The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Despite our 10 returning starters on offense, the Monarchs had to depend on defense and special teams play to eke out a 20-17 win over the Hokies. This week, I believe the special teams play remains solid while the defense remains strong, led by Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week, Jason Henderson. The difference this week -- Hayden Wolff, Blake Watson, Ali Jennings, Zack Kuntz and the offense come to life for a convincing 31-17 win over the Pirates.

Cheers, all!

I don't know if we can really gauge how good we are using the data from the VT game. The coaching staffs both knew each other's style and everything. I give the end to ODU because they started making more plays on offense in the 4th quarter when they needed to. If ODU plays with that sense of urgency going into this game from the beginning, they'll be fine. We gonna show the world the Sunbelt is superior!
We are not playing against an ACC defense at ECU nor will we be trying to stop an ACC offense - which I thought we did really well vs VT. I think we do better than expected in this game and leave Greenville with a hard fought win!

Thank you, Aggie.

Thank so damn much!!!!

(09-05-2022 05:52 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  Despite our 10 returning starters on offense, the Monarchs had to depend on defense and special teams play to eke out a 20-17 win over the Hokies. This week, I believe the special teams play remains solid while the defense remains strong, led by Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week, Jason Henderson. The difference this week -- Hayden Wolff, Blake Watson, Ali Jennings, Zack Kuntz and the offense come to life for a convincing 31-17 win over the Pirates.

Cheers, all!

I wish i am as confident as you are on the offense putting up 31 on ECU at their place but hopefully that happens and we come away with the dub. Pirate faithful seem to be very confident in their team beating us down in G'ville and i can understand why. Our defense will have its hands full and hopefully our offense keeps their defense busy as well. To Monarch Victory.

(09-06-2022 04:32 AM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(09-05-2022 05:52 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  Despite our 10 returning starters on offense, the Monarchs had to depend on defense and special teams play to eke out a 20-17 win over the Hokies. This week, I believe the special teams play remains solid while the defense remains strong, led by Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week, Jason Henderson. The difference this week -- Hayden Wolff, Blake Watson, Ali Jennings, Zack Kuntz and the offense come to life for a convincing 31-17 win over the Pirates.

Cheers, all!

I wish i am as confident as you are on the offense putting up 31 on ECU at their place but hopefully that happens and we come away with the dub. Pirate faithful seem to be very confident in their team beating us down in G'ville and i can understand why. Our defense will have its hands full and hopefully our offense keeps their defense busy as well. To Monarch Victory.

This ECU fan is in no way confident about that. In a vacuum I think (but that's also a pure guess) that we are probably the more talented team and we are at home, but this game to me is fascinating and will most likely be decided by which coach can get their team completely over what happened last week. Each team has to get 100% focused coming off exactly opposite scenarios, you guys getting one of your biggest wins in school history against an in state P5 team and ECU having one of it's most painful losses in school history against an in state P5 team. I could easily see your guys getting pats on the back all week and not fully being able to flush it, ECU being super pissed off and winning easily (seen way too many ECU teams pull the big upset and then absolutely stink the next week). I could just as easily see ECU being completely dejected and not able to fully shake the pain of that loss and you guys handling us. I think the spread is too high, as I think State is good but not top 15 good.

(09-06-2022 07:58 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(09-06-2022 04:32 AM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(09-05-2022 05:52 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  Despite our 10 returning starters on offense, the Monarchs had to depend on defense and special teams play to eke out a 20-17 win over the Hokies. This week, I believe the special teams play remains solid while the defense remains strong, led by Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week, Jason Henderson. The difference this week -- Hayden Wolff, Blake Watson, Ali Jennings, Zack Kuntz and the offense come to life for a convincing 31-17 win over the Pirates.

Cheers, all!

I wish i am as confident as you are on the offense putting up 31 on ECU at their place but hopefully that happens and we come away with the dub. Pirate faithful seem to be very confident in their team beating us down in G'ville and i can understand why. Our defense will have its hands full and hopefully our offense keeps their defense busy as well. To Monarch Victory.

This ECU fan is in no way confident about that. In a vacuum I think (but that's also a pure guess) that we are probably the more talented team and we are at home, but this game to me is fascinating and will most likely be decided by which coach can get their team completely over what happened last week. Each team has to get 100% focused coming off exactly opposite scenarios, you guys getting one of your biggest wins in school history against an in state P5 team and ECU having one of it's most painful losses in school history against an in state P5 team. I could easily see your guys getting pats on the back all week and not fully being able to flush it, ECU being super pissed off and winning easily (seen way too many ECU teams pull the big upset and then absolutely stink the next week). I could just as easily see ECU being completely dejected and not able to fully shake the pain of that loss and you guys handling us. I think the spread is too high, as I think State is good but not top 15 good.

Rahnes whole thing is going 1-0 and what happened last week doesn't matter to what is going to happen this week. That's how he was after all the loses last year and even when we started winning. I think he will have the team focused and ready to go.

(09-06-2022 07:58 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(09-06-2022 04:32 AM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(09-05-2022 05:52 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  Despite our 10 returning starters on offense, the Monarchs had to depend on defense and special teams play to eke out a 20-17 win over the Hokies. This week, I believe the special teams play remains solid while the defense remains strong, led by Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week, Jason Henderson. The difference this week -- Hayden Wolff, Blake Watson, Ali Jennings, Zack Kuntz and the offense come to life for a convincing 31-17 win over the Pirates.

Cheers, all!

I wish i am as confident as you are on the offense putting up 31 on ECU at their place but hopefully that happens and we come away with the dub. Pirate faithful seem to be very confident in their team beating us down in G'ville and i can understand why. Our defense will have its hands full and hopefully our offense keeps their defense busy as well. To Monarch Victory.

This ECU fan is in no way confident about that. In a vacuum I think (but that's also a pure guess) that we are probably the more talented team and we are at home, but this game to me is fascinating and will most likely be decided by which coach can get their team completely over what happened last week. Each team has to get 100% focused coming off exactly opposite scenarios, you guys getting one of your biggest wins in school history against an in state P5 team and ECU having one of it's most painful losses in school history against an in state P5 team. I could easily see your guys getting pats on the back all week and not fully being able to flush it, ECU being super pissed off and winning easily (seen way too many ECU teams pull the big upset and then absolutely stink the next week). I could just as easily see ECU being completely dejected and not able to fully shake the pain of that loss and you guys handling us. I think the spread is too high, as I think State is good but not top 15 good.

Any given Saturday i guess. We haven't seen the confident passing QB that we witnessed during the later half of the year last year albeit the sample is just one game and that too opening game. The throws were off and he didn't seem like he is comfortable running that some alluded to that he did well in the camp. That combined with an OC that is calling his first game it looked like we didn't have any rhythm what so ever on offense. Your defense seems stout and your offense looked better than ours in the opening game and at your place so i am not seeing anything wrong with the 2 score spread. I think it will be a close game and really depends on how well our offense picks itself up between now and the game.

I know ECU is good and was defeated by a ranked NC State, but rankings mean very little to start a season. Does anyone really believe Oregon was #11?

When you look at our past two games under BW we were competitive with really, really bad teams. I know ECU has improved, but so have we. I see a really good game with no reason to fear ECU.

What I have enjoyed most about Coach Rahne's teams is that we can get beat and have been beaten badly (Wake/Liberty), but no one is beating us up physically like with Wilder's teams. The new sheriff and his approach is making a huge difference. Remember the old adage "Respect all, Fear none".

(09-06-2022 09:53 AM)84Monarch Wrote:  I know ECU is good and defeated NC State, but rankings mean very little to start a season. Does anyone really believe Oregon was #11?

When you look at our past two games under BW we were competitive with really, really bad teams. I know ECU has improved, but so have we. I see a really good game with no reason to fear ECU.

What I have enjoyed most about Coach Rahne's teams is that we can get beat and have been beaten badly (Wake/Liberty), but no one is beating us up physically like with Wilder's teams. The new sheriff and his approach is making a huge difference. Remember the old adage "Respect all, Fear none".

ECU lost to NC State.

ECU is a pretty good team. I think the difference between the 2 teams might be better QB play for them (and Ahlers is difficult to defend due to his leges). Outside of that, both teams are fairly similar...good lines and depth on both sides, solid defenses. We might have a little better playmakers on offense but that relies on us getting them the ball against an aggressive defense.

The line of 11 implies that VT is only about 3 points better than ECU on a neutral field. Im not sure I buy that, but we will find out.

gotta find bundle deal. I cancelled ESPN+ last week when it went from $69.99 to $99.99.

(09-06-2022 10:55 AM)ODU True Blue Wrote:  gotta find bundle deal. I cancelled ESPN+ last week when it went from $69.99 to $99.99.

Disney bundle is a decent deal; hulu, disney+ and espn+ for $14 a month. Check with your cell phone carrier too, I know verizon has a deal for espn+.

(09-06-2022 10:02 AM)757ODU Wrote:  

(09-06-2022 09:53 AM)84Monarch Wrote:  I know ECU is good and defeated NC State, but rankings mean very little to start a season. Does anyone really believe Oregon was #11?

When you look at our past two games under BW we were competitive with really, really bad teams. I know ECU has improved, but so have we. I see a really good game with no reason to fear ECU.

What I have enjoyed most about Coach Rahne's teams is that we can get beat and have been beaten badly (Wake/Liberty), but no one is beating us up physically like with Wilder's teams. The new sheriff and his approach is making a huge difference. Remember the old adage "Respect all, Fear none".

ECU lost to NC State.

Sorry, I edited the paragraph in my head and not on the keyboard

I am very optimistic.

Our defense and special teams/kicking teams look like they can hold their own at a high level. Henderson is a beast., Punting and kicking are strong.

On offense, I think between Jennings and Kuntz we have the players we need to catch the ball.
RB position is deep and talented.
While it is clear that the OL run blocks better than it pass blocks. However, Wolff did NOT spend the game running for his life. He usually had the requisite 3 seconds - against a P5 defense.

Concerns:
1. Play calling was predictable and vanilla, which hopefully improves over time. After all the OC has only been on that job for 2 weeks or so.
2. We need to have a solid #2 WR behind Jennings (and maybe we do)
3. Both Pirate lines average larger than ours. That might or might not be an issue.
4. Our Center position looks a bit shaky (low snaps, pass blocking) but he is new and I believe that will fix itself over time.
5. My Biggest concern is QB, the details of which have been addressed in another thread.

All in all, I am very happy with the look of the program and, despite their performance vs NC State, I don't think ECU is a "force to be reckoned with".
Their home field advantage will be real, but I still believe that we will bring home the W.

We have better offensive weapons and a better qb than VA Tech imo. 38-24 pirates.

I was pulling for you guys hard last week and was hoping to have two undefeated teams in DF next week. We didn't do our part. Yeah I think NCSU is overrated but I also know their defense is legit and the QB is better than VA Tech. VT should've probably won by 10. But they gifted a TD on the field goal snap and turned it over 4 times.

ECU has better weapons but I would take Wells over the ECU QB any day. VT probably has a better defense than ECU as well.

We also gifted them a TD on a fumble (just after a fumble deep in our own zone). Good defenses create turnovers.

I think it's gonna be a good game, ECU at home gives them an edge. We need our QB to look like his normal self if we wanna walk out with a win

(09-06-2022 04:03 PM)Stat Geek Wrote:  ECU has better weapons but I would take Wells over the ECU QB any day. VT probably has a better defense than ECU as well.

We also gifted them a TD on a fumble (just after a fumble deep in our own zone). Good defenses create turnovers.

I wouldn't, we beat Wells last year on the road at Marshall. Wells is a good player, but really streaky.

I'm not saying we can't lose, we're absolutely capable. I watched both games and felt like we played the much better team, arguably out played them. VT outplayed you guys and lost.

We shall see, turnovers can change everything I just said. I do expect us to have much more of a running defense this week.

You beat Marshall but Well put up 38 points and 400+ passing yards. Marshall lost because they gave up 40 points, not because of the QB.

ECU is probably a better team than us but Ahlers is not a great QB and not better than Wells.

(09-06-2022 07:58 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(09-06-2022 04:32 AM)12thmonarch Wrote:  

(09-05-2022 05:52 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  Despite our 10 returning starters on offense, the Monarchs had to depend on defense and special teams play to eke out a 20-17 win over the Hokies. This week, I believe the special teams play remains solid while the defense remains strong, led by Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week, Jason Henderson. The difference this week -- Hayden Wolff, Blake Watson, Ali Jennings, Zack Kuntz and the offense come to life for a convincing 31-17 win over the Pirates.

Cheers, all!

I wish i am as confident as you are on the offense putting up 31 on ECU at their place but hopefully that happens and we come away with the dub. Pirate faithful seem to be very confident in their team beating us down in G'ville and i can understand why. Our defense will have its hands full and hopefully our offense keeps their defense busy as well. To Monarch Victory.

This ECU fan is in no way confident about that. In a vacuum I think (but that's also a pure guess) that we are probably the more talented team and we are at home, but this game to me is fascinating and will most likely be decided by which coach can get their team completely over what happened last week. Each team has to get 100% focused coming off exactly opposite scenarios, you guys getting one of your biggest wins in school history against an in state P5 team and ECU having one of it's most painful losses in school history against an in state P5 team. I could easily see your guys getting pats on the back all week and not fully being able to flush it, ECU being super pissed off and winning easily (seen way too many ECU teams pull the big upset and then absolutely stink the next week). I could just as easily see ECU being completely dejected and not able to fully shake the pain of that loss and you guys handling us. I think the spread is too high, as I think State is good but not top 15 good.

Don't take too much out of my prediction. Every poster on the Lion's Den will tell you that I am the most optimistic football fan on the forum. Can we score 31 points on the Pirates? Maybe, maybe not, but I do believe the Monarchs can win this game -- if Wolff and the offense play the way they are capable of playing. He was really off against the Hokies, and I have to believe that was an anomaly that will not be reoccurring.

Cheers!