The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE matchup is set, now both teams and their respective fanbases are undergoing the final weeks of preparation for the third edition of the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl.

Event stakeholders introduce the head coaches of both participating teams, the Eastern Michigan Eagles and the Old Dominion Monarchs at a press conference to officially announce the teams headed to the Bahamas.

The teams will face off December 23 at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium, with a 1pm scheduled kickoff time.

Eastern Michigan will play in a bowl game for the first time since 1987 as the Eagles accepted a bid to represent the Mid-American Conference

The Eagles (7-6 overall, 4-4 in MAC play) will be led to their first bowl appearance since the 1987 California Bowl by head coach Chris Creghton, who is in his third season (10-26 record overall) at the school, and his 20th season as a college head coach (149-72 record overall).

“1987 was a long time ago. For 29 years, at this time of year EMU has been turning in equipment and watching other trams play in a bowl game so when we say we are grateful it is for every experience opportunity we are going to have on this trip. If you haven’t seen our teams reaction when we announced that we were going to come down to the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl, you have to find it. When we showed the pictures of the Bahamas and the Atlantis, our guys went crazy. It was a phenomenal celebration.”

Eastern Michigan’s Athletic Department foreshadowed a possible Popeyes Bahamas Bowl birth years ago.

“It was almost two years ago our athletic administration went out and purchased passports for our football team because she and they believed we were going to for to a bowl game. And because the MAC had the possibility of being tied in with the great Popeyes Bahamas Bowl.

She said we’ve got to get passports. When it happens and if it happens with the Bahamas, we have to be ready to go,” Creighton said. “My vision for our football programme has always been to make playing at EMU one of the most incredible experiences of our guys lives. Winning and winning championships is apart of that but at the very core I think it is about two things – life long relationships and new experiences. So to be able to bring all of Eagle Nation football out of the country to the Bahamas I can’t tell you how much that means for our guys to be able to experience to meet such an incredible country and the people who inhabit it. We are going to come to visit paradise but I’ll tell you we’re are also going to do everything we can to spend time with people and build relationships. You are making dreams and goals come true by inviting EM to be here and we are going to give you everything that we have. We are going to play as hard as we possibly can to give you guys an awesome game.”

Old Dominion, representing Conference USA, will play in a bowl game for the first time in school history.

The Monarchs (9-3 overall, 7-1 in C-USA play) will be led to their first-ever bowl appearance by head coach Bobby Wilder, who is in his eighth season (66-30 record overall) at the school, and the school’s only head coach since restarting the programme in 2009.

The Monarchs will come into the game with a five-game win streak and wins in eight of the last nine games.

Wilder said the game will be a fitting matchups between two young programmes trending in the right direction.

“This game is history for both schools and that’s exciting. If you look at our programmes were very similar as underdog programmes that have had some success,” he said.

“We really have a remarkable group so of young people. We started the season at 1-2 and then we really had some things happen that really changed us as people and as a team and we went on to win eight of our next nine which is a credit to everyone involved in our programme.”

Wilder said the team’s motto “Aim High” is something they look to exhibit to the Bahamian public, both on and off the field.

“We only started playing football eight years ago. We’re a brand new programme. You’ll see on the front of our helmets it says ‘Aim High’ and these two words mean everything to our programme. It means everyday we are trying to be great students, great football players and great people. We are trying to not only do well on the football field as a team but to have an impact on our world,” Wilder said. “We have only had 54 home games and all 54 have been sellouts. Were going to work hard to bring that to this game but that’s just to show you how remarkable this experience has been and the support we have at Old Dominion football.”

The game will be televised on ESPN and broadcast on the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl Radio Network.