Old Dominion is headed to the Myrtle Beach Bowl to face Tulsa

David Hall, The Virginian-Pilot
·2 min read
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Old Dominion is going to the beach.

The Monarchs, fresh off an unlikely 6-6 regular season that included a clunky 1-6 start, will face Tulsa in the second iteration of the Myrtle Beach Bowl on Dec. 20 in Conway, South Carolina, ODU announced Sunday.

ODU, which has won five straight, will seek its second bowl victory in program history, the first coming in the 2016 Bahamas Bowl over Eastern Michigan.

Second-year Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne, whose team sat out last season due to COVID-19 pandemic concerns, will make his 11th consecutive bowl appearance after a stint as Penn State’s offensive coordinator.

“We are absolutely thrilled to be headed to the Myrtle Beach Bowl,” ODU athletic director Wood Selig said. “Certainly, Ricky Rahne and our amazing coaching staff did a wonderful job this season getting such a young team in such an enviable postseason position.”

Tulsa (6-6), which plays in the American Athletic Conference, ended the regular season with a 34-31 win at Southern Methodist. The Golden Hurricane went 5-3 in the AAC.

The Monarchs, who went 5-3 in Conference USA, finished the regular season with a 56-34 rout of Charlotte on Nov. 27 at S.B. Ballard Stadium. The game marked ODU’s highest scoring output since a 77-14 win over Virginia Military Institute in 2018.

With his team’s potential postseason future up in the air after the Charlotte game, Rahne said his players deserved the opportunity.

“You want to talk about a group that’s going to be very thankful and unbelievably appreciative of any opportunity they get to play one more game together?” he said. “That’d be us.”

ODU and Tulsa were both in C-USA when the Monarchs joined the league in 2013-14. However, Tulsa left in 2014-15 to join the Big East, which later became the AAC. The schools have never met in football.

The Myrtle Beach Bowl will take place at 2:30 p.m. at Coastal Carolina’s 20,000-seat Brooks Stadium. Tickets for the game are available at www.odusports.com.

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com