By Brandon Folsom

Special to Detroit Free Press

Sometime Monday afternoon, the players on the Eastern Michigan football team received a text message from the coaching staff that there would be an emergency team meeting at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The Eagles finished the regular season 7-5 and were all but promised an invitation to a bowl game. Players thought the special meeting might be about EMU’s bowl destination.

“A lot of things run through the mind, but we had an idea that maybe it’s a bowl or which bowl we’re going to, but we were shocked,” quarterback Brogan Roback said. “We had a lot of ideas of places we thought we could go, but it’s unbelievable, and we’re excited with the announcement.”

The Eagles learned they’ll face Old Dominion in the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl on Dec. 23 in Nassau, Bahamas.

The bowl game is in its third year and has hosted a Mid-American Conference team from Michigan each time.

Western Kentucky edged Central Michigan, 49-48, in 2014, and Western Michigan beat Middle Tennessee, 45-31, last season.

Now it’s the Eagles’ turn to fly to the Bahamas.

It’ll mark their first bowl appearance in 29 years and be a nod to the 1987 team, which went 10-2 and defeated San Jose State, 30-27, in the California Bowl under then-coach Jim Harkema.

“It’d be hard for me to put it into words, honestly,” Roback said of the ’87 Eagles, who had the sixth-best record of 104 Division I teams that year. “We’re really excited, and we’re humbled at the same time.”

It was a long journey to erase 29 years of misery, especially for third-year coach Chris Creighton.

He took over the program from Ron English, who was fired after addressing his team with “wholly inappropriate language” in 2013.

Creighton went 2-10 and 1-11 in his first two seasons in Ypsilanti, but with his coaching staff finally meshing well, the Eagles put together a six-game turnaround this season.

They earned key wins over Mississippi Valley State, Charlotte, Wyoming, Bowling Green, Ohio and Ball State.

EMU lost to Western Michigan, 45-31, on Oct. 22 in Kalamazoo. The Broncos, No. 14 in this week’s USA TODAY Amway Coaches Poll, joined No.1 Alabama as the only teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision to finish the regular season undefeated.

In their season finale, the Eagles edged CMU, 26-21, on Nov. 22, beating the Chippewas for the first time since 2011 and all but guaranteeing a bowl berth.

EMU has had six coaches since its last appearance in a bowl game.

“I wasn’t even born (in 1987), and Coach Creighton was a senior in high school, so that was a long while ago,” linebacker Kyle Rachwal said. “It’s incredible with the hard work that everyone has put in and to actually take the program toward the bottom and bring it to the top and actually make it to the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl.”

EMU’s opponent, Old Dominion (9-3), left the Football Championship Subdivision ranks (formerly Div. I-AA) for FBS after the 2013 season and joined Conference USA.

The Monarchs went 6-6 and 5-7 in their first two seasons at the highest collegiate level. This season, they defeated Marshall, 38-14, on Nov. 5 to clinch their sixth win and become bowl eligible for the first time in school history.

ODU, under eighth-year coach Bobby Wilder (66-30), hopes to make history by winning its first bowl game.

What’s more, both teams are happy to have secured a bowl game after playing challenging conference schedules.

But playing it in the warm and sunny Bahamas? That’s just an added benefit.

“You kind of picture different places you’d love to go to and be with your team and your family at, especially over Christmas break,” Roback said. “But I’m glad, and I think the team is glad we know where we’re going and who we’re going to be playing against.”

The early invitation allows EMU additional time to prepare to play in an international destination, the school said, including obtaining passports to travel to the Bahamas. Information on tickets is available through bahamasbowl.com.

Popeyes Bahamas Bowl

Matchup: Eastern Michigan (7-5, 4-4 MAC) vs. Old Dominion (9-3, 7-1 C-USA).

Where: Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, Nassau, Bahamas.

When/TV: 1 p.m. Dec. 23, ESPN.

Eastern Michigan football survives rumors, with plans for progress