NORFOLK, Va. - Old Dominion University football hosts Florida Atlantic on Saturday, Nov. 28 at noon. The game will be broadcast on the American Sports Network and locally on Cox channel two.
• ODU is 5-6 overall and 3-4 in Conference USA while FAU is 2-9 overall and 2-5 in league play and coming off a 20-14 overtime loss at No. 8 Florida. The Monarchs are one win away from being bowl bound.
• Redshirt freshman quarterback Shuler Bentley tossed a career-best 228 yards and three touchdown passes in relief of the injured David Washington.
• True freshman running back Jeremy Cox set career-highs for the second-straight week with 21 carries for 98 yards and seven receptions out of the backfield.
• Sophomore wide receiver Jonathan Duhart set his career-best with nine catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns, including a career-best 64-yard touchdown to give ODU a 10 point lead midway through the third quarter.
• Zach Pascal caught five passes for 54 yards and a touchdown. He has caught a pass in 35 straight games.
• Fellonte Misher and Martez Simpson each had a team-best 11 tackles and each produced big plays. Simpson recovered a fumble forced by a Terrell Reid sack and ran 33 yards for ODU’s longest defensive touchdown in school history. Misher added an interception to thrwart a Southern Miss drive and returned it 52 yards, the second longest INT return in school history.
• Old Dominion is 19-3 all-time in November, including 3-1 each of the last two seasons. The only three losses were at UNC in 2013, at Vanderbilt in 2014 and last week at Southern Miss.
• The Monarchs are 35-12 all-time at home. ODU has sold out all 47 home games in school history.
• The Monarchs are 48-10 all-time when scoring 30 or more points and 9-16 when scoring less than 30.
Down to the Wire
ODU has won seven Conference USA games in the two years they have been in the league and Saturday’s 31-21 win over UTEP was the largest margin of victory in those games. Prior to that win, ODU’s previous six wins had come down to the final possession and four have been won on the last play of the game. The previous highest margin of victory was the win two weeks ago at UTSA.
ODU’s last Nine wins
Date Opponent Score
9/20/14 at Rice W, 45-42
11/8/14 FIU W, 38-35
11/22/14 Louisiana Tech W, 30-27 OT
11/29/14 at FAU W, 31-28
9/5/15 at E. Michigan W, 38-34
9/12/15 Norfolk State W, 24-10*
10/17/15 Charlotte W, 37-34
11/7/15 at UTSA W, 36-31
11/14/15 UTEP W, 31-21*
*Only wins not decided in last two minutes
Winning by the Skin of Their Teeth
Old Dominion’s five wins have come by a combined 36 points, for an average of 7.2 points a win.
All-Purpose Pascal
With 88 all-purpose yards in ODU’s loss at Southern Miss, Zach Pascal set the ODU single-season record for all-purpose yards with 1,386. Pascal has 807 receiving yards, 414 kick return yards and 165 rushing yards. He also has completed a 47-yard pass. He is fourth in the league with 126.5 all-purpose yards per game.
All-Purpose Yards
Rk. Player Yards Year
1. Zach Pascal 1386 2015
2. Antonio Vaughan 1357 2012
3. Nick Mayers 1321 2011
4. Ray Lawry 1259 2015
Double-Digit Tackles
ODU has been led all season defensively by TJ Ricks, Justice Davila and Fellonte Misher. It shows as all three not only lead the team in tackles, but also in double-digit tackle games. Ricks leads the way with five.
Double-Digit Tackle Games
Player Double-Digit Games
TJ Ricks 5
Fellonte Misher 3
Justice Davila 2
Martez Simpson 2
Aaron Young 1
Defensive Line Depth
Junior Rashaad Coward leads the defensive line and is seventh on the team with 43 tackles.
Oshane Ximines leads the team with five sacks while Bunmi Rotimi has four sacks on the year.
Rotimi Coming on
Sophomore defensive tackle was replaced in the starting lineup by Miles Fox. Since that game, Rotimi has 23 tackles, second most among defensive linemen, and a team-high 4.5 sacks in that time.
Defensive Line Last Seven Games
Player Tackles Sacks
Rashaad Coward 27 1
Bunmi Rotimi 23 4.5
Oshane Ximines 20 3
Simpson Playing Big
Martez Simpson tied his career-best with 11 tackles at Southern Miss and returned a fumble 33 yards for a touchdown in his homecoming to his native state of Mississippi.
Simpson has been playing well the last three weeks, leading ODU in tackles over that time.
Tackles last three weeks
Player Tackles Season Tackles
Martez Simpson 28 68
Justice Davila 27 86
TJ Ricks 25 109
Fellonte Misher 23 84
Sean Carter 22 45
Second Year Receiver Shines
Sophomore Jonathan Duhart has had a breakout four-game stretch for ODU, catching 27 passes for 389 yards and seven touchdowns the last four weeks. He has two 100-yard receiving games, the first two of his career. Duhart has given ODU a second option opposite of leading receiver Zach Pascal and leads ODU with eight touchdown receptions.
Duhart Last Four Weeks
Opponent Catches Yards Touchdowns
WKU 5 46 2
UTSA 8 160 2
UTEP 5 49 1
Southern Miss 9 134 2
4 Week Totals 27 389 7