Game Notes: ODU Football hosts James Madison in 72nd Oyster Bowl on Saturday

ODU Football hosts James Madison on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the final regular season home game of the season for the Monarchs.

This will be the first football game in the newly formed TowneBank Royal Rivalry Challenge, and it is the 72nd Oyster Bowl.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

ODU is coming off a 12-0 loss to Marshall, while JMU lost 34-10 last Saturday at Louisville.

This will be the third meeting between the two programs. ODU and JMU last met on the football field in 2012, a 38-28 ODU win.

ODU Notes

• A week after Jason Henderson set the ODU record for single-season tackles, he notched 19 stops against Marshall and moved closer to holding the Sun Belt Conference record as well. Henderson was named a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award given to the Outstanding Defensive Player in the country. He was one of just two semifinalists from a Group of Five program. The other was Cincinnati’s Ivan Pace Jr.
• Javon Harvey led ODU in receiving yards for the second-straight games, catching four passes for 60 yards against Marshall. Harvey ranks second on the team with 23 receptions for 371 yards. In the first four games of the season, Harvey had two catches for 20 yards.
• After a week where he blocked a field goal and recovered a fumble, cornerback Tre Hawkins registered his second interception of the season last week against Marshall. Hawkins is tied for the national lead with three fumble recoveries and is eighth in the SBC with eight passes defended.

JMU Notes

• A dozen JMU football players have ties to the Hampton Roads area, including six calling Virginia Beach home. The 757-area Dukes include: Blake Barnes(Virginia Beach), Kaelon Black (Virginia Beach), Desmond Green (Virginia Beach), Taurus Jones (Portsmouth), Nehki Meredith (Virginia Beach), Seth Noatala (Newport News), John Ransom (Chesapeake), Zai Roberts (Virginia Beach), Jamaree Seldon (Williamsburg), Tyler Stephens (Virginia Beach), Tyrique Tucker (Norfolk), and Aaron Whear (Suffolk).

• Kris Thornton, a Biletnikoff Award watch list honoree has quickly risen on JMU’s receiving charts in just over two years. He has four 100-yard games this season and is second in the Sun Belt in receiving yards per game (89.25). Thornton is sixth in the SBC in catches per game (5.38) and 10th in all-purpose yards (93.75).