Victory Sunday finally returned to Monarch Nation.

Old Dominion went into Boone, battled through miserable weather and came home with a 10-3 win over Appalachian State — ODU’s first-ever victory at App State.

It wasn’t pretty.

But after everything that has happened over the last several weeks, pretty wasn’t the point.

The ODU defense absolutely dominated, holding App State to just 158 total yards and 2.9 yards per play. Javen Gibson tied the program record with four tackles for loss, the Monarchs generated consistent pressure, and one of the Sun Belt’s most productive passing attacks never found a rhythm.

And for the first time in weeks, the ODU running game looked alive.

The Monarchs rushed for 207 yards, Devin Roche delivered another huge performance, and Quinn Henicle gutted through an injury while giving the offense another dimension with his legs.

So did ODU finally find its identity?

Aaron, Mike and Justice break down what changed in Boone, why running outside the tackles produced significantly better results, whether the offensive line actually took a step forward and how much of Saturday’s success can carry over when the Monarchs aren’t playing in tropical-storm conditions.

Then it’s a short turnaround.

Georgia Southern comes to Norfolk Thursday night with one of the Sun Belt’s most dangerous passing attacks. Max Johnson has thrown for more than 1,500 yards with 11 touchdowns, and the Eagles nearly knocked off JMU.

For ODU, this one feels enormous.

A win would move the Monarchs to 3-4, create some real momentum and keep the path toward bowl eligibility very much alive.

And it all happens on a special Thursday night as Old Dominion honors one of the greatest Monarchs ever, Taylor Heinicke, by retiring No. 14.

Was Boone simply one good Saturday?

Or did we just see the first signs of an ODU turnaround?

Drop your thoughts and your ODU vs. Georgia Southern prediction in the comments.

👑 Go Monarchs.

**This episode is sponsored by Brandon Johnson State Farm.**

For your insurance and financial needs, call **757-264-6267** or visit **brandonjohnsonagency.com**.

#ODUFootball #OldDominion #GeorgiaSouthern #AppState #SunBeltFootball #CollegeFootball #TheMonarchists

Chapters

00:00 Victory Sunday Returns!

01:00 Ricky Rahne Takes the Victory Slide

03:00 Javen Gibson’s Record-Setting Day

04:00 ODU Shuts Down Malachi Singleton

08:00 App State Couldn’t Convert on Third Down

12:00 ODU’s Running Game Comes Alive

14:00 Why Running Outside Worked

17:00 BJ Bedgood Shows His Speed

18:00 Quinn Henicle’s Gutsy Performance

22:00 Did ODU Need Quinn to Win?

23:00 Devin Roche Delivers Again

25:00 Did the Offensive Line Improve?

29:00 The Penalties Still Have to Stop

30:00 Did ODU Finally Find Its Identity?

34:00 A Historically Good Defensive Day

35:00 Brandon Johnson State Farm

36:00 Georgia Southern Preview

37:00 Thursday Night in Norfolk

39:00 Max Johnson Leads the Eagles

41:00 Georgia Southern Receivers to Watch

43:00 Breaking Down the Eagles Defense

47:00 ODU vs Georgia Southern Matchup

49:00 ODU Has to Pressure Max Johnson

50:00 Can ODU Win the Passing Matchup?

53:00 How Will Georgia Southern Defend ODU?

55:00 Taylor Heinicke’s No. 14 Gets Retired

58:00 Is Thursday Night a Must-Win?

59:00 Can ODU Get Back on Track?

1:02:00 A Huge Weekend for ODU Athletics

1:04:00 First-Ever Win in Boone

1:05:00 Pack the Stadium Thursday Night

ODAF Intro - Ted Alexander: This episode is brought to you by the

Old Dominion Athletic Foundation.

Because of you, we create winners in the classroom, in athletic

competition, and in life.

Become a member today

Monarch Nation, it is a victory Sunday for the first time in a while.

It wasn't pretty, but that Old Dominion defense came through.

The running, the running game was alive for the first time in a

while, and we win in Boone 10 to 3.

But before we get to that, welcome as always my co-host Aaron and our

continual always guest Justice.

How are we doing today, fellas?

Doing

well.

Man, uh, wins are good and put smiles on faces, so I'm a, I'm a happy guy

Yeah, and so is Ricky Rahne.

He's maybe created the most viral moment he's ever had at Old Dominion

by sliding down that mud hill.

I, I've got that.

You wanna show it?

I've got that.

I mean, I don't know of anyone in the United States that watches sports

has not seen it yet, but let's see it.

Yeah.

All right, so we've got…

Let me make sure I got the, the right stuff.

So to start the game, anyone who watched the game, it was obviously very rainy,

and App State's got a lot of tradition.

I guess one of them is this hill, and this hill turned into a mud slip and slide.

So at the beginning of the game and all throughout the game,

this is kind of how it was

going.

See all the students having a good time.

This is going on throughout the game.

Many times I tell us it looks like they're having fun.

All right?

But at the end of the game

which was really cool to see because a lot of people like question, uh, what I

would say, Ricky's energy a lot of times.

You know, he's a pretty even-keel kinda guy.

To see this post-game

So we'll just put the volume on there.

I mean, have you guys seen Ricky this hype for anything before?

I mean, this, this one

It, it's, it's like-

Pretty

awesome … it's like it's a, it's like it was a relief, right?

Like getting a win and finally kind of, I don't know, it just, just

I don't even know what the right word is but, like, the, the stress, maybe the

pressure he's felt the last few weeks.

It just felt like a release I guess.

Yeah, I would agree there 'cause you saw it in the post-game

presser last week or a- after JMU.

You heard it on Monday.

Um, yeah.

It … Wins are great.

They cure a lot of ills and, um, but let's talk about it.

So I think we f- should first start with Javen Gibson having a career day.

What, two sacks, two, uh, tackles for a loss, four total- Four, yeah, four

tackles.

T- Well, yeah, two sacks and then two non-sacks that were tackles for loss.

Setting a record or tying a record for Old Dominion's most tackles for loss in a game

Tying a record that was set in tw- 2009 against Jacksonville.

So credit to him.

He's got the most tackles for loss in an Old Dominion game in FBS history.

And it was huge yesterday, as the whole defense was.

We hold App State to 158 yards total, 2.9

yards per play.

Uh, we were really concerned about Malachi Singleton coming to this game, and we

completely shut him down defensively.

But obviously the weather had an impact on passing the ga- the ball, 'cause neither

team could pass the ball yesterday.

Hey, you guys know much better than me, but what do you think?

Do you th- obviously the weather played a lot of, a lot of part in

the game yesterday on both sides.

But up until this point, had Malachi been that challenged under pressure?

Because his completion percentage was so high, uh, being over 70%.

Is he normally better under pressure?

Do you think it was, you know, an o- just an off game, or do you think the weather

really, really made it difficult for him?

I think given the schedule, like I didn't go back and look at

the stats, but just based on who they played, I don't know that he

was under pressure a lot, you know?

They played Charlotte, East Carolina FCS team.

I just…

They probably haven't been pressured a lot.

And historically, the knock on Malachi Singleton has been his passing ability.

Um, he's been known as a great runner.

But you know, this year he hasn't run as much, and he, you know, I think coming

into this game, App State led the Sun Belt in terms of, uh, passing offense.

So, which, you know, based on what I know of Malachi Singleton prior to

this year, is a bit of a surprise.

So that just makes me think that they, they probably weren't challenged

defensively or with a lot of pressure in their previous match-ups.

The PFF grades support you, Justice.

Um, when he's kept clean, for the season, he's been kept clean 73.8%

of the time.

So three out of four drop backs, he's clean.

He has a 91 grade, and he's completing adjusted completion percentage is 77.8

when he's kept clean.

When he's under pressure, things get scary for him.

Uh, he's got a grade of 43, which is ugly.

67% completion percentage.

That's still pretty good, but yesterday was not that.

It was brutal for him yesterday.

Yesterday he was what?

5 of 23.

Yeah.

What, for like 70 yards?

I- I'm shocked.

Yeah, I, I am shocked that they didn't pull a similar playbook as to we did with

the weather and really keeping the ball on the ground, especially how you talk

about him being so good on the ground.

I know Mike and I talked yesterday.

Honestly, Hasselbeck looked, in the very limited amount of time he

had, he looked like he was gonna be more dangerous on the ground.

Hey, I was more worried after in three quarters the couple times I've seen him.

Yeah, if you look at the App State fans' comments, Malachi is a thrower

Hasselbeck is the runner, and we saw him have success

immediately coming into the game.

I think it was like he only got two snaps in the first half, and both were

successful, and then he comes back out for Singleton, and they go back to

having no success really offensively.

But then he comes in late in the game after Malachi gets hurt, and you see

some more success until I think he threw a pick, and it kinda showed-

And, and-

his inability to p- his, his struggles passing.

Th- th- the play that Singleton gets hurt, was that the one play where

he actually seemed dangerous as a runner?

I mean, he looked like he was actually gonna break out there.

That might even have been a third down play.

I can't remember exactly where he, he takes the hit, fumbles

the ball, we get it back.

Yep.

Yeah, he did not come back in after that.

Apparently he's getting an MRI.

Hate to see guys get hurt.

Hope he's all right.

But yeah, I, I think weather obviously played a huge factor.

You're gonna … You talked about what kinda impacts you in

the weather when it's raining.

Your receivers are gonna be slower 'cause there's not as much grip, so you're not as

You're not gonna be as likely to cut as hard as you would in, in dry conditions.

The ball's gonna be wet, so it's gonna be harder to throw,

it's gonna be harder to catch.

Also, if you are slower, it's easier to cover you.

So everything just gets a lot harder to do.

And then pass blocking gets harder to do because you're going backwards, right?

Like, you go back in your pass set, it's harder to get,

like, a grip into the ground.

And we saw the success we had rushing the passer yesterday, like, he was

under havoc almost every drop back he had, and he was not doing well with it

Yeah.

I mean, so much so that App State does not pick up their first third

down until sometime in the fourth quarter when Hasselbeck was finally in.

I think they were O for 13 at the time in third down.

So I didn't say anything while we were watching the game.

I was afraid I was gonna jinx it.

But I know we've had struggles on third downs this year.

We were a little bit better I think than we have been.

Uh, I can't remember what the exact number is, but fortunately

our defense like really, really made them struggle on third down.

Mm-hmm.

The, the, the lack of running game for App State's

kind of surprising, right?

Just because traditionally that's what they do, and they do well, and

they have some talented running backs.

But they, to your point like earlier, Aaron, they didn't really

seem committed to that, to make- committed to the running game at all.

It was just a lot of passing which, given the, the weather

conditions, was even more puzzling.

I

mean, why, why do you think- Yeah, 'cause they, they didn't

really even run it that badly.

They ran it 3.3

yards per carry.

We only had 3.4.

And that's with, that's with Dev's run at the end, the long- the longest run

of the game, you know, bumping us up over.

Probably, we probably actually would've averaged just slightly under them.

It's perplexing to me.

I mean, why…

Do you think that a coaching staff just gets so kind of tunnel-vision

into thinking they should be able to pass the ball against us?

They watch the Georgia State film from the week before and that, and

maybe they just keep going, "Well, the, the next play it's gonna work.

The next play it's gonna work."

And then all of a sudden you find yourself with five minutes left in the fourth

quarter and three points to show for it.

W- well, clearly that's been their MO all year, right?

Like I said earlier, they're leading the s- they were leading

the Sun Belt in passing offense.

So maybe that's just what they're used to.

But y- like you had to know going into the game that the weather

was gonna be a factor, and they didn't seem to ever adjust to that.

Agree.

Um, I mean, they were averaging over 300 yards per game passing coming into this.

They were, they were passing offense this year, and it backfired on them yesterday.

Lots of good play on our defense.

On the book they gave Tammer- Tavares Murray credit for that forced fumble

on, I think it was on the back early in the fir- it was in the first half.

But that was actually Ja'Mez Drummer that punched it out.

Tavares got the tackle and Ja'Mez comes in late and punches it out.

Uh, he had another great game yesterday, and maybe one of the

coolest sack celebrations we've seen in a while with his, uh-

Yeah

It's nice to see some kinda, we call it, you know how, uh, they

call things classic rock now that we wouldn't think are classic rock?

You know, stuff from, from the '80s or whatever.

I mean, that's almost like that's a classic celebration.

Seeing the young guys go back to a guy like Ray Lewis who mo- most of them

probably didn't even see play that much.

Yep

Sorry.

The box score on ODU's site just is not working right now for me

Are you looking for something in particular?

Well, I think I wanna talk about the rushing game yesterday,

'cause it has been a struggle for us-

Yeah

… Mike: all year long.

207 yards, yeah, 207 yards to 92 yesterday in our favor.

Over doubled them.

And we've talked a lot about the gut runs, right?

Our suc- our success or lack of it running the gun, the gut.

Mm-hmm.

Well, yesterday we had a lot of success on the outside

So the way I built this graphic is I have all the gaps.

So D on the very outside, so that's gonna be outside off the t- tight end

C is off the left tackle.

Uh, B gap is between the left tackle and left guard.

A is between, I mean, it's just middle, right?

Uh, it's gonna be between the center and the guards and so on.

But you can see this, like obviously there's some s- QB scrambles.

There was a big one.

I mean, there's a couple big ones for Quinn that are included in this number.

He was five…

He averaged five yards per, per attempt on scrambles.

Those are not included in these gap numbers.

And the, the right end, that was the Devin Roche rush, so that

kind of boosts that number a lot.

But you see it, we're having success rushing outside, and I think it's

something that we need to try to get to more often because that number's

been consistent throughout the season.

I just kinda wanted to help illuminate, like the outside rushes are where the

yards are in this offense right now, and we need to get our backs into that

space so they can have more success

'Cause we see how it changed the game yesterday.

It's a seven-point game, one possession game where we had the

ball for almost the entire game.

We had a lot more plays ran offensively than they did yesterday, and we still

only scored 10 points out of it.

Obviously, the wind and the rain had an impact on field goal kicking, and we

should've had some more points there.

But yeah, rushing the ball makes us a more successful offense, and it's key to-

So let me pose a question

to you … our success moving forward.

Let me pose a question to you guys.

So if you're able to consistently establish a game, a rushing game where

you can get around the, the edges and get yards, what does that do for your offense?

Does, does that slow down the linebackers that they're bringing up the middle?

Does that help open up the passing game at all?

Or does, is your rushing game just maybe a little more effective and it

doesn't affect the overall offense?

I would say all the above.

Like, yeah, I mean, like, so h- h- how, d- it depend, depend on how

the defense addresses it, right?

They could, they could have a wider stance with the defensive line.

They could either bring down a safety or a linebacker on those edges, which would

then open up things in the passing game.

Um, obviously if they spread the defensive line out more, it's gonna

open up things more in the middle.

So, so ob- absolutely, it can do all those things.

You know, it can open up other opportunities in the run game and

obviously, uh, leave vacated spots or coverage for the passing game.

And if you can do that, some of the success that we've seen when Quinn

has run the ball, say in the bowl game, long run up the gut, up the middle,

obviously the, the shortest point between two distances is a straight line.

We saw a couple delayed runs on his part that were right up the middle.

So perhaps if you can be effective on the edges, that when there are those

one or two t- times during the game you get something up the middle and

the running back or the quarterback is 15 yards past the defense before

they even realize it happens, and it's tough to track them down.

And it makes those misdirection plays more effective, right?

Because then guys get their, you know, their eyes get

caught cheating, so to speak.

Hey, they've had a lot of success running the ball, you know, on the outside,

and if they run some misdirection to make you think they're running it to

the outside and if maybe Quinn keeps it and runs it up the middle, it

just makes that all more effective.

We saw one of those misdirection plays yesterday, right, Mike?

We ta- kind of for the first time, that sweep with, uh, BJ Bedgood.

Yeah, and he showed his speed.

Um, I'm, I would like to see him get some more run at receiver because we don't…

I don't think we have a real burner playing a lot of snaps right now,

and those deep explosive plays, that's where we're gonna…

Running the ball success sets up that up, and the way we're being

defended up until this week, people are sending seven every play.

Over the top is where the, the passing success is gonna come, or in this, we

talked about what screens last week, short pass- Mm-hmm … quick passes.

We either need to hit quick passes or, or deep balls, and I th-

giving a guy with speed like…

'Cause he w- he did not have the edge.

He got the edge with his speed.

If he was a little bit slower- And that was with the field as wet as it

was too … and if it was a little…

Yeah.

If he was a little bit slower, he doesn't get any yards there.

He might even have a loss.

So I'd love to see him get some more run at receiver.

Which is a little surprising.

I mean, obviously the passing game wasn't a big part yesterday, but JJ Harrell

was out, so you would've thought maybe we would've seen some, uh, some, you

know, different guys get opportunities.

Yeah, I

have

a note to say- With only 20, 20 passes, not, not

a whole lot of opportunity to go around yesterday anyways.

And it seemed from the, the start that was gonna be the game plan.

And you gotta give the coaching staff credit, and the game plan made sense.

We didn't score much, but ultimately it end up, it end up working, and

App State stuck with their game plan and it never turned the corner.

And that was a really gutsy game from Quinn.

You could see it on his runs and even more so on the deep balls that he is not 100%.

He's not getting the zip on his throws that, or the power on his

throws that he normally does.

But I mean, carries the ball 26 times for 112 yards obviously passing, we didn't

have a lot of success passing, but there were some drops that were, would've made

his passing numbers look a whole of a, whole heck of a lot better than it does.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm sure you guys got tired of hearing me yesterday talk about, I don't know,

I, I, I didn't like what I saw in…

Quinn just seems ser- you know, significantly nicked up there.

And like we've talked about in previous weeks, the, the guy is a warrior.

He is going to play if he can play.

And sometimes you have to protect guys from themselves, and I kept saying that.

Obviously, I, I'm not on the sideline, so he's, he…

I trust the coaches that he's good, you know, but it's a short week.

You know, we'll, we'll talk about the, the game after the break coming up.

But Quinn's gonna, he's gonna be living in the ice bath, I think, in,

uh, the training room with Justin Walker to be ready for Thursday.

I, I think the most puzzling time for me where they didn't make

the switch- Mm-hmm … was at the end of the half when, like, basically

you were throwing a Hail Mary.

I don't think it's any secret that probably Ryan Huff and Jaxon

Potter have a, have a stronger arm.

So I was just kind of surpr- and, and then, and then plus you couple that, like

you said Aaron, with, with Quinn, or I'm sorry, Mike, about Quinn not being able

to basically, you know, plant his legs and get a lot of power on his throws.

I, I was surprised that we didn't see on that, you know, basically that Hail

Mary, that we didn't see one of the other two guys come in to, to attempt that.

Yeah, that lead leg- You guys- … is where your power's coming from, right?

You think about it in baseball, in golf, throwing the ball, all that power is

coming off, pushing off your front leg.

His left leg is the one that's injured, and you could really throw, see it on

that Hail Mary where he didn't even get it to the end zone, and it just kinda hung-

well, it's, it's really more on the follow through is, I mean,

growing up playing and pitching any…

You look at a guy like Nolan Ryan, he was the classic example.

It's that the drive, the drive is all off the back leg.

But the problem is, is you have to follow through, you have to go, and if

you can't, you can't do that with the front, it hurts or it's weak, you know.

And you know that.

You know that as a player.

You, you know that when you do something, what the ramifications are

gonna be and what it's gonna feel like.

I don't, I don't know.

I just, I hope that, uh, I hope that he's got time for…

You have to imagine, if he was playing at the end of the, the game today,

the, the prognosis is probably good for Thursday, but I, I have a feeling

he's gonna have a lot of rehab that he's gonna need to do in, in the, the

training room this week on a short week.

Football's a violent game, and even if you're healthy, having a

short week is challenging for the, for the training staff in making

sure everybody is, is good to go.

So, and so, so we'll see.

Fortunately, it's a home game on Thursday, so it will take that out of the equation.

Georgia Southern will have to travel to see us, and our guys will be at home

and not have to get on a plane and a bus and all that kind of stuff, and just be

able to spend the time getting ready.

I gotta say, I, I'm not sure we win that game without Quinn playing yesterday.

It changed how they have to defend us.

They have to respect his ability to run.

Even though he c- didn't have that breakaway speed we're used to seeing

from Quinn, his feet did hurt them.

Obviously, 100 yards on the ground.

They could defend us completely differently if you

have Ryan Huff in the game.

He's just basically playing rush defense the whole time, trying to get to the

quarterback or the running backs.

You couldn't really do that yesterday with how, with Quinn playing.

So it changes how teams def- defend us and in a game where the weather

was so nasty, that was crucial.

So- I

agree

… Mike: I mean, really gutsy performance from him on that injured leg.

Obviously, Devyn Roche, we, you mentioned his big run earlier,

but a great performance from Dev.

He had a number of times where he ran up the gut, found a, just a wall of

defenders and kept battling to find yards

He had a, he had a great game.

It was, I know we, we talked about it yesterday.

It was kind of, I assume it was, he's had some fumble issues, but you know,

you mentioned yesterday, you guys mentioned yesterday, but like it was

just kind of puzzling at the end, like they were running Markai outside when

he's really more of a, you know, in, in between the tackles kind of runner.

But I gue- I guess it was the weather and, and then just making sure we,

you know, had the ball security.

And Markai picked up five yards on that, so I mean … I mean, if he just

goes back to the graphic that Mike showed a few minutes ago, that that's, they saw

the yards were there, and maybe it really didn't matter who was running the ball.

Dev may have gotten eight or nine on the same run, but, you know,

Markai picked up five, kept the clock going, kept the change going.

So I don't know.

Let me ask you guys a question 'cause it's something that we talked

about for 98% of the podcast last week, and a, a significant portion

this season, is the offensive line.

And last week we talked about could the offensive line make some progress?

But we, we are going to have to make progress over the course of the season

to get to where we wanna go, which is right now is getting bowl eligible.

That's kind of the, we gotta win some games to be able to do that.

So we give up nine sacks to JMU, seven sacks last week to Georgia State.

This week we only give up three, but we give up three sacks to a team who

had only had five sacks all season.

Are you guys encouraged, or is it a wait and see approach?

I think the answer's both.

You know, I think, you know, the offensive line played better than they had, right?

To your point, it is still slightly concerning that the number of

sacks they gave up, especially given the limited opportunities

in terms of passing the ball.

Uh, but I thought the run blocking looked…

I, I, I haven't looked at the, like, the grades or anything, but

I would just, I would venture to guess it looked significantly better

than the last two weeks, for sure

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I mean-

On a, on a weather challenged day as well

… Mike: with the quarterback that does not have the zip on his deep balls.

Yeah.

Those aren't high percentage plays on a normal day, right?

And so, um, they're not high per- and it even goes down in, in a bad weather day.

But yeah, those were, those were I don't know.

Like, I'm, I'm not a big fan of those when, you know, just, just get

the first down and, and, you know, worry about the deep shot later.

I understand the reasoning behind it, right?

'Cause, like, you're hope- Like, the defense knows that too, right?

And so the defense is gonna try to protect that first down marker, and

maybe you can sneak somebody past them.

The other thing I thought that was, um, a little bit concerning it, it

wasn't, I don't feel it was as bad as it had been in previous games, but the

timing of a lot of our penalties, right?

Still kinda like killers.

Um, when, you know, we have thir- third and short, and then we

get a false start, and now it's, you know, third and long again.

Seemed like we still, still having trouble with that.

Yeah, I think there was five procedural penalties yesterday on us,

and we only had six penalties total.

Those refs did not seem very interested in elongating the game with penalties.

Like, we need to just get out of here.

This weather is atrocious.

Yeah, yeah.

Keep the flag in your waistband if at all possible.

Here, let, let me pose another question to you guys.

So for the last couple weeks, we've talked about w- what's,

what is our team's identity?

You know, what, what are they, what are they gonna be?

What are we?

So do you think yesterday that the squad found out what their identity was, or do

you think the weather chose it for them?

I mean, I think we do have sort of an identity this year

'cause passing the ball has been a struggle for the most part.

Uh, we have explosives that we hit, but yesterday they were being dropped.

We're a run team that has a good defense when they come juiced up, and the defense

played juiced all game long, and that's something we really hadn't seen since ECU.

Um, obviously Georgia State we immediately go down.

The offense kinda does what it does, and the defense just kinda falters.

JMU we do n- we come out kinda flat, and the defense gives up five

scores and five possessions, right?

But then they played well the rest of the game.

Uh, this, so this is the first game where we saw the defense play from the

snap, first snap and just kick ass.

I think the weather did have an impact, but it's encouraging and I think that

moment where Ricky goes down that mud hole could be something, like,

that brings the team really together.

I mean, that's a guy, like, you see your coach do that,

you're like, "That's my guy.

He believes in us.

He, he cares for us."

Like, that's a buy-in moment.

Yeah.

And we talked about, uh, the teams, ODU turning the

season around with, under Ricky.

We talked about ha- needing something positive, some positive reinforcement,

'cause in the years past we had that positive reinforcement.

We finally got it.

Yesterday was positive reinforcement that we're doing things that work.

So I think this is something they can build on, but it's gonna, we're

gonna learn a lot on Thursday night when the weather isn't in hurri-

or tropical storm conditions.

So here's the follow-up to you guys on that.

Thursday night, if it happens to be 65 degrees and clear, do

we still wanna see Old Dominion football run the ball 60 times?

That would be great because that means we're controlling the clock

and we're running down their throats.

I, I think to that question and to your earlier question,

Aaron, I, I think that's what they, they, they want the identity to be.

I think the offensive line has not allowed that to happen.

And so yeah, I, I think that's what, you know, I think especially with

Quinn at quarterback, right, like you wanna take advantage of what he offers.

Um, you got, you know, dynamic running backs, uh, like Dev, uh,

Devin a- and Trey, and then you got, you know, a guy that Maurki, you

know, j- just scores touchdowns.

You wanna get those guys the ball as much as possible.

So yeah, I, I think the, I mean, I think that's what Ricky Rahne wants, right?

I think it, that's what he's wanted since his time at Old Dominion.

And, and that's what, that's kinda like, I feel like that's been the identity

that we've seen the last several years when we've had success, right?

But I think to this point, the offensive line really hasn't allowed that to happen.

So here's an- And, and the, and the

game script too

… Aaron: another encouraging, I don't even know the word I'm looking for.

But because of what we were able to do and to possess the

ball for 39 minutes of the game.

Well, this is almost like a Halloween episode, Steve.

You're looking pretty spooky there.

We had the ball for 39 minutes, roughly.

They had the ball for 21 minutes.

That means our defense is on the field for, you know, not very long yesterday.

And on a week where they have a short turnaround and in a season that they've

maybe had to play a little bit longer than you want, I think that's encouraging

that they should come into this game fresh as well, which is important when

we get ready to talk about this Georgia Southern team who's been pretty explosive.

Yeah, the only concerning thing I saw yesterday on the defense was Zion

Frink getting banged up late in the game.

He's too important.

He's- Yeah, did…

Were

you, were you able to see anything?

I mean, it looked like he got clea- you, you seemed to think that yesterday,

but

I-

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, I'm more saying I hope that's all it was, and I hope I'm right.

Okay.

' Mike: Cause he's too important to this defense to be injured.

He's a very good player that we need healthy.

So hopefully it was just a cleat, 'cause that's what it looked like.

It looked like the guy's foot hit his leg.

It probably stung really bad, and he was able to walk off.

But yeah, we need him

There's some good notes from yesterday from Eric as always in the update.

We out-gained them 179 to 60 in the first half

Uh, the 158 yards was the second fewest ODU has allowed in program history.

We set the record last year against Troy on Thursday night

Devin has his fifth career 100-yard game, second of the season.

We already mentioned Gibson's record.

Um

We only allowed nine yards from App State in the second quarter of the game.

Like, that's beautiful

I'm just trying to enjoy this while we have it, 'cause, you know, nothing's

guaranteed, and we're p- we're f- we have a team coming into town that while

they might have the same record as us, as us, they have an offense that works.

Yeah.

Yep.

So, uh-

They should've beat JMU yesterday.

Yes, they should have

I guess this will be a good time to take a break.

I don't know what you guys think

It is.

So if you gotta go grab something to drink, you better do it quickie.

You only got 17 seconds.

Mid-Roll - Brandon Johnson State Farm: The following is sponsored by

Brandon Johnson State Farm.

For all of your insurance and investment needs, call 757-264-6267

or visit brandonjohnsonagency.com.

ODAF Intro - Ted Alexander: Go Big Blue

Also, I forgot to mention, that two-point conversion by

Quinn, that was so important.

Yeah.

Obviously it didn't matter in the end, but it could have been huge

if, if App State found one successful drive, we could have lost that game 10

to 8 if he doesn't come through there.

Yep.

Yep.

Shout out to Quinn.

Really gutsy performance.

All right.

Let's start with what we always start with.

So Georgia Southern comes to town Thursday night.

Uh, it's gonna be a fun one.

There…

I think there's gonna be a drone show.

Yep.

Which is always fun.

Game starts at 7:30.

Lots I guess would open at 3:30.

We were told s- classes are canceled for Thursday.

Yep, I saw that.

My, my daughter had a, um, advising appointment and I saw on the

board that they said, you know, no, no classes on Thursday, so.

So that's awesome.

They're, they're trying to get the students the day off so they can get to

the stadium and get loud in the end zone.

Uh,

Georgia Southern- Oh, you're so, you're so nice.

You're so nice, Mike.

I, I'm just gonna take the cynical side and say it's all about the parking.

But- Steve and I talked.

Hey, if you're a professor out there and you're watching this right now,

encourage your students to go to the game.

Give them a few extra bonus points on an assignment if they show that they checked

in and stayed past the half or something.

Let's, let's, so show some, uh, school spirit from every angle.

Absolutely.

We, we need that end zone section packed for Thursday night.

This is a series that we all don't need to be reminded of.

Started out very ugly for Old Dominion.

Some classic playoff games that did not go our way.

Now we started this series 0 and 3, but we've won the last three, and this week

is a tiebreaker for at least a year.

But- Mm-hmm … hopefully we can gain the edge here.

It'll be crucial.

It'll be awesome.

Uh-

Hope- hopefully the series continues the trajectory the

last two times have given us.

That would be pretty sweet.

I'm hoping our Thursday night magic continues, 'cause it's been, it's

been pretty special the last couple years.

That it has.

Georgia Southern did open as a two and a half point favorite.

The total is 50 and a half.

And if you're putting money on Old Dominion this week, you're gonna

get plus 126 odds right now, so.

All right.

Let- Tell

me what that

means, Mike

I mean,

I'm, I'm-

You understand math, right?

I mean, I do, but okay, so if I bet $100 on that, how much would I win?

126.

So you would get 226 back.

Okay.

Pretty good.

All right.

Let's go to the second graphic.

I don't know.

Maybe we should go to the players to watch graphic first because I know

Justice is gonna wanna mention this guy.

All right.

I picked up Max J- I, I don't wanna pick quarterbacks every week, right?

But we're in this run where I have to.

Yeah, I mean- If you look at their numbers, like Max Johnson has had

a very good year passing the ball.

Georgia Southern doesn't run the ball very much.

They…

I think they're averaging 120 rushing yards per game, so they don't have

a back that's just crushing it.

He spreads it around, so there's a bunch of receivers with, like, 200 yards.

I think they have five guys with 200 yards or more.

No one over 300.

They have another guy with, like, 100 yards receiving.

So it really is the Max Johnson show that we're gonna have this week.

The guy spreads it around.

He's h- very efficient.

1,500 yards on the season, 11 touchdowns, just two picks, 66% completion percentage.

Doesn't rush it very much, but he doesn't take sacks.

Um, I think this says five times.

That did not include the GMU game where he got sacked once.

So I think he's been sacked six times.

Once per game.

So we're gonna have to generate pressure, but we have to finish it this week.

Has he always worn the number seven or does that just represent how many

years of college football he's got now?

Yeah.

I don- I don't know that he's always worn seven, but yeah, I agree with you.

I think that represents the number of years of college football.

Yeah.

This is a well-traveled quarterback.

Uh, he's played at LSU, Texas A&M, and last year, if you remember, he

started the season as UNC's starter.

Um-

Yeah.

But he's very good and he's big, 6'5".

Not the easiest guy to tackle I'd imagine, but if we can get to him,

that's what we have to do this week because no one has seemed to get to

him all season consistently and I think that's where our opportunities are.

Very

couple-

I was just gonna s- I was just gonna say a couple of other offensive players that

I would highlight are some wide receivers.

If you're looking at stats, you'll see Ashton Hollins was a big

part of their offense early on.

Uh, he's hurt.

He's out for the season.

After Ashton Hollins uh, As- Ashton Hollins was the outside receiver,

Alex Taylor's kind of taken over that role from a outside perspective.

Now, what we saw yesterday was the slot guy, Josh Dallas, kinda be their leading

receiver, and he's been, he's been, I guess, very consistent and very constant.

He hasn't really had a lot of huge gains.

But I, I'm assuming, you know, JMU just did a good job of

limiting Alex Taylor yesterday.

But Alex Taylor's kind of the big guy on the outside.

Josh Dallas on the slot.

Yeah, Dallas seems like he's been there for a while.

He has.

' Mike: Cause we- we've been doing this podcast for a few years now, and I

feel like I mention him, he's mentioned every year we play Georgia Southern.

Yeah.

A- and I, and I will mention that Alex Taylor has a little bit of

a connection with Max Johnson.

They were both at North Carolina.

Um, then they have another receiver, Andre Green Jr.,

who was also at North Carolina as well.

And Max, uh, had another great game yesterday.

He was 26 for 38 for 343 yards, three touchdowns.

He did throw a pick, and Justice mentioned it, he had a potential touchdown

game-winning pass that he overthrew.

Yeah.

But he was very good yesterday against a JMU defense that we all

know is capable of really good things.

On the defensive side, this was tough for me, and it, it's been tough for

me for a couple weeks now, 'cause you have these defenses where a

lot of guys are contributing, but no one is really rising above the

rest to kinda separate themselves.

Uh, so I went with Brandon Tyson.

He's the leading tackler for Georgia Southern.

Last year he was the second leading tackler, so this guy is consistent.

He doesn't miss tackles.

Like, his miss rate is only 9.1%,

so you're gonna see him involved in a lot of plays, finishing.

Um, he was a freshman All-American in 2023 for Elon at the FCS level.

After getting third team All-CAA in '24, he transferred to Georgia Southern, and

he's played the, the two years there and had a really, a big impact for them.

I imagine you're gonna see him involved in a lot of rushing stops.

But they're a solid defense.

Uh, I don't know.

They've had some tough games, but-

I mean, they, they're in every game they play.

That's one thing.

They're two and four, but they're in every game they play.

They lost to Clemson 22 to seven.

They lost to Jacksonville State 31 to 27.

They lose to Houston by 14, um, and then they lost last night by three.

So you- all their losses are pretty respectable.

They're gonna be in this game unless the magic happens and we just kinda

unleash the beast on them, but th- this could be a very tough game for us.

I would be

cool with that.

One thing I'm gonna be looking for is just like App State, App

State came in with five sacks during the season up to this point.

I think that Georgia Southern only has six through six games, so

they haven't shown that they have consistently gotten to the quarterback.

So I'll be watching that to see how, from an offensive line

perspective, how we do there.

We've gotta, you know, assuming that Quinn is healthy to play, that

we keep him as clean as possible

No, they have 14 sacks.

Is it?

Oh, I looked at the wrong stats clearly.

I think that's their sacks allowed

One guy that I, or two guys I guess I'd like to highlight

on the defensive side, um, in talking about sacks MJ Stroud,

their, uh, their defensive end edge.

He's probably the one that scares me the most in terms of that pass rush.

Um, and that, that could be a concern given, um, some of the issues

we've had along the offensive line.

And then looking at cornerback Chance Gamble he's, he's one of

the-- When healthy, he is one of the best corners in all of college

football, not just at at the G6 level.

He missed all of last year with an injury.

I think he's still, you know, kind of feeling his way back from that but he

is, he is a very talented cornerback and, uh, you know, I expect he's-- whoever

he's covering is probably not gonna get a whole lot of looks on Thursday night.

And Aaron, I will give you a stat, a support that the pass

rush that you're talking about.

So we have 66 pressures through our six games, so we're averaging

more than 10 per game, right?

Georgia Southern only has 44.

So their pass rush is not consistently putting quarterbacks under duress.

Now, they played Clemson and Houston who are two pretty good teams.

So that's gonna lower that number, but another guy I'd like

to highlight that I was close to putting on here is Festus Davies.

He's a transfer from West Georgia.

He's leading their team in, uh, QB hurries this year.

He's got nine on the year.

He's not getting home, but he is gonna put-- he's gonna have an

impact on the passing game for us.

There's a couple other guys we could mention.

Uh, did you mention-- You mentioned MJ Stroud, right?

Yep.

Yep.

Yeah, he's got-- he's the second leader in pressures this year,

and then third is Anthony Bynum.

We gotta pass protect better.

If we don't, these guys are gonna start to get home just like App State did.

So w- I don't think any of us wanna see a repeat of what, what

happened against JMU and Georgia State where we have our quarterbacks

hitting the ground seven-plus times.

Like, that's just not a recipe for success.

Nope.

All right.

I'm gonna go to the team matchup now.

Obviously our points per game has not been helped very much the last two weeks.

We put up 10, but here's the numbers.

I don't know if these are updated through yesterday or not because we did-- we

are recording much earlier today, and I'm pretty sure we were averaging 18.2

before we played App State

But yeah, you can see that Georgia Southern has a very good offense.

They're averaging 24 points per game, almost six yards a play.

Six yards a play, that's gonna put you in really good positions on…

You're gonna avoid a lot of third downs with that type of success, and

we want to get them in third downs.

It's also helping them lead to that pretty good third down percentage number of 41%.

The one area they kind of get stuck in is in the red zone.

Things get jumbled.

They don't rush the ball that well, and it's harder to pass in the red

zone, so I would imagine that's their biggest issue in the red zone

yeah, we're gonna need the defense to play well, but we need the offense

to have more success this week

And we're gonna have to get pressure on Johnson, right?

I mean, I think that, I think that's gonna be a key.

Get the pressure and, and it didn't happen yet, it didn't materialize

yesterday just 'cause they weren't able to complete the passes.

But we've seen the last couple weeks where receivers are getting behind our defense.

And if that happens on Thursday, it could be f- make for a long night

Yeah.

On a clean pocket, 77% and 109 QB rating for Johnson.

With pressure, 58% completion percentage and his QB rating drops to 53.

We gotta generate pressure.

All right.

So let me, this is about the point in, in the show where I normally

have a few questions for you guys.

So let me build off of that, Mike.

We're playing the number one passing offense in the Sun Belt, okay?

We're the, I think the, by the stats right now, we're the number three

passing defense in the, the Sun Belt.

If ODU wins that match up, does ODU win this game?

Oh, yeah.

I think so.

I would say it puts us in position to win the game, but the offense

needs to take advantage of that.

It's true

Okay.

So the next logical question for me to ask based upon what you guys have been talking

about, Max Johnson, he's thrown three touchdowns in three straight games, just

threw for 343 yards against James Madison.

Obviously this, this guy's talented and his numbers show that.

How does Blake Seiler pressure him without creating the explosive plays

that we saw in some past games, like the Georgia State game where we got

beat over the top a number of times?

Well, hopefully you get the pressure from your defensive line, right?

But, um, I, I think, I think the advantage here maybe to what, to what you're talking

about, Aaron, is the Georgia Southern run game's not nearly the threat like

we've seen from other teams, right?

Um, and so that's gonna allow him to not have to, in my opinion, y-

you drop the defensive backs back.

You don't have to necessarily bring them on the pressure.

You bring, use the linebackers to bring that pressure

So I wanna look at something.

I wanna look at their ratio of pass to run.

So they've run the ball 157 times.

They've had 244 dropbacks.

So that's what, a 2:1 ratio of, or something like that?

Yeah, not, not, yeah, certainly not balanced.

Yeah, so I'm, I'm-- Without watching all their games, we

don't know when their rushes come.

Are they coming on third down?

Are they coming on second down?

Is this-- 'Cause most teams are gonna rush on first down, see how they do,

and then you react to your play calling on second down and third down based

on how successful you were, right?

I don't think we're gonna see that with Georgia Southern.

They're gonna be, it's gonna be harder to defend because they

are such a passing offense.

You're not gonna be ex- You're not gonna know exactly when

they're gonna run the ball.

And that makes it a little bit more challenging for a Blake Seiler

defense, 'cause you don't wanna send the house and leave, open

yourself up for those explosives.

Yeah.

So yeah, this is a challenging matchup for us, I think.

I think the one thing you, you look at the, like, their run

game and I, I feel like they've only had success in one game.

Again, I'm assuming it was against the, their FCS opponent.

I think it was, like, David Mbadinga had over 100 yards rushing.

And we're, we, we've been a very good…

I feel like for the most part we've been a pretty good rush

defense under Coach Seiler.

So it'll be interesting to see how he attacks it, right?

'Cause I think, I think they're gonna have to do some things differently

than what we traditionally do.

All right, guys.

So we just run the ball 61 times against App State.

It ends up being the equation that leads to a victory.

So after Georgia Southern watches this film, they see what we did

in this last game, how we were able to win this game, what do you

expect them to do this Thursday night from a defensive perspective?

Commit to stopping the run.

Yeah.

' Mike: Cause, um- Bring, bring the- We still haven't shown that we can

pass the ball successfully to make them play us more conservatively.

Uh, so they're gonna be sending a lot of guys at Quinn and Devin Roche all night.

Yep, absolutely.

So what you were just…

I just was able to pull up the stats, Micah, of what we were talking about,

the run pass breakdown on downs.

So, so far through six games, including the game they just played at James

Madison, they are running the ball 46% on first down, 38% on second

down, 36% on third down, and then you know, fourth down they've only

had it looks like 10, 10 attempts.

So they're pretty balanced on first do- first down of running

and passing, 46 to passing at 54.

How that relates in general to other teams or the norms, you guys

would know much better than me.

On second down they're passing the ball two out of three times, and

then on third down they're passing the ball two out of three times.

But on first down it's 46/54.

It means that lack of rushing success on first down, uh, is leading

to them passing on second and third.

Which is a good thing for our defense 'cause if we can send

blitzers, we've had a lot of success generating pressure this season.

So, um, that's a good thing.

Yep

So I think there's gonna be a lot of festivities this week other than…

I mean, the drone show is obviously a big deal.

It's very expensive and, um, always fun.

I'm interested to see what kind of new wrinkles they add to it this season.

It- Well, they got one huge festivity, right?

Number 14.

Oh, yeah.

Yes, yes, yes.

Which, side note, ODU is selling … I saw an ad, they're

selling tickets for $14 to kind of celebrate this and try to get more

people there to help celebrate Taylor.

Yep.

I don't know what the total price is after fees and all that get added,

but it's good to see them s- trying to get as many people in the stadium

as possible considering our start and how we've performed at home so far.

Yeah,

absolutely.

'Cause it, it could be

One of those days where there's not a lot of people at the stadium.

I feel like un- unfortunately for us, the, the way these last

three home games fall, even if we were undefeated, you know, I think

we'd still have some challenges getting fans in the seats, right?

A, a Thursday night game, midweek game, a, uh, a, a Halloween

game, and then a game right after Thanksgiving, which traditionally

has just not been great attendance.

Um, I, I'm hoping that the, the energy we saw this past week with the win

carries over and, and we see some folks, um, you know, in the stands.

Uh, we, we talked about it last week how, you know, a, a Ricky Rahne team

kinda like traditionally that they take that adversity and they're able

to, to build, you know, to, to, to build s- a couple wins afterwards.

We saw it last year where after, you know, the, the big loss to Marshall and JMU

this team decided, "Hey, like enough's enough," and they went on a tear and,

and we've seen that in the past too where we, you know, we won, I don't know, was

it, what, did we win six in a row or five out of six to become bowl eligible?

So w- we've kinda, we've kinda seen that happen in the past and hopefully,

uh, last, this, the we- the win Saturday was a, uh, a prelude to, to

what we can expect moving forward.

Yeah, and I'd also say those years we didn't make bowl games we were kind

of in a similar position where we had to kind of run the table late in the

season, um, and we just fell short.

So let me build upon, Steve, what you're saying and your response, Mike.

After the win over App State, our first in Boone ever, we get

our first win in the Sun Belt.

Now we have Thursday against Georgia Southern at home.

Thursday versus Georgia Southern is a must win

I think so.

It's, it's pretty, as close to one as you're gonna get this early in the season.

Yeah, I mean, like, it, it's a must-win in terms of we wanna make

a bowl game, I feel like, uh, just because then, like, the margin of error

kind of goes out the window, right?

If we, if we cannot, if we can't win a home game on a Thursday night.

Um, and traditionally we've been really good on Thursday nights

on national TV, spotlight.

Uh, we've had some massive, massive wins, including one against, uh,

Georgia Southern two years ago.

So, you know, hopefully, hopefully history repeats itself.

But the, the schedule you, you look at, uh, you look at the schedule

and, like, next up is Louisiana Tech.

Louisiana Tech is a really good team.

They could win the Sun Belt West.

And we're at Louisiana Tech.

So if we don't win against Georgia Southern, I think what would ha-

what would have to happen, we'd, we'd, we'd have to win the last

four games of the season to be able to make bowl eligibility.

And so, yeah, it, it's, it's, it's a huge game Thursday night.

Mid-Roll - Brandon Johnson State Farm: So

here's the natural- I'll also say this about Georgia Southern.

They're in a similar position to us.

They're 2-4.

They're in that moment of either they're gonna give up and just kind of

their season's gone, or they're gonna come in mad and play their asses off

'cause they wanna save the season.

So both teams are kind of in a similar mental state right now.

The difference is they have more su- their success is coming

in different areas than ours.

So the natural progression to that last question is, so last

week we were asking the question, has the season gone off the rails?

Okay, we talked about that last week.

We get a win in Boone.

If we win this week versus Georgia Southern, the season

is officially back on track.

I think we've switched tracks.

Yeah.

Yeah, I would say back on track.

But-

Obviously I think everyone's goal this year was a conference championship.

That is the track we're off.

Now we're on a track to kinda preserve the season as some sort of

success and hopefully make a bowl game and have a strong showing in

Sun Belt play the rest of the way

A four and two record would be pretty solid, right?

Yep

Yeah

Also, Justice, I gotta say, we have had a lot of success against the West

We have, but

um- And in, and the state of Louisiana.

Louisiana Tech's pretty good.

They're a pretty good team.

I don't know, I … Like, my gut tells me today we lose that game, so, uh, maybe

if it was at home I'd feel differently, but I think losing, losing against

Georgia Southern this week just, like, the, the room for error is zero after

that if we wanna make a bowl game.

Yes.

I'm just looking at, looking at our opponents.

Like, Marshall- Yeah … Marshall's got issues, Coastal.

You're being very realistic, but I needed to point out those kind of

weird historical things that have Old Dominion football has accomplished.

Yeah.

And look, we, we could pick up the phone, we'll call Taylor, maybe we hold

off on retiring the jersey for a, a week.

We call down to North Carolina, get David Washington to play receiver one more time-

… and we have our Louisiana Tech reunion.

That would be awesome.

It's a good idea for when they visit here.

Maybe have them- That would be pretty cool … re- recreate that,

that throw before the game kicks off

yeah.

I'm excited.

Thursday night football gives us all a chance to leave work with

something exciting to go check out.

I'm hoping this defense contin- con- continue to bring the juice 'cause they

brought it this weekend, and I can't say enough about their performance yesterday.

Yep.

Yeah.

And before we close it out, talk about bringing the juice.

One other team we were there the other night.

Old Dominion men's soccer beats West Virginia for the first time in what?

43 years, something like that.

Yeah, since

2003.

A huge win.

Huge win.

As Tennant would say, "The lads are 9 and 3 now."

Big win in Sun Belt against a top 15 ranked team.

Likely that puts us back in the top 25, if not on the cusp.

So that was awesome to see.

Again, the band came out, was, was pumped up.

Really added a lot of life to the stands.

Good turnout.

It was a good Friday night.

I mean, it was a good weekend overall for Old Dominion athletics.

We put out a tweet last night about it.

Old Dominion field hockey beats Villanova.

Ranked team, right?

A huge game, huge win in overtime.

ODU women's golf, they're hosting the EV Odum Tournament out at

Princess Anne Country Club.

We get a Monarch to win the tournament.

Puneet Ba- or is it Bawa?

I'm not even gonna mess it up, man.

Puneet, yeah.

She freaking

kicked ass.

Pu- Puneet, she wins the tournament.

First ODU golfer to win that tournament, I believe.

ODU women's soccer- And she's leading … continues to roll.

They crush Marshall the other day and get a play on-- they

get on SportsCenter top 10.

Like it was just a very good week- That's for another name- … for

athletics … for another

name getting messed up.

And then ODU swimming, I I saw they swept Gardner-Webb, so.

And they've been breaking meet records lately.

So the swimming team seems to be on kind of a, an uptick.

But overall, like just a great weekend, and potentially today we

can really cap it off with a big win for ODU women's soccer over JMU,

'cause those are the two best teams.

Is that

tonight at 6:00 or 7:00 PM I think, Mike?

Yep.

So good luck to them.

They're going up to Harrisonburg.

Hopefully they can bring back a win because they're playing really good

soccer right now, and I hope they can continue that and continue the success

that program has had in the Sun Belt.

I also need to say this 'cause we haven't said it yet.

That was our first win in Boone

I, we talked about that first trip down there and how ugly it was, and

how it potentially could be that.

Thank God that that's not the case, and we got that monkey off

our back.

I mean, the weather, the weather was that ugly.

Yeah, so we were able to get, been able to get one monkey off our back this season.

We've got a chance in a couple weeks to get another monkey off our back.

But let's, let's get this Georgia Southern, let's keep that monkey riding

on our Thursday night backs this week.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

You guys got anything else you wanna add before we close this out?

No, I just hope that, you know, we, we saw how amazing

the defense played this past week.

I, I just saw where Pro Football Network had Old Dominion defense ra-

rated as the highest defense for week six, and, uh, we're gonna need them

this week against Georgia Southern.

Um, and hopefully the, the offense, uh, can, uh, can get, can, you know, get

things going and score some points, 'cause I think we're gonna have to score more

than 10 points to get a win this week.

Absolutely.

So if you don't have Thursday half day off, everybody, go into

the office on Monday, or if, you know, you're lucky enough to have

the day off like me, go in Tuesday.

Do whatever you gotta do.

Beg your boss or whatever to let you off at noon or so, so you can be at those

tailgate lots four hours early, and let's create as good of an environment

for our guys as possible for Thursday night to show Taylor the admiration

and the respect that he deserves for, and has earned, retiring his jersey.

Watching that drone show, you never know with a drone show, man.

Uh, CB, if you're watching, we know how you feel.

They may, they may attack us.

Who knows, you know- … in the world of AI.

But everybody get out Thursday night, make some noise, and let's keep this

streak going, 'cause one win is a streak.

That's right.

Gotta start somewhere.

Build on it.

Damn straight.

Win one for the goat.

That's right.

Go Monarchs.

Damn straight.

Go Monarchs.