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GAME #72
Kornblau Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium |
 33 |
| Trip Dates | 11/13/2025 – 11/14/2025 |
| School | Old Dominion University |
| Visiting Team | Troy Trojans Pre-game Record: 6-3 |
| Home Team | Old Dominion Monarchs Pre-game Record: 6-3 |
| Game Time (ET) | 7:30 PM Eastern |
| Weather | 49 & Sunny (Cold) |
| Attendees | Jarrett & Al |
| Jarrett’s Pick | Old Dominion Monarchs (48 and 23 record) |
| Al’s Pick | Old Dominion Monarchs (45 and 26 record) |
| Attendance | 18,831 |
| Capacity | 21,944 |
| TV | ESPN |
| Length of Game | 3:13 |
| Seat Location | Press Box |
| Miles Traveled | 1,910 |
| Photo Album | Click here for the ODU Photo Album |
Travel
Prior to the Old Dominion trip, we had the pleasure of dealing with all the facets of a government shutdown and the FAA scaling back flights. So we played with the, will they or won’t they with our flights and tried to determine if we should embark on this trip at all. Al had a direct flight from JFK, while I had a tight connection on the way to Norfolk that if I missed would leave me stranded in Orlando, which I could get home from, but would be nearly impossible to get to Norfolk if I missed. After tracking the previous day’s outcomes and communication from our respective airlines, we decided, what the hell, let’s do it. Flash forward, it worked out kinda well. Better than usual I would say.
The Old Dominion trip began with me mysteriously waking up an hour early for absolutely no reason. No alarm, no noise, no explanation, just my body announcing, “Hey, you weren’t planning on sleeping anyway.” At least PBI made up for it with an easy on time departure.
Although upon boarding, I heard the guy in front of me ask his wife one of the most incredible questions ever overheard in an airport, “Are TSA employees part of the federal government?” It’s moments like these when you wonder how people navigate the world without accidentally falling into a well. And the bigger question is how did this guy end up in front of me on Southwest?
Now an aside and a moment of silence to mourn the stupid passing of Southwest’s open seating and democratic boarding policy. Southwest had a truly competitive advantage that they decided to abandon at the insistence of a private equity firm. I believe this will go down as a truly epic decision in stupidity. I could be proven wrong. But Southwest had something that was unique in a commodity business. And they have thrown it away. I went out of my way to fly Southwest and I knew I had to play the game. I paid more to fly Southwest and paid more for some of their perks. And true, I avoided paying for others. But now they have become like all the rest with nothing unique. Time will tell, but now they are a commodity. Stupid money grab that will be their downfall.
I was able to obtain the emergency exit row seat that had no seat in front of it from Orlando to Norfolk. To me this is the best seat on the plane. Score!
Arrival in Norfolk was not only successful because we landed, but early. I met Al in the airport’s self-proclaimed “business lounge,” which is really just a collection of chairs arranged near an outlet. Very nice branding by the folks that run the Norfolk airport.
Old Dominion University
Upon arrival, I insisted that we eat, as I had been up early and was hungry. But before eating we stopped off at the bookstore to make our usual purchases and donate to the local economy.
Then we had lunch at La Herradura, a Mexican place which was across from the bookstore, because nothing says “ready for a campus tour” like Mexican food that will run right through ya.
Campus Tour
Then came the official Old Dominion tour. A very special thanks to ODU athletics and especially Eric for arranging and to Pierce who gave us a tour that went above and beyond. I can tell you that we got a tour that covered every aspect of SB Ballard Stadium including the locker room, suites, press box, and beyond. And kudos to Old Dominion. The stadium, while not large, is very impressive. The President’s Suite can rival almost any that we have seen and while the general amenities are not up with the best, they have produced a top tier stadium and environment given the resources that compare very favorably to others in their category. I was impressed and given my sarcastic and ranty nature, that is hard to do.
After the stadium, we wandered to the University Center and then onto other athletics facilities and saw the new construction being done to the baseball stadium. Then it was onto the hall of fame. We love ourselves a good hall of fame. After that, we headed back to the University Center, where ESPN was set up for their live remote from campus. We hung there for a bit and then parted ways with Pierce, thanking him for a most excellent tour.
An interesting fact learned on the tour, ODU had been attempting to build a monorail from one end of campus to the other. Yes, the campus is that big. It was to cover a whopping 0.6 miles. It was an abandoned project but the students used the monorail tracks to stay dry from rain, until 2023 when the school took down the overhead tracks except for one small piece that spans a major roadway in Norfolk. Things you didn’t know and will never have use for again. Unless it comes up in trivia someday. It’s always possible.
Doumar’s
An Uber then whisked us away to Doumar’s, a legendary Norfolk institution that everyone swears is amazing. Well, I am not sure about that. It came up in pre trip research and a friend in Florida told me to go. So does that make it an institution, I don’t know. It is known for barbecue and shakes. The shakes were great. Everything else, not so much. Well, let’s just say it’s starting to feel like there’s a local inside joke about the rest of the menu. Everyone who asked about our trip to Doumar’s was not surprised when we gave our feedback. A little heads up would have been nice. Still, the shakes were most excellent. Al even had an egg nog shake. You don’t find that every day. Not even at Doumar’s, because it’s seasonal. Go for the ice cream and the shakes, skip the barbecue. Al says this was inedible, and if you go there knowing this and still order food, shame on you.
Pre Game
After Doumar’s, it was back to ODU for the game. We toured the field before the game and Al got himself a close up view of the ODU cannon that was supposed to go off when ODU took the field and after every score. It did not go off even once. Not sure what happened there. Good thing, because this game was a blowout, so we all might have gone deaf if the cannon was working. But I will say, it was a very pretty cannon. It’s been a long time since Al has sat on a canon. Not a euphemism. I miss those days.
Anyway, right after the national anthem, there was a parachute jump from three former Navy SEAL’s. We knew this was coming so we were looking for it and were ready to film. And we even knew about the additional guest that was joining the jumpers. But we did not know how many. So when two landed and there was no guest and it was a minute after, we were like, I guess that is it. But then the third SEAL landed with the guest, a dog. So three SEAL’s did the jump with a dog, at night. It was cool. There is a video down below.
Halftime
ODU provided a drone show at halftime that was most excellent. There is a video down below of the highlights. All I can say is that the show was more evidence of ODU punching above its weight class. It seems like everything at ODU seems like it is from a program above where ODU is in the Sun Belt, from the stadium, luxury seating, a parachute jump before the game, the announcer (I will explain in a bit), and the drone show. Well done, ODU, well done.
The Game
Old Dominion 33 Troy 0
This was an old fashioned beat down. I will not recap the game as it was not close. ODU won in every way. Total yards 503-138 and ODU had 351 rushing yards. Bullies. Enough said. I will also give props to the announcer and the marketing team at ODU. The announcer is just downright funny. He is just one of those old guys who has been doing this a long time and just does not care what he says. When the camera pans the audience and someone is on the screen, he just flies with the first thing that comes to mind whether that’s an insult or a laugh or something else. It is downright refreshing and reminds you of the scene from Seinfeld when George is caught eating ice cream at the US Open and the announcer says “Look at that guy! He’s really going to town on that ice cream!”. Love it! Screw the PC crap, just let it fly. And I will also say that the ODU marketing team is one of the more creative out there. The stuff they did at the commercial breaks was a bit different.
The other thing I will note is that I am absolutely too old for this cold weather stuff. It was only 49 degrees and it was way too cold for me to be out there watching a football game. Not sure if it is my age or my Florida residency but this shit has got to stop. November has to be below the 33rd parallel north. So thank you again to the Athletic Department for providing us access to indoor seats!
Travel Home
We stayed by the airport as Al had a ridiculously early flight back on Friday as it was the only direct flight. I slept in a bit before my all day travel via BWI back to Florida. But all went according to plan and there were no travel issues at all. It is funny how travel on this trip went better than usual given the issues with the FAA.
Al would like to add the following, pause there, because I had my travel issues on this year’s Quest trips…..and it ended with my 6:03AM flight, which Delta changed from a 7AM flight. Initially I thought they just changed the timing of the flight, but alas, when I woke up and saw the plane landed safely on runway 13/31, I knew I was at Laguardia, and not JFK, where I thought I was going. PS – the 7AM flight to JFK still exists, and Delta has yet to provide me answers to why any of my flights changed this season. So thank you Delta for making me take a train to JFK to leave, and then a ridiculously expensive Uber at rush hour from Laguardia.
And thus concludes CFQ 2025. Until next year.
Postscript
Troy finished the regular season 8-4, 6-2 in the Sun Belt West which was good enough to win the West. The Trojans faced James Madison in the Sun Belt Championship game, losing 31-14. Troy played in the Salute to Veterans Bowl game, losing 17-13 to Jacksonville State.
Old Dominion finished the regular season 10-2, 6-2 in the Sun Belt West which was good for 2nd place behind undefeated James Madison. After losing to James Madison in the regular season, the Monarchs finished the season on a 5 game winning streak, 6 if you include the 24-10 win in the Cure Bowl over South Florida.
Photo Gallery
For our Old Dominion photo album, Please click here. You can view as a collage or run as a slideshow. There are comments to explain what is in the photo but most are self explanatory. Thanks to Google, I can no longer embed the slide show with comments.