Belt.
 
"We have so many more regional games now that mean so much to our fan base," he said. "Regional rivalries and regional games, that's what college football has been about for a long time.
 
"I'm a little sad to see that kind of thing going away a little bit. I'm glad that we're in the Sun Belt."

Another reason to be glad? The Sun Belt's TV contract. This will be ODU's fourth national TV broadcast in eight games.

That's something that never would have happened in Conference USA. 
 
Rahne says his players "know how important the game is to our fan base.
 
"They played against a bunch of these kids in high school. So, yeah, it's going to be a fun game.

"It's a regional rivalry with some prior history. And that's what makes these games fun."
 
 Contact Minium at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram