The game started quickly, as LaMareon James returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown; Tulsa responded with two scores of their own in the first quarter, which also saw Old Dominion miss a field goal.

[8] The Monarchs then began a rough patch in their season that saw them lose five consecutive games, beginning with a road loss to Liberty.

[13] Following a bye week, ODU's fortunes turned; with a record of 1–6, the Monarchs won each of their remaining five regular season games.

[16][17] Facing Charlotte, also 5–6, in their final regular season game, the Monarchs won by three possessions to secure bowl eligibility.

[20] The Tulsa Golden Hurricane began their season with a rough loss, in a home game against FCS-ranked UC Davis.

[27] This put Tulsa's record at 3–4 heading into their bye week, and afterwards, they returned home to face Navy; the Midshipmen came away with a three-point victory.

The Golden Hurricane had little problem moving the ball on this drive, gaining three first downs and converting a 3rd & 6 for a 23-yard passing touchdown from Davis Brin to Josh Johnson; this gave Tulsa their first lead of the game.

The punt was fair caught at the Tulsa 45-yard-line, giving the Golden Hurricane offense excellent field position, but after failing to convert 3rd & 1 at the Old Dominion 46-yard-line, Tulsa head coach Philip Montgomery elected to keep his offense on the field and go for it, a decision which backfired when Braylon Braxton was tackled behind the line of scrimmage for a loss of 2 yards.

A long pass on Old Dominion's next third down got them to the Tulsa 38-yard-line, but a face mask penalty on the next play pushed them back into their own territory; the drive stalled from there and the Monarchs punted on 4th & 14.

However, like ODU's last possession, the drive was derailed by a 15-yard penalty; a personal foul set them back to second-and-long, eventually leading to a punt.

The Golden Hurricane recovered, converting a 4th & 2 on the Old Dominion 34-yard-line to keep their drive alive and increasing their lead to seven points with a 35-yard Zack Long field goal with nine seconds remaining in the half.

The Golden Hurricane's first drive of the third quarter was a long one; it spanned 70 yards over 15 plays and took nearly half of the quarter, including a third down conversion and a fourth down conversion, before the Old Dominion defense forced a pair of incompletions at the ODU 7-yard-line, leading Tulsa to attempt a 25-yard field goal, which Zack Long successfully converting it to make the score 20–10.

The Monarchs' ensuing drive was short-lived; they went three-and-out after Hayden Wolff was sacked by Jaxon Player for a loss of seven yards on first down.

Tulsa took possession at their own 33-yard-line and again drove into field goal range, but again found themselves unable to convert a third down inside the red zone.

Tulsa took advantage of this blunder, reaching Old Dominion territory in two plays and converting two third downs before scoring a 4-yard passing touchdown from Davis Brin to Ethan Hall on 3rd & goal.

Old Dominion responded quickly; a 34-yard pass from Wolff to Jennings got the Monarchs all the way down to the Tulsa 3-yard-line; they scored two plays later with a Blake Watson rush, their first touchdown since the opening kickoff.