NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion University Football will open the 2018 season at Liberty, ODU Director of Athletics Dr. Wood Selig announced on Saturday.
“We are excited to play Liberty as they prepare to move up to FBS. This gives us another opponent in Virgina and a convenient road trip for our fans. I am hopeful we can play more games with Liberty in the future,” ODU Head Coach Bobby Wilder said. “We played a great game in Norfolk in 2013 and I expect the same thing at their place. Based on our research of their current facilities and resources they will have the opportunity to be successful immediately. I know their Athletic Director Ian McCaw well and I anticipate he will help guide Liberty to a successful transition to FBS football.”
The Monarchs will open the 2018 season on the road to face the Flames, who announced in February they were making the move to FBS football. Liberty will be in their second FBS transition season and will count as an FBS opponent.
The only other time ODU and Liberty faced off was in 2013, with the Monarchs scoring a pair of touchdowns in the last five minutes for a come-from-behind 21-17 victory.
“I believe our 2018 and 2019 schedules provide a balanced mix of non-conference games that closely align with our scheduling philosophy of creating competitive balance, playing quality opponents, while maintaining fiscal integrity,” Bruce Stewart, ODU Senior Associate Athletics Director said. “One of the benefits of this arrangement is that it filled a much needed void in week one of our schedule that would have amounted to potentially having a bye week on the opening weekend of our season. Furthermore, we were able to maintain our current relationship with in state opponents, Virginia and VMI, respectively.”
The ODU versus VMI contest, which was originally scheduled for Sept. 8, has been moved to Nov. 17, while the Virginia game, originally slated for 2018, has been moved to Sept. 21, 2019.
The Monarchs and VMI have previously played twice, with ODU winning 42-35 at VMI in 2009, and topping the Keydets 45-28 in 2010 in Norfolk.
ODU Future Non-Conference Schedules
2018
Date Opponent
Sept. 1 at Liberty
Sept. 22 Virginia Tech
Sept. 29 at East Carolina
Nov. 17 VMI
2019
Date Opponent
Aug. 31 Norfolk State
Sept. 7 at Virginia Tech
Sept. 21 at Virginia
Sept. 28 East Carolina