COLLEGE PARK, Md. - For the second-consecutive week, Old Dominion University Football will travel to an FBS opponent as the Monarchs travel to Maryland on Saturday, Sept. 7. The Monarchs' second ever game against an FBS school will be televised nationally at 4 p.m. on ESPNEWS. Beth Mowins will have the play-by-play call while former first round pick and 16-year NFL veteran, Joey Galloway will be the color analyst.
Locally the game can be seen in Hampton Roads on: Cox Communications - 231 - for Advanced TV subscribers with the sports and info package; Verizon FIOS - 72 for Extreme HD viewers; Direct TV - 207; DISH - 5301.
• ODU quarterback Taylor Heinicke was 38-for-51 passing for 338 yards and three touchdowns against the Pirates. The 338 yards was the 13th time the junior has passed for more than 300 yards in a game.
• Junior wide receiver Blair Roberts caught a career-best nine passes in Saturday's opener at East Carolina.
• Junior cornerback Eriq Lewis recorded his first career sack on the last play of the first quarter at ECU when he took down Shane Carden for an 11-yard loss. He contributed a half sack with Dominique Guinn-Bailey in the second half.
Heinicke Hits Targets
Taylor Heinicke connected on 38-of-51 passes in last Saturday's loss at East Carolina, completing passes to seven different receivers.
Returning Receivers
Blair Roberts just missed his first career 10 reception game, grabbing nine passes for 74 yards. Larry Pinkard was just eight yards shy of his second career 100-yard receiving game. Pinkard finished with eight catches for 92 yards. Senior running back Colby Goodwyn finished with seven catches, while Jakwail Bailey and Antonio Vaughan had six catches a piece. Redshirt freshman Zach Pascal recorded the first start of his career and had two receptions in his first collegiate game.
Defensive Pieces
The defensive line lost two starters from a year ago, but newcomer Chris Smith and linebacker turned defensive end, Terrell Reid, will start on the defensive line.
Junior Dominique Guinn-Bailey led the defensive line with three tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and half a sack.
Leading Tacklers
Senior John Darr, Fellonte Misher and Andre Simmons led the Monarchs with nine tackles apiece against East Carolina. The nine tackles for Misher and Simmons was a career-high.
First Time Starters
Two players on offense, Connor Mewbourne and Zach Pascal, started their first career games for ODU, while five players on defense, Terrell Reid, Chris Smith, Nate Barnes, Richie Staton and Jevon Neal earned their first collegiate starts.
On the field for the First Time
ODU had 20 players play a collegiate game for the first time last Saturday at East Carolina. Pascal, Reid, Smith, Staton, Neal, Rob Thompson, Joe Pulisic, Gerard Johnson, Cam Boyd, C.J. Bradshaw, Jake Walsh, Anthony Wilson, D.J. Simon, Larry Alston III, TJ Ricks, Melvin Vaughan, Gerard Shillow, Gary Scruggs, Scott Wiggins and Kanyia Anderson.
FBS Experience
Just two players on Old Dominion have experience playing against an FBS opponent. Redshirt junior captain, Andre Simmons, who transferred to ODU from Vanderbilt, and Nick England, a transfer from Florida International. England has to sit out this season after transferring to ODU this fall.
The Crowds will Come
The 44,597 that saw the Monarchs play at ECU last Satuday doubles the largest crowd that had seen ODU play before. Last year's regular season finale at James Madison drew a crowd of 23,051, was the largest crowd that ODU had previously played in front of. ODU had zero false starts on Saturday and just one penalty for having six men on the line of scrimmage.
Largest Crowds ODU has Ever Played in Front of
Date Opponent Attendance
8/31/13 at East Carolina 44,597
11/17/12 at James Madison 23,051
9/1/12 Duquesne 20,068