SportsCollege

Actions

ODU, Hampton open season Sunday

Posted at 2:24 PM, Sep 04, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-04 14:24:01-04
ODU Ballard Stadium

ODU S.B Ballard Stadium

NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion University Football opens the 2016 season at Foreman Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium against Hampton Sunday at 3:30pm. The Monarchs went 5-7 last season and 3-5 in Conference USA while the Pirates finished 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the MEAC.

• Old Dominion and Hampton will play for the fifth time Sunday, and the second time the two schools will meet in the season opener.

• Old Dominion University begins its eighth season of football this year. The Monarchs are 57-27 all-time under head coach Bobby Wilder. ODU went 5-7 last season and is coming off its first losing season in school history.

• Head Coach Bobby Wilder is the 14th longest tenured head coach in the FBS and the third longest in Conference USA. David Bailiff of Rice was hired one month before Wilder.

• ODU has 56 players that hail from the state of Virginia and 27 from Hampton Roads, led by 10 players from Virginia Beach and eight from Chesapeake.  The Monarchs also have nine players from Richmond.

• The Monarchs return 17 starters from a season ago, nine on offense and eight on defense.

• The Pirates went 2-3 on the road last season, closing out the campaign with a 42-3 defeat of Savannah State. Hampton’s only other road win last season came at Morgan State – and the Pirates are a combined 3-8 in true road games under head coach Connell Maynor. Hampton has five true road games this season, including two non-conference games (ODU, Coastal Carolina).

Since 1902, Hampton is 75-36-3 all-time in season openers. The Pirates won their opener a year ago, 35-20 vs. Kentucky State. That victory snapped a three-game losing streak in season openers.