Game Notes  l  NSU-ODU Fans Guide

NORFOLK, Va. - Norfolk State make its first-ever Division I Football Championship playoff appearance this Saturday as they travel the short distance across town to play Old Dominion, which is also making its first-ever Division I playoff appearance. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. at Foreman Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium on the ODU campus.

The game is sold out, but can be viewed live on ESPN3.Com.

NSU (9-2, 7-1 MEAC), ranked 19th this week in the Sports Network/Fathead.Com FCS Top 25 Poll, clinched the MEAC's automatic berth in the playoffs by defeating Morgan State 47-14 on Nov. 12 in Baltimore. That gave the Spartans a 7-1 MEAC record - their best-ever ledger in the league. The victory was also NSU's ninth win of the season, the most since the program moved into Division I in 1997. NSU's only other NCAA football playoff appearance came in 1984, at the Division II level.

The 10th-ranked Monarchs (9-2, 6-2 CAA) are one of five CAA teams in the 20-team playoff field. ODU, which finished in a three-way tie for second place in its first season in the CAA, is an at-large selection in the FCS playoffs. ODU brought back its football program in 2007 after a 69-year absence, and played its first season at the FCS level in 2009.

MEDIA COVERAGE
• TV: Live on ESPN3.Com (Play-by-Play: Jim Barbar; Color: Jay Walker)
• Radio: NSU Sports Network, WXTG 102.1 FM The Game, WNSB Hot 91.1 FM,
(Play-by-Play: Ross Gordon; Color: Markeece Preston)
• Audio Stream: www.nsuspartans.com (click “Live Audio” link under Inside Athletics tab)
• Live Stats: http://www.odusports.com / www.statbroadcast.com

THE SERIES
• This will be the first-ever meeting between the schools.
• The teams begin a six-year rotating home-and-home series at NSU in 2013.

QUICK HITS
• Though the schools have yet to meet on the gridiron, there is a good deal of familiarity between the two football programs. There are 71 Hampton Roads natives combined on the two team's rosters (31 NSU, 40 ODU), many of whom played with or against each other in high school.
• The Spartans used to play their home games at ODU's Foreman Field up until 1997 when Dick Price Stadium opened on the NSU campus. NSU was regularly among the Division II leaders in home attendance when playing home games at ODU, leading the nation 12 times.
• NSU and ODU also share one common opponent this season - both teams defeated Hampton. ODU topped Hampton 45-42 on Sept. 17, while the Spartans beat HU 34-24 on Oct. 15.
• NSU head coach Pete Adrian was defensive coordinator at Rhode Island in the mid-1980s when ODU coach Bobby Wilder was a quarterback at URI's Yankee Conference rival Maine.