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It's another victory Sunday, the second in three weeks.
Old Dominion beats, Georgia State 21 to 14.
Let's talk about it.
But first, Gary, how you doing?
How was the trip?
Gary: I'm doing great.
Trip was awesome.
Nice to come out of there with a win.
Got a decent flight back was back in Richmond before one o'clock today.
So feeling good and ready for the fun bank holiday tomorrow.
Mike: Must be nice health care that does not exist.
The main topic of conversation has to be this defensive performance yesterday.
And, uh, I mean, that D line and our performance against the run and the pass just maybe the best performance we've seen for the defensive front.
All year.
Gary: Yeah, in my opinion, it was absolutely the best game of the season for the defensive line.
I mean, Denzel Lowry and Maury Morrison, Chris Trinidad, they were eaten on just about every play.
Like they were pushing that offensive line back.
We see it show up in the stat sheet as well with, we have nine tackles for a loss in that game.
Uh, that's huge.
We had three sacks, uh, just a, a, a nice bounce back performance for the defense after, uh, you know, we were on a pretty good after the coastal game.
Mike: Yeah, absolutely.
Um, and I want to give some credit to Mario Easterly in the secondary.
He performed very well for us yesterday.
Um, I know he's kind of more of a reserve, but he played like a starter yesterday and it was needed in a game where our offense could kind of just kept shooting themselves in the foot.
Gary: Mario had a great game.
Him and Jaron back there.
It's safeties was a big plus for us.
And Georgia State challenged us early with a lot of deep balls and defense responded well, they had good coverage.
Um, they got pressure which forced some bad throws, especially some deep balls down the field.
And Rankin almost had a first half interception in addition to the big one he had in the second.
Uh, we, we talked about on the podcast last week of Coastal Carolina look like a team that spent their entire bi week preparing to attack our defense.
And I believe that is even more true now for two reasons.
It's one, the way our defense played on Saturday, they were, they were lights out there, fantastic.
And then two coastal went to JMU and got absolutely destroyed.
They could not do anything on offense.
So they prepared for us, but apparently not JMU and, uh, they're one and one now in the Sunbelt East.
Mike: Yeah.
The East race is getting really interesting.
Especially with JMU now being one in one, we're one in one, it's wide open,
Gary: I don't think I would have ever guessed that Georgia Southern would be sitting here 2 and 0, and App State would be 0 and 3 in the Sun Belt.
Just completely flipped what a lot of people thought was going to happen this year.
Mike: Yeah, and I was, uh, I'm pretty, I've been pretty wrong so far in Marshall.
I thought they were going to be, uh, A team that would be struggling to make a bowl.
Um, they're one in one right now, but they're outperforming my expectation for them.
Gary: Yeah.
Curious to see how they bounce back after blowing the lead down at Georgia Southern.
Cause they really had that game in hand early on and ended up losing late.
So interesting to see how they bounce back, man.
Sunbelt is just crazy.
Louisiana Monroe three and Oh, in the West.
Unbelievable.
Mike: Yeah.
Um, so I was looking at PFF earlier today.
And it confirmed what we've been talking about.
We have the best rush defense in the Sun Belt, according to the PFF, at this point in the season.
Yesterday we held them to two yards per carry.
That is phenomenal.
Gary: Pretty good.
Pretty solid.
Mike: Nine tackles for loss.
Another fantastic performance there.
Will Jones Jr.
has two.
Amorie Morrison has two.
Jahleel Culbreth had two.
Mario has Maybe the most important, fumble recovery we've had in a long time.
Just, uh, that was fun that watching that defense play yesterday was fun.
Gary: Yeah, they were smooth and free flowing.
We were rotating still a lot of guys in the defensive back.
I think at the first six defensive plays, I counted nine different DBs that came on the field.
So you're, you're seeing that depth come through.
We looked pretty fresh.
We actually won the time of possession battle, uh, which is, is pretty, pretty awesome to do that and make sure that you win.
Yeah, Jahleel Culbreth, I thought played really well.
He ended up with five tackles, five solo tackles, actually.
We talked about Will Jones and his tackle for a loss.
That sack that he had where he just basically just flew through the middle of the offensive line and hit the quarterback.
It was a huge, huge play, really athletic play.
Did not over pursue, didn't miss the quarterback because he was running at full speed and opted.
So, uh, Love watching that defense eat yesterday.
You felt like we were going to be in that game, no matter what, just because of how well they were playing.
Mike: All right.
Um, yeah, defense was fantastic.
I'm looking for that time possession.
I did not realize we won that.
It
Gary: wasn't by a lot.
I think it was by maybe 32 to 27.
Yeah.
32
Mike: 45 to 27 15.
So when was the last time we won the time of possession?
I
Gary: think we may have actually won the time of possession battle at Coastal, but it was within seconds of their time of possession.
This is the biggest advantage we've had there in a while.
Uh, and we were really smart on offense in that fourth quarter.
We went to a ground and pound.
We took almost the entire play clock off.
Uh, I mean, we know that this offense has looked completely different in the last couple of weeks, very different with Colton Joseph at quarterback.
Uh, but it seems like we're trying to go less hurry up, less tempo and more.
Let's control the clock, control possession, keep our defense off the field.
And that's really what we've needed to see over the last couple of years.
Once this clear, this high flying attack was not going to, going to work for what we wanted to do is not the best match with the defense that we had.
Uh, so I've been really pleased with the changes on the offensive side of the ball.
You've got to give that coach and staff credit for kind of swallowing the pride and ego and making the changes that need to be made.
Mike: Yeah, I'm still not quite happy with some of our passing calls, , way too many deep shots.
I'd like to get back to more of that intermediate and short area.
Um, it works and it helps make drives more successful.
Gary: Case in point on that Pat Conroy yesterday.
almost all of his routes were towards the middle of the field.
He had seven targets.
He had a career high seven catches 43 yards after the catch.
Uh, heck of a day.
And I, I asked coach Rahne about that in the postgame press conference.
It kind of indicated to him that Pat was becoming a fan favorite because of how tough he is.
And he said, you have no idea how tough he is and what he's having to do just to be able to go out on the field and play with whatever injuries and pain he's dealing with.
Uh, cause he's really.
The only tight end that we have active on the roster and he's out there so many plays.
So, I mean, you want a toughness award.
I think Pat Conroy is well ahead of the rest on getting it and we have a tough team.
Mike: Yeah, there was one play.
I saw where his leg kind of got grabbed as he was going down and you can see him getting up pretty gingerly, stretching it out and just runs right back to line up.
So yeah, he's
missing him would be so bad for us.
So I'm happy he continues to fight through all of this and produce, I mean, 43 yards after the catch yesterday.
That's
Gary: a lot for a tight end in our offense.
That's a lot.
Mike: Considering he had 61 yards, 43 of those came after the catch.
I mean, that's phenomenal.
Gary: That is, that's developing a good relationship with your new quarterback, getting to space, following him when he's rolling out of the pocket and moving around in the pocket.
I just.
Pat Conroy might be the surprise to me on offense, uh, in terms of production.
Like, he kind of just got thrown in the fire when other guys were down and, man, he is, he's stepped up in a really big way for us this year.
So, salute to Pat.
Mike: And he's an example that there's ballers at all levels of college football.
I mean, he came here from, what, Merrimack, which is what, what's that, D3?
I
Gary: think so, yeah.
Mike: So, I mean, the fact that I found him, pretty awesome, but.
It just makes you wonder how many other guys are like that out there that we just don't know about because they're playing division three ball.
Gary: Yeah, he does not look like a division three player on the field right now.
I can tell you that.
Uh, and someone else in this offense that really stepped up on saturday to reek Sims with Aaron Young being out with the injury.
It was three headed monster in the backfield and there was really no drop off.
Um, he had a career high in rushing yards.
His previous career high in rushing guards was actually against Georgia State as well.
Happy to see him get the touchdown.
Uh, I asked him about that, that touchdown run afterwards.
And I, and you know, there was great blocking there.
Santana Saunders and, uh, Stephon DuBose Borne did a great job of just sealing that run and opening a big hole for him.
He ran right through.
I'm happy to see him, his hard work pay off, getting into the end zone again for us and hopefully becoming a more steady rotation piece there in that backfield.
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Mike: Yeah, and early in the game, our guy Elijah Hoskins, who was just given a scholarship, we see him go down with an injury and he's replaced by Woodsma.
I was worried about that at that moment, uh, what our offensive line would look like the rest of the day.
And we produced on the ground, especially with Colton in those backs.
228 yards on the ground, so we didn't see much change there yesterday.
Gary: The run game really took off in the second half and I think it has a lot to do with Colton Joseph leading the charge there with rushing.
They had to account for him more defensively, so that gave a little bit more breathing room for our running backs, made things a little bit easier on our offensive line too, but that move to have him run a little bit more there in the second half really, really opened things up for us.
You know, Big Wu.
He definitely had some tough plays.
He got a couple holding calls.
He's got to tighten that up.
But, there wasn't a huge drop off like I was expecting when Hoskins went down.
And feel for Hoskins, you know, he went down in the last game against Coastal.
Um, I think his family was telling me he had broken that ankle in high school and all of that.
So, it didn't look good.
He was able to walk to the sideline and got carted to the locker room.
So, wishing him nothing but the best.
That's it.
Hopefully he's able to do that miracle again and come back and play next week.
Mike: Yeah, we'll be praying for you, Elijah.
All right.
I keep going back to this defense.
How many critical plays they made, especially late in the game.
We're up 21 14.
Georgia State gets the onside kick with their box out and the very lucky roll for them.
Um, and we come up huge with the sack, the strip sack fumble, uh, just
everything you need from a defense.
They did yesterday.
Gary: They kept stepping up and I think we got caught off guard a little bit on that on side kick because we were on the north side of the two minute timeout.
Georgia State had their timeouts.
The typical thought there is they're going to kick it away.
Uh, we did have the hands team out there.
We were, you know, we weren't caught off guard in that respect.
But it was a really weird onside kick like that has to be the longest onside kick I've ever seen that ball like It was rolling like a yard a second it felt like and we were just not aggressive to go up and get the ball or Should do in that situation is act like you're going for it and swat it out of bounds That's what probably should have happened on that play But we kind of were waiting for it to roll 10 yards and it kept going and by the time it hit 10 yards, Georgia State was completely surrounding it.
So we have to tighten that up in practice and be more prepared because that's, uh, that's not something you want on film to get to expose you later on.
But luckily defense is there to bail it out.
Like you said, I mean, that's a, that's a huge play from Kris Trinidad to come off the edge like that, uh, stay away from anyone blocking them and lay a huge hit on the quarterback strip that ball out.
And then Mario Thompson's right there to.
scoop it up and we kneeled it out.
Mike: Yeah, and it's one of the few times a season where one of those fumbles bounced our way.
Uh, so
Gary: I'll take it.
I also I also take responsibility for that onside kick and also the second touchdown that Georgia State scored.
It's completely my fault because we were up 21 to 7.
We had the ball.
We were running the clock out.
And I had to go to ODU sports.
com and look at the schedule and go back to 2022.
And I was looking for the last time that we won a game by more than two possessions that I was going to tweet that out.
The second I looked that up, Georgia state scored a touchdown.
So I just X out of the window.
So that that's on me for, uh, I think looking a little too far ahead because guess what?
Another one score game for old.
Mike: Yeah.
The list of one score games these last few seasons is getting ridiculously long.
What?
Two games this season that weren't, or I guess one, really, just Virginia Tech, right?
Gary: Yeah, Virginia Tech is two of the last three games that were not won possession.
It was those two.
And the other
Mike: is Louisiana, I assume, right?
Gary: Oh, no, Liberty.
Mike: Oh, yeah.
Gary: It's a
Mike: game I burned out of my memory.
Gary: Yeah, I keep trying to every single day.
The last time we had a Sunbelt game that wasn't one possession was at App State in November of 2022.
So we're coming up on two years since the last time we were not in a one score Sunbelt game.
That, that just tells you how tough it is and how we've missed some opportunities over the last two years.
Mike: But it shows you our competitiveness and how far we've come as a program that we are competitive in each and every game and we're going out there.
Gary: There's not a team battle tested in crunch time.
I gotta give a little bit of that.
Mike: Yeah, I want to get take a moment to give some credit to peanut Houston.
He doesn't get a whole lot of snaps, but he has his first career touchdown at Old Dominion.
His first touchdown since 2022.
2022.
And it was a critical one and I don't know if you can say it, but you told me something earlier that I found really interesting.
Gary: Uh, yeah, I can tell you because coach Ronnie said in the postgame press conference, but the two plays before he had that touchdown catch, the corner that was covering him punched him in the face on both plays.
And coach Ronnie said, peanut did not retaliate.
He took it.
He went back to the line, did his job and kind of got the ultimate last there with the, with the touchdown catch.
Uh, but the There's a lot of little things like that, and Coach Ronnie alluded to that, um, that go on during the game that sometimes you miss that aren't on the broadcast.
The other one I will tell you is the interception that Colton Joseph threw that got called back for a penalty.
Uh, he's kind of in the middle of the field where he would have been in the pocket, the return's coming down the sideline.
Uh, there was a defender that had him pinned to the ground, had the full mount, was grabbing him by the front of his jersey and pads.
and just banging the back of his head into the turf.
The referee went over there and broke it up.
No flag on the play.
Nothing.
Uh, I guess that's legal in the Sun Belt, but it's little things like that that may happen a little bit outside of camera view that can create reactions that then get the flag.
But kind of getting tired of all these little cheap shots and chippy and unsportsmanlike things.
And it's typically against Georgia State.
If you remember last year with Lamareon James.
Mike: Yeah, um, we were kind of warned of that last year with how their coach was and I remember them telling us to watch them warm up and, uh, yeah, they were,
I'm glad he's not their coach anymore.
I'll just say that.
Gary: Yeah.
Yeah.
Hoping, hoping that culture turns around a little bit.
Um, I think they're going to be good in the future.
I think they have the right coaching staff.
They do have some playmakers on their team now.
I mean, obviously.
They beat Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt beat Bama, who beat Georgia.
We actually, uh, someone pointed out that we completed the circle of suck.
Because Alabama beat South Carolina, who beat us.
So you can just go in that circle of who lost to who all day.
Um, Yeah, it was, it was chippy.
And you could hear everything that was happening on the field.
Because there were maybe 1, 500, 2, 000 fans in the old Ted Turner field.
Mike: So talk to us about that.
Uh, you went to the game, you went to the tailgate, the alumni tailgate.
Talk to us about the experience and how much it's changed since you last went two years ago.
Gary: Yeah, they've done a really good job of building up everything around that football stadium.
Uh, last time I went there, there was some construction going on, but we had to go to a barbecue place and have to take the lock off the door so we could get a beer.
Very different now.
A lot of really nice new condos and apartments, restaurants, bars.
We went to a really cool beer garden.
It's like two blocks off the stadium.
Like good food, great beer, uh, definitely a better environment around the stadium.
Now, um, the ODU alumni association had their tailgate, uh, with the Atlanta chapter there, so shout out to, to Matt Harrell and Brett Scott.
They did a fantastic job with that.
Probably 50, 60, uh, ODU fans that came to that.
We had a great time.
Uh, some, uh, parents of players were there as well.
I know that Barlev's were there, uh, Colton Joseph's parents were there as well.
Uh, it was just a, it was a good, good vibe, good hangouts beforehand, but man, you come in the stadium and it's just a cavern.
Like, the only thing that was loud in there was the PA system and the damn train horn that kept going off.
Um, it's kind of sad, too, because like it's turned into a little bit better venue to watch football if you're in the stands, but they still use the old baseball press box.
So those sight lines that Andy Mashaw and Ted were talking about on the radio broadcast are real.
They can't see really anything from the end zone and not much better.
A couple feet over from where they were.
Mike: All right.
I really want to talk about Colton.
Uh, he's obviously the reason we won offensively.
I mean, the defense won this game, but he put us in a position to win with his play on the ground.
And, but I want to highlight some of his throws that should not have happened.
Uh, we got lucky with a couple, the interception being called back due to penalty, uh, But, uh, we saw some rookie mistakes from him where we're freshmen mistakes of him just trying to extend the play when he might be better off throwing it away or taking the sack.
Gary: Yeah.
The interception through that counted, you know, he was rolling not arm side through across his body on a drag route into some coverage.
I mean, things are going to happen in your first couple games that you're going to play.
And it's just things you got to grow from.
He took some shots on the sideline before he was going out of bounds.
So you're, you're right on the money there with just more reps, more things like that, that'll, that'll start to fall into place that he's got to protect himself a little bit because Grant was there, but he was not dressed out.
And I don't know if he's gonna be dressed out for the rest of the season.
And, uh, Quinn Henicle, like ton of potential there, shown some flashes, but he, he.
Clearly needs like more time in the system before he's ready to kind of take the reins over there.
Mike: Yeah, I mean, I'm confident in saying Colton is our best QB moving forward.
I think he's the QB one because the offense just looks different with him and his ability to move around the pocket and his decision making have made me enjoy watching the offense again.
He doesn't hesitate for those deep shots.
He takes them when they're there.
We could work a little bit on accuracy and all that, but it just looks better with him at quarterback.
Gary: I agree.
I don't, I don't think there's any doubt that he's QB one going forward.
Um, Georgia state was doing a lot with the way they were disguising their coverage, especially in the first half to where they made it look like they kind of had like a cover one and they were running man press on the outside.
Then they would shift and it was more like a.
Cover two or quarters or something like that.
So they were doing a lot to try to throw him off.
And I think that's why we were a little more stagnant in the first half that we, we really struggled to run the football.
Um, but as he started settling in, like he looked much better in the second half, making good decisions with his feet, continuing to keep his eyes downfield.
Uh, there's, there's a ton of potential there.
And I think it only gets better with, with more and more reps.
And, uh, Aaron is still over and I think last check he was in Germany on a cruise watching the football game last night.
That's what I saw come through.
He shot us a text just kind of giving his thoughts on the game.
So I want to read that to you all.
Monarchs win and Colton logs valuable snaps and is allowed to grow into the QB one role.
Uh, it's a process is going to take time, but will bear fruit moving forward.
Uh, we continue to run the rock effectively, both from the running back and QB positions and hit a few timely passes when we desperately needed it.
The defense's bounces, the defense bounces back, completely shuts down the run and we win.
Saving the 50 yard Ethan Sanchez kick for next week.
I think we know what Aaron's prediction is going to be for Texas State on Saturday.
Mike: I think that is the prediction right there, uh, for Aaron.
I hope he and his lovely wife are having a great time.
Um, But do you have anything else on this game you want to talk about?
Gary: Well, no, I mean, I, I do want to talk more about the end of the game, especially those last couple of minutes.
Cause I'm sure that just like every other ODU fan out there, there were a lot of really bad thoughts creeping into your head after they scored the touchdown to make it to seven point game and got the onsite kick.
I was, I was feeling that too.
I was like, Oh shit, here we go.
This is repayment for the crazy win we had against them last year.
Seasons over all of those awful, terrible thoughts were in my head.
Uh, I know that there were some, uh, some tweets that went out and we're floating around and there were a lot less of them about an hour after the game.
Um, but yeah, I, I understand how ODU fans are feeling.
Cause I was feeling the same way, uh, some table pounding in the press box for sure.
But thankfully the defense stepped up.
And it was a game that we, was essentially a must win for us, and we won it.
Wasn't pretty, wasn't perfect.
Defense played really well.
Still have a lot of work to do, but winning that game keeps goals in mind.
It keeps us right in the mix to go win the Sunbelt East.
And the most important thing to do in that game was to win, and that's what we did.
And we took two out of three of these really difficult Rogue games against pretty good teams.
And that's not something I was super confident about coming into this three game road stretch.
Now we have to come home.
We got one on Saturday, turn around quick Thursday.
We win both of those and I think everyone feels a lot differently about the rest of the season.
Mike: Yeah, it's uh, better to win ugly than,
it's just better to win ugly than, yeah.
Alright, I guess before we move on to Texas State, I need to talk about the watch party yesterday.
Gary: Oh, yeah, that looked awesome.
Great
Mike: turnout again by our Old Dominion fans.
It seems to be growing each week.
We're getting more new people we've never met before.
We're getting more people to join the collective and just have a really good time.
Um, the energy has been awesome.
The Alstons joined us yesterday and they enjoyed that ending just as much as we did.
Uh, a lot of Monarch was drank.
We are out of kegs, but you can get them to can pour you there.
So I think that's, uh, the move moving forward.
There are cans for people coming in for homecoming.
So make sure you stop by and pick up a four pack or more.
Um, and then next Friday we'll be having our next pep rally at afterglow to get ready for Texas state.
So at this point, we're going to take a moment to recognize the pride and we'll be right back.
This episode of the monarchist
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That is the pride of ODU dot com.
Thank you for listening and go Monarchs.
Alright, so next Saturday at 3.
30, Old Dominion hosts Texas State for the very first time.
We've never played them before, and they're a very good offensive team that is kind of worrisome for me, given their talent on offense.
I mean, they have the Sun Belt Player of the Year transfer in, after they were already a good offense before that.
Um, they're four and two right now, one and one on the road.
What's your your main concern going forward with this game?
Gary: I mean, their offense is really good.
In my opinion, the best offense in the Sun Belt, and I don't think it's particularly close.
You talked about the JMU to Texas State.
He's been elite this year.
I mean, completing 71 percent of his passes is over 1700 yards, 19 touchdowns, only five interceptions.
He's only been sacked five times.
He does it on the ground as well.
He's got 202 yards rushing, averaging 6.
1 yards of carry with four rushing touchdowns.
Uh, he is a problem and you're going to have to hit him.
You're going to have to contain him.
You're going to have to cover well.
Like, no matter how good our defense is, they are going to give up points in this game.
That's just a fact of life with Texas State coming in.
Um, I think they can do a good job of limiting them and not letting them get up in the 40s and the 50s.
But then you kind of have to ask yourself the question, if Texas State puts up 30, 33 points, can our offense match that?
Can they bring back that offensive prowess they had against Coastal and get into a shootout?
Because I think ultimately that's where this game ends up being.
It's going to be, uh, going to be bobby ball again.
Touchdowns up and down the field is what it seems like.
Mike: Yeah.
And, uh, while we're talking about it, I got to give credit to Ishmael Mahdi, he's having a fantastic year, uh, year 5.
2 yards per carry 507 on the year.
Um, he's just a workhorse and he's getting done on the ground.
Jordan McLeod, who you already mentioned, he's got 6.
1 yards per carry.
So, uh, they are a pass based offense, but they can run the damn ball.
Gary: Yeah, their offense runs similar to the one that we've been trying to run where they spread you out, they get the ball out of the quarterback's hand very quickly.
And then if they get the numbers advantage, they're going to run on you so they can run, they can pass, they can do a little bit everything.
Joey Hobart is their big wide receiver.
They have, I think four guys that are really good.
But Joey Hobart kind of leads the way.
He's got 42 catches, 411 yards and seven touchdowns.
Uh, he is definitely their go to guy in the red zone, but you can go and lock him down and shut him down.
But he got three other guys on that team, uh, that are over 200 yards receiving this year and three or more receiving touchdowns, like they can put up points quick, fast and in a hurry.
Uh, and all you need is just one, one little mistake, one lean the wrong way, get the wrong, wrong leverage at some point and they're going to burn you.
I will say, though, their defense is not nearly as strong as their offense is.
So we will have that ability to put up points if our offense can go out and execute.
Yesterday, they held Arkansas State to nine points.
Troy put up 17 on them.
They're really only their stumbles this year.
They were in a really good game with Arizona State and lost by three, and then they lost on the road to Sam Houston, who I think might be the team to beat Liberty in Conference USA.
Uh, they, they lost by one on the road to Sam Houston.
So they're a good team.
This is a big, big test for both the offense and the defense on Saturday.
Mike: All right.
So we're going to have to, on our offense, we're going to have to run the ball on them and try to gain control of the clock for a second straight week.
I mean, you talked about a shootout.
What's the best way to avoid a shootout and it's to control the clock.
We're going to have to do it.
Gary: Take the air out of the ball.
We proved that we could do it because we did it really well in the second half against Georgia State.
And that's kind of the first time we've, I think, really tried to do that.
Run out the clock.
We played intelligently with the lead.
And thank goodness we did and didn't leave Georgia State more time knowing what we know happened in the final kind of 2.
30 of that game.
This thing opened up as Texas State as like a 7.
5 point favorite.
Uh, it quickly shot up to 11 at some books, and it's kind of settled on 10 now.
Uh, we talked about it earlier, the last time ODU was not in a one possession sunbelt game was almost two years ago.
So that, that 10 number may be a little bit high, but I understand it if you look at the underlying metrics of Texas State's offense.
Mike: Yeah, Kinne was a home run hire for them.
I'm still shocked.
He didn't get snaked away after last year.
He's a fantastic head coach offensively.
Gary: Talk about just dumb luck.
Their whole quarterback situation, they get a guy in, his pass comes to light, they kick him off, and then boom, Jordan McLeod lands in your lap.
Mike.
No, you'll never get that lucky again.
But man, it works for for their offense.
They got athletes all over the place.
They're good up front.
They're good in the trenches, good in skill positions.
We're going to need a big, big performance from this offense, something like the Coastal game if we're going to be in it.
I love the defense, but I mean, sometimes you just get beat by better plays and better players.
And there's going to be those instances on Saturday.
Like they're going to give up some points.
Mike: Yeah.
We have a flyover for this one, right?
Gary: I believe so.
I can't remember what it is copied on so many of those emails.
I don't know if it's I don't think it's the Chinooks.
I know the F 18s are Thursday.
I'm sure something will be flying over the stadium at some point and it will be loud and fun.
Mike: Yeah, it's gonna be nice to be back on campus.
It's felt like six months since we've seen a game at Ballard.
Gary: Yeah, you got to knock the dust off the rituals.
I got to go like clean all my tailgate stuff again.
Cause it's been sitting in my garage for a month.
Uh, but it would, it would be great for this team having gone and won two out of three on the road to have some really good fan support on Saturday, it's homecoming.
We have a good team coming in.
Uh, you know, Angelo Rankin was talking about post game of, you know, keep believing in the team we're working.
We're getting better come out and support.
And, uh, I would love to see a good home crowd.
It's a great opportunity for this team, because you can really get some momentum running here.
Take two out of three tough road games.
You get Texas State who has to travel a long way like Don't underestimate the travel component.
And then if we're able to somehow pull off a win Saturday, you got Georgia Southern on a short week at home.
You can very quickly find yourself of 500 ballclub in a 10 day period.
And.
They really could use the fan support to try to make that happen.
Mike: Show up fans.
We need, we need everyone there for this ball club.
If we can give them a good home environment, they're going to react and play well.
Uh, interestingly enough, second straight year, we've played a Texas team for homecoming.
Hopefully the offense is a little bit better than that.
Gary: You brought back some feelings with that statement.
I have wiped that tropical storm shenanigans game.
Because man, That's like that show seconds to disaster.
We were like Lamareon James's fingertips from disaster in that game.
Mike: Yeah,
Gary: yeah, it's going to say college football is fun too.
So like go to a college football game.
Have you seen what's been going on around the country?
Like the games that were going on yesterday, even after ours, just insane endings, crazy outcomes, you got Vanderbilt beaten Bama, then going to be in Kentucky.
You're like.
Vanderbilt's got a shot to go win the SEC.
You got the Sunbelts upside down.
Like college football is a lot of fun.
And aside from two drives, the home crowd hasn't seen Colton Joseph play quarterback.
And that's something you should do.
Watch Jahron Manning for a couple of plays, even the balls on his way.
We got some dudes on this team that are really fun to watch.
Uh, so I would come out, support them.
We still got everything we want is in front of us right now.
Mike: Yeah.
I'm excited to see Colton play, um, for a full game.
I have not had the opportunity to see him in person for a full game.
So I'm excited.
Jahron Manning is net right now.
He's one of the best state rated safeties in the country.
He's top 20 at safety position on PFF.
He's the number one safety in the Sunbelt.
We need to appreciate these guys while they're here, because there's no guarantees they'll be here next year.
So
Gary: it'd be a lot of people calling him the second the season's over.
So you are correct.
Enjoy it while you can.
Obviously, everything is going to be done to, uh, make sure we keep a lot of these good, talented guys in Norfolk, right at ODU.
Never know.
We've, we're still banged up, got a lot of injuries, got a lot of guys that are playing really hard through some tough injuries.
And unless the Sun Belt mandates an injury report, you'll never know it, but I understand those guys are going through a lot, and they're putting in a lot of work to get themselves on the field.
And, uh, you know, that's just something I always appreciate, especially getting to know these guys a little bit more over the past few weeks.
Mike: Yeah.
So,
Texas State.
It's a big one.
I mean, they're the favorites, the heavy favorites.
They're really talented offensively.
We got a good defense who's put us in a position to win every game but one.
Um we have a chance here.
I think.
I
Gary: mean, I definitely think we have a chance, especially the defense plays anywhere near what they did on Saturday.
I mean, Georgia State was able to run the ball prior to playing us.
They were able to hit some deep pass plays prior to us, and they really struggled to do that for most of the game.
So, I mean, I, I will always have faith in this defense.
Clearly, the coastal game just a blip against a well prepared opponent.
You're allowed to have one of those, I think, a year.
Um, Yeah, anything can happen.
You're talking about coming all the way over from San Marcos, Texas to here.
Travel's funky.
They've played a lot of games in a row.
Who knows?
I mean, show up and come see.
It'll be a lot of fun to watch.
Mike: It's gonna be nice to play a team that is not coming off a bye for the first time in a while.
Gary: Yes, they'll be just as banged up as we are, thankfully.
Mike: So, I'm excited for this one.
Uh, I will If you don't have a place to tailgate, you're always welcome to come hang out with us, but I need to give credit to what they've done on Kauffman Mall, because they've built that up and made it into a real nice game day experience for fans that don't have tailgate passes.
You got the Alumni Association tent, you can go support them, but there's other tents, there's a nice beer garden right near the fountain that is fantastic.
There's games on TVs there, it's a great game day experience.
For anyone who doesn't want to have to think about preparing before they go to the game.
I'm going to show up and have a good time.
Gary: Yeah, that, that continues to just grow and grow from when they first started it.
Obviously, you get the Monarch walk going over.
I would recommend if you're coming to the Thursday night game, that should almost be a must thing for you because there's going to be a lot of really cool things going on prior to that Thursday night game.
Thanks to Harry McBrien for lining a lot of that up.
I won't ruin the surprise for him.
But, uh, Yeah, there's a lot of good spots to go hang out, um, and come over to the game.
Should be a, should be a fun time on Saturday.
Mike: Yeah, um, I will add if you are a fan of basketball, it's a good opportunity to meet Mike Jones and the basketball team or the women's basketball team, because they are tailgating on Kauffman Mall.
So, there's a lot of good reasons to go over there and just take that in, even if it's just for the Monarch March.
I mean, that alone is a pretty cool thing.
We get to see every game day.
So go to Kaufman Mall and, uh, just enjoy the experience.
Gary: Before we get to predictions on the game on Saturday, I wanted to give a shout out to ODU Volleyball.
Uh, they split their series with App State.
They absolutely dominated App State on Saturday.
So congrats to them.
Field hockey beat JMU, uh, today in overtime, three to two.
It's weird.
Cause JMU was not in our conference for field hockey during the Mac.
We're in the big East.
It's funky, but beat your rivals.
That's, that's what I always say.
Uh, and then right now, women's soccer is up on Georgia state one to nothing with about 30 minutes left in the second half.
So teeing up for a pretty solid weekend for OD sports.
Mike: Yeah, always nice beating JMU.
Um, we'll get a notch in that, but are they still doing that rivalry trophy thing with them?
Gary: I think so.
I don't think I paid any attention to it.
And I think even if we win it by shutout, I probably still won't pay much attention to it.
Um, yeah, there, that's, there's a twitter account somewhere that a JMU fan runs that consistently updates the score.
And that's usually, if I want to know what it is, I go to that.
Mike: Yeah, they've, they've done really well against us the last few years.
So anytime we get a win against them, it's worth celebrating.
So way to go ODU field hockey.
All right.
So we know Aaron's prediction.
He's got us winning with a 50 yard field goal from Ethan Sanchez.
I'm still trying to figure it out in my head.
I know we're going to beat the spread just because that's what we do.
It's going to be a one score game.
Vegas should know this by now.
I think.
But I haven't really made up my mind on who I'm picking yet.
So, I'd like for you to go first if you could.
Gary: Yeah, so I'm with you on the spread.
I'm hoping that I can somehow catch it when it jumps back to 11.
If I can cross a state line or get to the Potomac River.
Um, because I definitely want that.
That number is too high.
Um, I'm going to maybe, maybe go with the reverse jinx here.
I think we cover, but I don't think we're going to win this game.
I think it's gonna be a seven point game, but Texas State is gonna make one more play on offense than we're able to.
Uh, it's gonna be a motivating win for us or motivating loss going forward to go win on Thursday night.
But I do think that Texas State comes in and gets the victory, although we will cover and be in it late.
Mike: All right, that's fair.
Um, I mean, they have senior quarterback who is other, I mean, he's getting it done for the second year in a row.
However, we did bother him last year in Harrisonburg, and we were able to get to him.
That's going to be the key on Saturday, controlling the clock and getting to the quarterback, which we showed we could do against Georgia State.
So
I'm taking ODU to win this game in a shocker.
It's going to upend everyone's expectations of Old Dominion and Texas State, and it's going to put us in a great position moving forward.
Gary: I am rooting for you to be correct on Saturday.
Don't get that misconstrued just because I'm picking Texas State to win doesn't mean I want them to win.
Yeah, you're right.
I mean, we win this game and everyone's perception of ODU and the Sun Belt changes drastically.
Mike: Yeah, so let's make it happen.
Come to Afterglow on Friday.
If you're in town, it's going to be fun.
We've had a lot of football player, uh, parents.
Uh, former football players show up.
It's always a great experience.
Um, last time we had the line that blocked for Taylor Heineke, you'll come hang out.
So come out, meet some fellow Monarchs and drink some good beer and get ready for this game next Saturday.
Gary: And it looks like right now, the weather is going to be beautiful and Norfolk like highest 72 73 might get a little bit chilly by the end of the game.
Uh, but perfect, perfect football weather.
Nothing better you could be doing on Saturday than going to an ODU game.
Mike: Yep.
Let's pack Ballard, pack the castle, make it a tough place to play again.
Alright.
Thanks for listening, go Monarchs!
Gary: Go Monarchs!