The 2023 Famous Toastery Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game played on December 18, 2023, at Jerry Richardson Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Originally planned as the 9th annual Bahamas Bowl, it was renamed and relocated due to renovations at its usual site,

Thomas Robinson Stadium Thomas Robinson Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Nassau, Bahamas. The largest stadium in the country, it is currently used mostly for soccer matches. The stadium currently has a capacity of 15,000 people, but has the ability to be expanded ...

in the Bahamas. The game featured the Old Dominion Monarchs from the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers from

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

. It started at approximately 2:30 p.m EST and was broadcast on ESPN. The Famous Toastery Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season.

Relocation

The bowl was originally scheduled, as the Bahamas Bowl, to be played on December 16, 2023, with a start time of 11:00 a.m. EST. However, on October 26, it was announced that the game would be held at Jerry Richardson Stadium in North Carolina due to renovations at

in the Bahamas. The game also swapped dates and start times with the

2023 Myrtle Beach Bowl The 2023 Myrtle Beach Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 16, 2023, at Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina. The fourth edition of the Myrtle Beach Bowl, the game featured the Georgia Southern Eagles from the Sun Belt Con ...

. The game was originally sponsored by mortgage lender HomeTown Lenders, and was, before relocation, to be officially known as the HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl. On November 14, 2023, the Famous Toastery restaurant chain was named the title sponsor of the relocated bowl. The game is expected to return to the Bahamas in 2024.

Teams

The game originally planned to feature teams from the

and Mid-American Conference (MAC). While the Old Dominion Monarchs from Sun Belt were named as a participant, the MAC did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill their spot. The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers of

(C-USA) were then selected. This was the eighth meeting between Old Dominion and Western Kentucky; entering the bowl, the Hilltoppers led the all-time series 6–1, with the Monarchs' lone win coming in 2018. From 2014 to 2021, Old Dominion and Western Kentucky played together in C-USA, parting ways when the Monarchs joined the Sun Belt for 2022.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

Western Kentucky entered the season returning star quarterback-wide receiver duo Austin Reed and

Malachi Corley Malachi Corley (born March 21, 2002) is an American football wide receiver. He played college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through co ...

and hoping to contend for a C-USA title. They entered conference play 2–2 following a blowout loss to Ohio State and a close loss to Troy. In Week 11, a 38–29 loss to New Mexico State gave the Hilltoppers their third conference loss and ended their hopes of a C-USA title. They clinched bowl eligibility a week later with a 28–23 win over

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...

. The Hilltoppers entered the Famous Toastery Bowl with a record of 7–5.

Old Dominion Monarchs

The Monarchs started the season 2–3 with two one-score losses as well as a blowout loss to Virginia Tech. A three-game losing streak in late October and early November dropped them to 4–6, one loss away from bowl ineligibility. However, the Monarchs managed to win their final two games, a three-point win over

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...

and a one-point win over

Georgia State Georgia state or ''variation'', may refer to: Primarily * Georgia State University ("State", "Georgia State"), a state university * Georgia (U.S. state) ("Georgia state"), a state of the United States of America Sports * sports teams of Georgia St ...

. This allowed them to clinch bowl eligibility in the final week of the season. Old Dominion entered the Famous Toastery Bowl with a record of 6–6.

Game summary

Statistics

Notes

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Western Kentucky Hilltoppers bowl game navbox Famous Toastery Bowl Bahamas Bowl Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football bowl games Old Dominion Monarchs football bowl games Famous Toastery Bowl Famous Toastery Bowl