Hi Monarchation! It's your old buddy, Norfolkology from Twitter. This is the Monarchist Podcast. Listen until it's over. Peace.

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Monarchs Welcome to the Monarchist. We are back on this Sunday, about one week away from going to Charlotte for the Bowl. How are we feeling guys

feeling feeling pretty good It's a overcast and pouring down rain enrichment. So good day to sleep and watch nfl and college basketball today We're just gonna pretend last night didn't happen. So yeah, i'm doing wonderful.

Yeah, mike and I were both there last night I mean we were somewhere last night. It's always great to see our friends But it was a challenging game.

Yeah, it was. That's a good word for it. Challenging. I would say

I, I would say I poured one out, but I just drank them all instead.

You're not alone. I had a good night last night other than the game result. Paul, they were rolling deep at the game last night.

Absolutely. I mean, coaches, players, recruits, and like the whole opposite side of the student section was filled with football goodness. Pretty cool to see.

Yeah. That we have to appreciate that crowd last night. It was mostly ODU fans. And the fact that the team has struggled over the last few years and we can still pack it out like that, shows a lot about our fan base. So, way to go Monarchs.

100%. You know, give credit where credit is due. Season ticket holders came out great, but really want to shout out the student section. Students were great over there, wearing white, making a lot of noise. Even though we went down big early, they stuck around, they made a lot of noise, they were into the game. Oh, I don't know how many students are actually listening to us, but if you are, good job. Please keep coming back. You know, although the result was not what we wanted last night, you know, good times are ahead. But just be patient, keep coming, we'll get there.

One way or another, better times are ahead. Um, yeah. But I hope that all the recruits who were there last night for football saw that crowd and appreciated it. Uh, and just kind of see, you know, despite what was going on in the court, fans are still engaged, still showed up. Hopefully they're maybe signing a little letter of intent today. Transfer to Old Dominion, because from what I understand there were, uh, Nice offensive line prospects in the crowd last night. Yeah. There

were some giants there last night. These guys dwarfed coach hut. And if anyone's ever met coach hut, you know how big that dude is. I mean, he's a monster himself. So, some massive individuals watching ODU basketball last night. The fans last night, the best part about that was how many of them stuck through to the very end of the game. And that alone should tell those recruits something, that our ODU fans are going to back them. No matter if they're down big or not, they're gonna wait and see if you can come back. And that's pretty valuable in my opinion.

Absolutely. I mean, you get crowds like that when we're struggling. Just imagine what they're gonna be like once things turn around because these things are always cyclical. Old Dominion's got a proud history of great basketball. We've had some really good football years. I think Ricky's got things going in the right direction when I mean, when shit gets good, it could be really difficult to get tickets again, and I look forward to that. But yeah, it was great last night. Great job to frickin Monarch Nation.

Alright. Famous Toastery Bowl. We're getting down there on Sunday. We're gonna I don't know. It's still kind of a blur what we're all gonna try to do on

Sunday. I don't know how we're gonna get that worked out on Sunday. I land somewhere around 10, I think? I know we wanted to go to the Falcons game. That may be a little bit of a stretch getting over there, but we also have women's basketball playing VCU at one and there's some questions floating around about a watch party and getting together down there and cheering them on trying to stay undefeated against VCU next Sunday. So I don't know. We'll finalize some plans and put them out there, but it's going to be a going to be a busy morning on Sunday. I think for a lot of people traveling down to Charlotte.

Yeah, but Monday all day can't wait for this alumni association tailgate. What they did in Myrtle Beach was fantastic, but I think they're going to top themselves in

Charlotte. 40 all you can eat and drink. Let's hope we don't bankrupt the Alumni Association in the first couple hours that thing is open.

And that really is a great deal. And even if you're a complete square like me, who's not a big drinker and I go, you know, I just want to eat and eat. There's an option for a 20 all you can eat and non alcoholic drinks. So they've kind of got a package for everybody, regardless of what you want to do. You know, if you feel like, ah, I don't really want to pay 40 cause I'm not going to drink any beers. You got the 20 option. I mean, Good on the Alumni Association with coming up with options for everybody.

There was a third option, wasn't there?

There was. I think it was just drinking. Yeah.

So, if you don't want to eat, you just want to party, you're good to go there, too.

That's a Blazing Saddles reference there

somewhere. I feel like Spaceballs, too, maybe.

Alright. So, we all had to do some homework on this Western Kentucky team, but We think you did the most of it. So start us off and tell us about this Hilltopper squad.

Well, that's a bold assumption, but yes, I did do some, some work on Western Kentucky. Uh, they went seven and five this year. I think we only had one common opponent, which is the. team down there in Lynchburg. They played them at home in Bowling Green and lost 42 to 29. So a little bit more competitive than us, but they were at home and imagine they didn't play their worst game of the season when they faced off with Liberty. Really, Western Kentucky. It's what you remember from the Bailey's Appy times. It's a lot of throwing the football around on as far as we know. Austin Reed, their quarterback, has not opted out of the bowl game, he's not in the portal, has not declared for the draft or anything like that. But he threw it a lot this year, over 3, 300 yards passing, 31 touchdowns, 470 attempts. So he did throw 11 interceptions, which is kind of nice, not quite as accurate, it's almost an interception a game, but 31 touchdowns. 3, 300 yards. You know that they are going to throw it all over the place. Malakai Corley is their top wide receiver. He's expected to go in the draft. Uh, so keep an eye out on his status because he's as a right, he's playing, but you know, getting closer to the bowl game, you may have somebody opt out if they have the tiniest little tweak, if they have some draft potential, but he's got 958 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns, which is. Pretty, pretty amazing for one receiver to have 11 touchdowns within a season. They got a few other guys that can catch the ball. I know we got some info from some Western Kentucky people we can talk about in a little bit, but you know, expect this to be a true air raid style offense from Western Kentucky going up against their secondary.

Yeah, one, one thing that I am happy to see is Reed doesn't appear to be much of a threat on the ground. So although he's prolific throwing the ball and we've got to really, you know, watch out for that. It doesn't seem like there's much of a, much of a game plan to get him out moving and not like some of the other quarterbacks that we've had to face this year. I

will say we made Davis Brinn look like a great runner when we went down to Georgia Southern. So you're correct. He doesn't run a whole lot, but there may be He may have his best rushing game against us just because it's kind of the knock on our defense is allowing those quarterbacks to get some space to run the football.

Maybe we can feed him one of those thick ass ham sandwiches ahead of time, really weigh him down and just kind of bog him down in the pocket.

Stick one of those pieces of ham to the bottom of his cleat so he doesn't get any traction? I know Mike's gonna be eating those sandwiches all game long.

I'm not. No, I think we have to hook up with famous pastry, Mike, I think we have to, and have an event. That

sandwich

haunts me. See, I like the idea of having that sandwich with the hand attached bronzed as the bowl game trophy. But they somehow have to work your face into the background one way or another just because you're haunting that sandwich for eternity now.

You, can you imagine how cool that trophy would look in the case in L. R. Hill? Like 10 years from now someone would be like, what is that? And we could just point at Gary and go, yeah, that's a sandwich.

So. I was thinking about this. This is probably going to be the only ever famous toastery bowl, right?

I would think so. It goes back to the Bahamas

next year. Right. So that means, much like the Vegas Six or whatever that was, we can be the forever champions. of the famous Toastery Bowl. That's pretty

cool. We would be famous. Forever.

It's gonna be a Whoever wins this, it's gonna be a trivia question. In like the next Trivial pursuit, that's

right.

The one opportunity I'm looking at is They're not a great rush defense. And what have we been doing pretty well all season long with? Running the ball. I think this is gonna be a really big opportunity for Keyshawn Wicks Callaway And the rest of the guys, Sims, Obisani, this is gonna be an opportunity for them to put on a show. They'll

definitely be opportunities to run against their front. I know just looking at who we know that is in the portal for them. And again, we don't know if they're going to opt out or not. We're kind of getting some word that. Maybe some of those guys in the portal are actually going to play, even though they're looking to transfer. But one of their starting linebackers is in the portal, one of their reserve defensive tackles is in the portal, and then one of their starting corners is in the portal. So getting one of their linebackers out of the way might be helpful, but we'll see what they decide to do from an opting and opting out standpoint. But three of their starting offensive linemen are currently in the portal, and they all have, you know. About 700 plus snaps each ones of two time first team conference USA. So we're hoping that they maybe continue that opt out streak and get some offers elsewhere.

Action says they're 123rd and rush defense. We got a pretty good running quarterback at times and our rush offenses. I like our mashup. And if you look at what's happening with the spread, so do a lot of gamblers. Cause this opened up with us as what four and a half point dogs. And now it's ODU favored by two and a half. That's a huge swing. Especially when we're the only team anyone knows about our opt outs. All of our transfers are not playing in this game.

Oh, so I got a question for you fellas, because I know you guys are very knowledgeable about this stuff. So, moving from a 4. 5 point dog to a 2. 5 point favorite, 7 points, that to me seems a huge swing. What exactly does it take to move a line that much in a kind of game like this? A lot of cash.

All the early money is on us. I'm sure there's going to be a lot more bets that might swing it back, or it could go either direction at this point, but the early big money is on us.

Yeah. A lot of cash. And then also a lot of information. I think when the three offensive linemen announced that they were going in the portal, that's when it really started swinging of books, trying to get ahead of it, but ball season can be kind of crazy. Like normally a six point swing in a football game means like a starting quarterback went out or something like that. But. I mean, that's, bowl season's crazy. If you like a side, get it as soon as it drops, and then you can probably get the other side a couple weeks later and have a nice, like, 5, point middle, where you can win both bets. Uh, but yeah, I would expect that line to continue to move and probably end up somewhere around 3, 3 and a half with us as favorites. What's

the, what's the line, Gary? Getting Mike to eat one of those sandwiches. They're

not looking likely. You're gonna have to

Gonna have to funnel that cash directly to you to pay you to eat that sandwich. I think that's what it is.

And now you're talking about just ruining the whole bet because I'm being bribed? This is dirty money now. This is a dirty bet at this point.

What if we were just to get Mike an NIL deal with Famous Toastery?

Look, I'm sure there's some fantastic food on their menu. That club is just something I'm not gonna touch, guys.

We'll see when your 12 beers deep with that statement changes at all.

See, I don't like to eat when I'm drinking, so.

Well, I'm surprised that you didn't go with the 20 option. Oh, I'll eat

and then drink, so.

Oh, so order's important. I did not realize this.

Gotta put down the good base in the morning. That way you can get after it all day.

The only thing I really like to eat when alcohol is involved are pizza and tacos. That's it.

It's the two most important food groups, so glad you have those

covered. Yeah, gotta get all the right

calories. No chicken wings, just pizza and tacos.

I mean, I think I'm talking about when I'm drinking, drinking, but Wings are great. I love wings. So

I guess I guess it's hard because your hands end up getting Nasty, and then it's difficult going back and forth so I could see that pizza Whatever the other one was i've already forgotten. Am I drinking this morning? I don't know I

mean sometimes when you're getting after it though There's the risk you're just going to eat the entire wing and think it was boneless, but it was not boneless That can happen too.

Boneless is chicken nuggets.

All right. So while we're on the topic of All of this, uh, we do have a Q and a this week that we're going to drop prior on Wednesday. It is with the fellows from topper talk and they gave us some really detailed information on Western Kentucky and their position this year. They thought they were ready to win a conference championship. So while we're excited to be playing in the famous toastery bowl, I think there's a lot of Western Kentucky fans that are kind of disappointed in how they perform this season. So I'm not sure we'll see too many Hilltoppers in Charlotte.

No, I don't either. I think you'll end up getting, you know, the Diehards. I don't know how many Western alum are in the Charlotte area. And of course, you know, the players families will definitely travel to support the players. But I'm hopeful that we really outnumber them. With our fans coming, you know, but it's, I think it's kind of cool. I originally, I know that we had talked about who we wanted to play and depending on where it would be, you always wanna play someone that you've never played before. Something fresh. We didn't get that, but I think we got the best of something else since we didn't get someone what we haven't played. And someone fresh. We got an old friend, you know, an old foe, but a good one. You know, Western was always a good series, whether it was basketball or football. So if you got to play someone you used to play, I think that's a good matchup that we can be happy about.

Being close is also super helpful too. I mean, I'm flying down there just to save nine hours in the car, but it's not that bad of a drive down. Um, and you kind of sandwich between when people would be traveling for Christmas as well. So. Hope to see a lot of Monarch fans down there would love to sell out our ticket allotment and kind of show that you know This fan base will travel and we will get kind of favorable bowls in the future yeah,

we were talking to someone from ODAF the other night about this and how the ticket sales were going and He was a little concerned about this how they were operating the ticket sales So they're doing that middle section all about based on ODAF points, right? And instead of doing it in tiers based on how much you donate, like, all right, this is your availability for when you buy tickets. They just open it up to everyone to submit their ticket requests at the same time. So like, how are we going to deal with this when we have too many people for those sections that buy tickets? And then everyone else is just like, I'm not even going to bother. Like we didn't even bother trying to do the ODAT for quest tickets. We just went straight ahead and bought them 109. And then one. Yeah. 104 is probably player families, their tickets. So it's going to be very interesting to see how ODU ticket office deals with that at the end. Because there's going to be some people that think they're going to be on the 50. Then end up completely somewhere

else. Yeah, I was surprised when I went in there to try to buy our block in 104 and nothing was available. So I figured it's probably reserved for family. And I know Coach Ronnie, for the last bowl game, basically had his staff bring their entire family with them on the bus. Like they create more room. So I imagine that's where a lot of that's going to go. But. Yeah, if you get left out of that ODAF block, you're going to have a harder time getting a good seat because a lot of people have bought up in like 109, 110 in those areas, but they didn't guarantee

them a ticket. They're going to be fine. So, but it's going to be weird when you're thinking you're going to be on the 50 and you end up on the end zone.

And I think it's one of those things that don't let that ruin your bowl experience. If that happens, Hey, we're freaking bowling. And I think, uh, it's not like this place is gonna be jam packed, so you'll be able to move around and find a good place to sit. You can come make a shit ton of noise with us in 109. We got, what, almost 25 seats. And we got other folks that aren't in our block that bot, Gary, that bot near us that aren't in our group. So, it's gonna be a great seat for everybody. So, if this happens to you, just don't worry about it. And then come sit with us in 109.

Yeah, I mean, as we found out in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, we got our block like in the, at the 50 in the upper level and at halftime, we all moved down and we were standing in the end zone harassing Mountain West officials. So, I think you'll have plenty of time and space to move around and jump in, find your fellow crazies and have some fun.

So here's a question. How do the bowl officials work? This was supposed to be a MAAC Conference USA game, right? Yes. MAAC couldn't fill all their slots, so we ended up filling the MAAC bowl position. And we're the home team. So the home team usually gets to pick the officials. You would assume it'd be a MAAC

crew? Yeah, typically for bowls, it's a crew that's not with the conference of whoever's playing. So we might end up, we might end up with a MAAC crew, possibly an ACC crew being there in Charlotte since we know that they have other games in that area too. But it will not be Sunbelt and it will not be Conference USA. So it's

gonna that's gonna be really interesting because we're kind of used to how Sunbelt officials have refereed games this season

poorly

Right, but there's certain calls they make and don't make Like there's certain things they don't like to call and we could see them being called in this game all of a sudden

Okay, fellas, so according to football zebras calm. It says they're gonna be Mac officials Doesn't say who, which ones, but they should be there for the Mac. So you shouldn't have a dog in the fight for either

squad. Right. But my whole point is, all right, so we made the whole joke about, they weren't calling holding in our early portion of the season, but those were mostly ACC officials that we were not seeing call holding. And then in Sunbelt play, they were kind of letting the receivers and corners play. Like there were a lot of pass interferences they were calling. Yeah, that.

That's true. And I mean, I think the pass interference calls will actually help us more than Western Kentucky just because of the style of offense that we run. Because we know that a lot of times it was not called when we were on offense this year and you had wide receivers just getting tackled five yards off the line of scrimmage. So, we'll see. I mean, we'll harass them either way, so it doesn't really matter.

No, I'm just thinking it's going to be an interesting take on this game is how this game is officiated. Because we've seen Sunbell refs all season. And ACC refs. And they actually officiated pretty closely, I think. The things they were focused on and the things that they were not focused on were pretty similar. And I don't know, I don't You watched a lot more Maction than we did. What were the things that they were kind of focusing on?

They really didn't call a ton of penalties in the MAAC. And I don't know if that's just because those teams are not very good or what, but I also wonder if they're getting like their A crews because they were playing so many games on Tuesday and Wednesday that weren't competing with other conferences for refs or anything. I don't know. I mean, Maction is just kind of its own craziness. It's fun to watch. But it's usually horrific weather and nine people in the stand. So it's a little feels it has a little different feel to it where the refs don't have any pressure on

them. All right. So I'm trying to think of where we go from here.

Well, we don't have like too much info from practices and things like that, but we know how coach Ronnie likes to run these practices during bowl season. They're not your traditional practices where you're just running out the ones. A lot of guys on the roster who haven't played this year are getting a lot more reps and there's going to be. you know, 567 of those guys that emerge and probably play quite a bit in the bowl game. Um, I would imagine the safety position is one of those with Terry being out. You got Ontario Smith back there. You got Marcus night. It could be stepping up. Ashton Wittener's done a great job of stepping up with some of the guys in the secondary have been out. So I'm kind of I'm excited to see What, who comes out of like nowhere to make big plays in this game? And it could be in the secondary, it could be on the defensive line. Uh, it could be, you know, maybe a receiver that we haven't, you know, seen play a whole lot, you know, like a miles off or somebody like that who steps up and comes outta nowhere because they've got the opportunity, they've earned it in the practices. But if you've not noted, our transfers out of stabilized since Monday. We haven't had a whole boatload of them start rolling in afterwards. And I think that has a lot to do with guys being able to get a lot of reps in practice and kind of see that there's a future for them here. Or, you know, if there's not, they're, they're going to end the portal afterwards. Yeah, I agree with

Gary. I think if we see anybody emerge, it'll be out of that wide receiver core. I don't think we'll see anybody at the running back position because, you know, Rojay had already played four games. We don't see him. So it's going to be. It's gonna be the guys that, you know, Wicks and Galloway, Obie, those guys. It'll be interesting. I mean, I think everybody would love to see a flash of a quarterback we haven't seen yet. Maybe a little deceptive, you know, or something just to keep things interesting, but we'll see.

Yeah, I also wouldn't mind seeing some other guys rotated on the offensive line because we're losing at least two starters with Leroy Thomas and Xavier Black. I imagine we're gonna lose some others as well at some point. It would just be nice to see. Some of those younger offensive linemen show out well in practice and get the opportunity to play a good bit and get some good game speed experience because that's, you know, that that's an area, a huge area of focus for us in the transfer portal and needing to shore up that offensive line going into next year because we can't be the team that gives up the most sacks again next year and expect our offense to grow at all and guys like that, you know, they're hopping the portal and they have the opportunity to go play somewhere else and get those reps in the team gets the scholarship back. So not every. Yeah. Outbound transfer is the sign of a problem or necessarily a bad thing. It can absolutely benefit both parties And it's in my opinion a good thing that we have that to where you're not just carrying a guy for four years It's never going to play.

Okay fellas. I got a question for you. So it's only been sacked seven times this season. That's Pretty freaking good. Their offensive line has done a great job of keeping him clean. Well, I guess with artificial turf I guess even if you get sacked these days you're often clean anyways But we haven't been able to generate a ton of pressure for most of the season in a pass offense like this where they Is there a way that you see us getting any pressure on him and make him a little bit uncomfortable throughout the course of this game?

I think it just depends on what offense they're running. Like, typically, with this offense that they run, the ball gets out of the quarterback's hand really fast. So even if you blitz a ton, you don't have a lot of time to get back. It's similar to what Georgia Southern ran against us last year, uh, with van trees to where even if you're blitzing seven, it's a quick three step drop ball is out and you can't even get to the quarterback. Uh, but I do think if we're able to jam at the line. And kind of disrupt some timing. You're going to see a lot of guys from that second level come blitz. And then, you know, the way Matthew's COA, uh, I think you still see Sean Asbury blitz in and then coming in from the safety group. I think that's the way to do it, but we have to be really disciplined in those one on one scenarios to not give up a big play because Western Kentucky loves the explosives. That is, is what their offense runs on.

Yeah, and they're not a great rushing team, so it's gonna be all through the

year. Yeah, obviously, the last game that we had, Jason did not play. It was injury. He's had a surgery. Those who were at the basketball game last night, you saw him on crutches. But a name that Gary just mentioned, Koa, that's a guy who I'm gonna be watching in this game. He had a really nice game. And so it'll be very interesting to see kind of how he performs against a good Western Kentucky team.

Yeah, we know Jason Henderson will be out. Noah is absolutely looking like he's going to step up. I think Syed Stephens will get a lot of run there too. But you know, we got some other linebackers that have been, you know, kind of somewhat sitting on the bench this year, but have shown some flashes like Mario Thompson. When he's gotten in as a true freshman, he's been really good. I think. Pay really close attention to the numbers that are out there. Maybe have a roster in your pocket because I do think we're going to rotate a ton of these young guys in and there's a lot of talent that's been sitting on the bench that hasn't been able to play and I would love to see it in in some game action here. I just. More, more, more just selfishly because I want to see him again in the spring and then next year, but, uh, there's a good core of, you know, first, second year guys that I would love to see get some game action.

Well, you know, those guys have been working their asses off. So what better reward than to be able to get some run, especially in a bowl game? I mean, that's just got to be pretty cool there. I know I would be excited. Mike is smiling like, yeah, of course, Aaron. Freaking, you'd be excited to play in a bowl game. I'm ready to go. If I get I would get blasted on the first play. It's kind of like fighting Mike Tyson. I get one punch, but God, what a story.

I'm excited about the receiver position. And seeing what we can get out of there. Because obviously we know Javon Harvey had a lot of snaps. And he is in the portal and will not be playing. So that's a lot of opportunities for these backup receivers to get some run and see what they have. As Gary mentioned, Miles Austin, maybe he goes all. Um, T. J. Lot. We haven't seen much of. I'd love to see what he has. Marshawn Ferguson, Jalen Pretlow, Devin Queen, all guys that haven't had many opportunities and maybe we can see them kind of flourish in his bowl game or at least see some signs of what the future

holds. You know, the G Squad guys are working hard with all those extra reps and would love to see them rewarded. I mean, it's how we, how Jason Henderson developed. It's how Koa's developed. We got a lot of former G Squad guys that are starting now. And this is the time because there's open positions next year across the board. And you have the opportunity if you're on the roster now to go and earn them and get them and position yourself well. And I think there's a lot of really hungry guys on that team that have bought into this culture of winning and understanding what it takes to win. I would love to just see competition for all these open positions, just dudes going at

it, you know, and we've been talking about which wide receivers may, you know, emerge. Someone that we haven't seen you know much. And I'm gonna mention a name that I know Gary really loves and is near and dear to his heart. I'd love to see Isaiah Spencer show up, get an opportunity and make a nice catch or two, make an impact on this game

that, that would make me very happy to see him maybe finish his career with that touchdown reception. Uh, we saw him. throughout this year line up at tight end and also at some wide receiver as well. So I definitely think he'll be looking to play as much as he possibly can. And the last little bit of experience he can share with these younger guys would be great. Uh, yeah, it's, there's gonna be a lot of guys. This is their last football game. And they know it, you know, Xavier Black, Leroy Thomas, we know that they're done. There's several others as well. Uh, so much. So I want to see the younger guys. I do want to see them. Get their flowers, but I don't think anything will beat them coming off the field in Norfolk to clinch bowl eligibility. That was a pretty big moment.

Yeah, I got one, one comment and one question. The comment is Isaiah Page seemed to really be coming into his own lately. I mean, he had, I mean, that one catch on the sideline, Mike, that we've talked about multiple times, it's just a phenomenal catch and made big plays when needed and really see him stepping up. So. I would be shocked if he doesn't end up having a good game. The question though is, obviously Lemarion got hurt in the last game. He, uh, fortunately he was back in the field and back in the hospital once that game was over. Have you guys heard anything and how he's doing and what his prospects look for playing next Monday?

I believe he's expected to play. I think Ricky talked about it when he made the announcement that Jason would not be playing. And neither would these transfer portal guys. He mentioned that he might be kind of a game time decision based on his injury, but I would expect him to be ready to play.

Yeah, he's going to want to play. I can tell you that he's going to want to be out there for sure. I know there was some back and forth over the week with the individual that laid that hit, putting that video clip out and trying to flex a little bit. And he ended up getting dunked on pretty good by just about everybody, but man, just kind of falls in line with what Georgia state was doing on the sideline while he was down dancing and all that stuff. That's a, I don't know if it's a rivalry yet, but there's definitely. An increased amount of hate between at least the players for that game after, especially after that, that was ridiculous.

All right. So you mentioned Isaiah Page and how he's kind of blossomed this season. This prior two years, he had about 100, between 150 and 175 yards. This year, he had 382. So he's doubled his prior output. It was nice to see him kind of come alive about midway through the season. Really happy for him to finally kind of figure this offense out and kind of blossom in it. It's always great. Yeah, him

staying healthy was also a critical piece of that too. But that catch he had on the sideline against Georgia State. It's pretty nuts. I'm glad there's some good video and some good photo of it. CB got some good shots of it that we put in our recap. Yeah, it's, there's a lot of talent on this team. It's just getting it honed in and getting the machine a little bit more well oiled. Like I'm, without even seeing what's coming in the transfer portal, I'm really excited to see what this offense is going to look like in the spring and then going into next year. I, it's a, again, a tough schedule for us, but I really liked the way things are kind of lining up for that first game.

Yeah, he had like a hundred yards receiving in the first four games combined and then he had a game 58 yards 71 yards 59 yards 51 yards 40 yards So Mike you're absolutely right about him kind of coming into his own and blossoming in the second half of the season Yeah, I think that we could see really good things from him this game and I'm excited. I'm really excited about next season

I'm excited for him because we know he has a speed I'm excited for him to kind of break one tackle and just First one because we've seen a lot of volume plays from him or volume games for him where he's getting like seven catches for 70 yards, but eventually he's gonna break one for like 80 yards and it's gonna be a beauty

I would love to see us get back to some more explosive plays. I don't think we've seen that many like long touchdown passes in a couple games, but you're right, Mike. All it takes for him, especially in the, what we call it, the bus, the discount decker double stack, uh, him just breaking one tackle on the outside and he would be gone. I know we saw that almost happen a couple of times at JMU.

Well, talk about explosive. A guy that we really, I don't think we've seen a whole heck of a lot in the last few games, that when he has made plays, they almost all have been ridiculously explosive, is Dom Dutton. So, perhaps Dom sees something. On Monday, and we get back to the explosive nature.

Alright, so, the total on this game is 55 and a half, which is one of our bigger totals in a while. I think it's kinda, I think it's right on the money. Because this could be one of those games where, we're running all over them, they're throwing all over us, and it's just Who's gonna score last like I it's gonna take a minute for defenses to adjust for whatever New stuff is plugged in for the bowl game. So kind of like that first half over Regambling showdown. Sorry. Well

well, if this shit comes down to Last minute that means it's a one score game and I'm gonna if I did bet which I don't cuz I suck at these things But if I was gonna bet on it, I'd be betting in our favor. I mean we've been a one score team like We have 10 of those this season, I think. I would be betting on Old Dominion, but you know, I would value so much of us not having a one score game and win this thing going away. I would not only be comfortable from a football perspective and just be able to enjoy it and be stress free, but I would be comfortable because after our last podcast, I bought myself One of those heated jackets we were talking about so i'll be comfortable from that perspective And comfortable from a football perspective. It would be the most amazing environment

Well, I just hope no one spills beer on you and short circuits that thing or you know Maybe it's a little drizzle and you get shorted out. I don't know That's I feel weird having my phone in my pocket. Sometimes I can't imagine that

It's completely possible, Gary, because I'm, you know, at this point as I get older, I do value comfort. So I'm the guy bought the jacket, it came with a battery pack, but I'm not good with just one battery pack. I don't want to all of a sudden, that shit just go out. And now I'm stuck with a regular jacket. So of course I bought a second battery pack that also I am, I will be wired up. So if things get crazy and champagne starts going, you know, fortunately there's a zipper pocket that keeps the, keep the battery. Separate from the liquid, but I'm really excited about this. If you can't tell,

I just hope it's cold enough for you to use it.

So how are you planning on implementing the battery? When are you going to, are you going to just start, go outside, turn it on immediately? Are you going to wait until you're actually cold to

turn it on? No, you can't wait until you're cold. It's too late at that point. So I think what I'll do is, you know, I'll feel how the temperatures, the beginning of the game, it looks like the high of 58. I think so kind of at some point. So I'll turn it on, I'll just turn it on low. So we'll get the nice base layer of heat going. And I've got two battery packs, so I have like 20 hours of low. So, I'm gonna be good to go. But I don't, you know, I don't want to be hot, because then I'd be sweat. And then you don't want to be wet inside that thing. Because one, I, you know, I might become like Experiment on Mr. Wizard's world and get fried. And the second is nothing worse than being, you know, moist and warm at a football game. You're gonna

start growing something in that jacket, man. You're gonna stick it in your suitcase, come home, and it's just gonna be crawling out of there.

A human petri dish. But no, I'm

a man You don't really sell this jacket on me right now.

Dude, after our discussion, and you talked about having a targeted ad, I came home after that football game, I had five targeted ads. So, I went and I did a little bit of research, and I chose the one that I thought was going to be best, so I'm hoping I'm not sorely disappointed. I have had internet purchases before, where you're like, you're all excited, you think it's going to be good, and then it totally sucks. But I will say I put it on and I'm kind of impressed. I haven't turned. I have not turned the heat on yet. So I will do that before the trip because if it doesn't work, then I gotta come up with our other options. But I think, uh, I think this one's gonna work out great.

Well, good, good luck to you. Make sure you video yourself the first time you turn it on just in case the insurance needs anything. I don't know. It doesn't look like it's going to be that cold. It might rain a little bit, but I think we're going to be all right in Charlotte. It won't be as cold as the, uh, the Myrtle beach ball where what didn't even get out of the thirties until kickoff.

Yeah, I was looking at that earlier, Gary. We've got right now the way to out forecast is a high of 56 with a low of 40 and mostly sunny. So as of right now, we should have a great day for football, but I will say if it's, you know, around 50 degrees. I'll probably put that bad boy on low. Just

the keep warm setting of your crockpot jacket. 50

degrees in Charlotte is a much warmer temperature than 50 degrees in Norfolk. I'll just say that. The

great thing, the great thing though is I can turn it off. But I do agree, Gary. This is the crockpot setting, not the instant pot setting. This is one of those low and slow, you know?

Yeah. Almost like a smoker. You better hope it doesn't turn into an instapot.

He's gonna have tenderized skin by the end of the game.

There's a whole, there's a whole warning section in the instructions to talk about what to do and not to do. It's like It is kind of scary, and they also talked about like, you know, making sure that you're not pressing. So you talked about, you know, not putting hand warmers and foot warmers under compression clothing. Yeah, if you don't, if you don't do this right, you could be in for an interesting afternoon.

Yeah, you're gonna be smelling like slow cooked pork barbecue at the end of the game. What happened to my back? What's

going on

with my back? I just pulled pork. Baby back

ribs. There you go.

Oh, alright. I'm

still not sold on this jacket idea.

Well, you know, I will report to you guys throughout the game. How it's going and then of course, you know after the game, but um, um, I Am as optimistic about this jacket as I am in this football game for old dominion.

I'm with you on that I like our chances here. I like how our guys are fired up and definitely want to be there And just with the opportunities for guys who haven't played this year to get a chance to get some game film and get some Get up to game speed a little bit I think what we have to avoid is the slow start on offense that we've seen the last few games where we end up getting ourselves into a big hole because we just can't move the football at all. So I'm hoping that we're putting together pretty nice game script early on on the offensive side. Uh, gonna stay with the run, stick with the run, and be able to exploit some of our advantages there. Uh, especially, you know, behind a couple guys in the offensive line that are playing their last game, and I'm sure would love to add some more highlight blocks to, to their game film. Uh, but yeah, it's, I think we also have the ability to control the clock a little bit too, if we can run, which would be a big help for our defense, but I like our chances a lot in this game. I think we, we get another one back against Western Kentucky.

Nice. All right, Mike. Who's going to get us started on predictions?

I believe you should be always leading off with your predictions because we kind of know what we're expecting here, but we don't know what the twist is going to be. Well,

you know, I'm hoping that this game is a couple score game in our favor. That would be really nice. It would be comfortable. It would be enjoyable. We could just kind of, you know, lay back, not have elevated heart rates, but of course, that has not been the story of the season. And I don't think that it's going to be the story of this game. I think it comes down to a one score game. Gary was talking about earlier that this thing is probably going to come down to the last possession. I think we have the ball for that last possession and. We're going to need, you know, a good sustained drive. We're going to get that. Grant's going to make a couple key plays with his feet, but then that drive ultimately is going to stall a little bit, and we're going to have a field goal opportunity. My man Ethan Sanchez is going to step up. He's going to be on probably about the 33 yard line. It's going to be a 50 yard kick. We're not expecting much wind this week, so that's a good thing. He's going to hit that thing. Dead center. It's gonna sneak right over the upright monarchs win.

I love it. I mean With a 50 yard kick from Ethan Sanchez who would have expected that from Aaron? You're shocking us with this pick Aaron,

you throw me off my game a little bit.

Yeah, I you know when you know, you know In the football team came out last night. I land a sea of giants Walking onto the court, and the one dude with a t shirt to throw into the stands, there's only one guy, there's like a hundred dudes on the court. One guy comes out with a t shirt to launch into the stands, and who is it? Your kicker, Ethan Sanchez, showing off the arm, which we've heard he's got quite the arm. So, that's what's gonna happen. Old Dominion in a last second win.

I like it. Jerry, what do you got? My prediction is slightly different. There will be field goals, just not for Western Kentucky. I'm gonna go with Old Dominion 41, Western Kentucky 28. I think we come out hot, and we get up early. And unlike Marshall and Wake Forest. We put the hammer down and we stay at least two scores ahead of them throughout the entire game. We get to have a good time. Aaron turns into the human torch with his battery powered jacket. Uh, I love our matchup. I love our ability to score. against Western Kentucky. And I think we're going to be able to make them one dimensional and shut down the pass. Any field goal attempts for Western Kentucky will be blocked or missed because that's what our special teams does. So 4128 Monarchs. I'm thinking

this is going to be a lower scoring game than expected. I would take the under because we can run the ball and they're not very good at stopping the run. I think our running backs are going to have a good committee day. And I'm expecting maybe grant to run for quite a bit of yards. I'm expecting us to control the clock for once. All Dominion wins, controlling the clock, 27 to 17.

I would love to hold them under 17. I'd be down for that.

Yeah, my, I'm just kind of going with it. I'm kind of concerned about Reid's passing ability and we've seen over the years how Western Kentucky can just kind of control the clock and just kind of kill us with. their passing attack, but our ability to stop the run and their inconsistent offense. Kind of being touch and go will be a big factor here and I think we can force some three and outs And kind of swing the clock in our favor

Give us one time of possession win this season. I would love it Ground and pound what

better time than now? There is none before we go. We should I think we should talk about what's going on in the rest of the Sunbelt. You saw Louisiana Monroe hired a new coach, former offensive coordinator. So they're going to go with the offensive minded guy. JMU brings in Bob Chesney from Holy cross. Who's he's won everywhere he's been at, but this will be his first foray into public schools. She really interesting higher there. Any thoughts on what's going on in the sunbelt? Troy's got a

new coach too, right? Yeah,

they're gonna have to. You know, their coach summer all is headed over to Tulane. Uh, so you're looking at The teams that finished the top of the standings in the East and the West going through coaching changes and a lot of guys going into the portal. So I think there, there's opportunity there for a nice shakeup in what the standings look like next season with as much talent and knowledge is going out from those two programs and then ULM, I mean, just head to the rebuild board.

Yeah, I think this is a great opportunity for Old Dominion football and Monarch Nation. I mean, you've got some churn there, you know, we had a lot of new players this year. We've got some in the portal. If you go to ODUmonarchist. com, you can see Mike's story on the 2023 2024 ODU football roster churn page that he continuously updates, but we're able to grab some guys from the portal. And the guys signed that were expected to sign in the early national signing period, the 20th to the 22nd, Ricky's got a real chance to make a move next year or compete for the championship. I'm excited. I really am. And this bowl game could be a nice springboard to that. Yeah, there's

a couple other factors going into that as well. We're going to see a new quarterback and coach combo in Harrisonburg. We're going to see a new quarterback and OC combo in Marshall, at Marshall. And then App State just lost their best running back, Nate Noel, to the portal, which is a huge loss. Going to be really interesting in the East next year. And obviously coastal they're going to have, they're going to be all Vasco next year. So it's going to be a different looking East next year.

There's some blood in the water and I think we smell it because if this offense comes out and improves on last year. And we're able to shore up just some spots on the defense. We're going to be a team that's looking like eight, nine wins. And that's got the potential to win you the East and potentially even host a conference championship game. So there's a lot of opportunity in front of ODU right now. And kind of what happens over the next month with the transfer portal can have a big impact on that if we can shore up that offensive line.

Yeah. I can't wait to see how this all plays out, including the bowl game. And before we go, please check out ODAF's fundraiser right now to send students to the ball game. We want to send as many students as we can down to Charlotte for this game. This is a great opportunity for them to make lifelong memories and hopefully create some lifelong fans. So if you can, please give and let's make this bowl experience a fantastic one for ODU football and the students. I think that's a good place to end it. So can't wait to see you guys in Charlotte. Go Monarchs!

Go Monarchs! Go Monarchs!

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