ODU Rolls Past Hampton, 47-7, Saturday Night in Coach Ricky Rahne's Home Debut

By Harry Minium
 
NORFOLK, Va.  - Old Dominion's football team gave head coach Ricky Rahne a successful and satisfying home debut at Kornblau Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium, and ended the university's longest losing streak, in resounding fashion Saturday night.
 
Coming off a 42-10 defeat at Wake Forest in which the Monarchs were mistake prone, ODU was nearly flawless offensively, defensively and on special teams in a record-setting, 47-7 blowout victory over Hampton.
 
Rahne waited a long time for this game. Hired away from Penn State, where he was offensive coordinator, in December of 2019, Rahne and the Monarchs were forced to the sidelines last season by the pandemic.
 
The Monarchs practiced while most other FBS teams played last fall and Saturday was ODU's first home game in 651 days.
 
It was also ODU's first victory in more than two years. The Monarchs last won on August 31, 2019, when they rallied to defeat Norfolk State, 24-21, in the first game played on the then newly-renovated S.B. Ballard Stadium. 
 
It had been 12 games and 741 days between victories.

Defensive end Marcus Haynes, a redshirt junior, said ending that drought was a huge relief.

"It was a very emotional night for me," said Haynes, who said he received congratulatory text messages from former teammates and coaches, including former head coach Bobby Wilder. 

"We went out here and let it loose for our coaches. And we're going to do that every week."

It was a record setting night for the Monarchs. ODU rushed for 358 yards, breaking the school record of 340 yards set in 2009, ODU's first season of football, in a 31-10 victory over Georgetown.

The Monarchs also gave up just 187 yards, the fewest in school history, breaking the previous record of 213 set in 2016 against Marshall.

"It was important for us to go out and play well," Rahne said. "And we did that. 

"Hampton has got a good-looking team. Their coaches have done a nice job.



"But our guys played really, really hard tonight and were able to neutralize them a bit. Our defense played so great. To be able to play as hard and fast as they did was awesome."
 
Quarterback D.J. Mack Jr., the transfer from Central Florida, struggled at Wake Forest, but ran the offense like the veteran he is against Hampton.
 
Mack completed 11 of 22 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown and ran for 57 yards and three touchdowns before heading to the sidelines midway through the third quarter.

Mack had not played in two years until last weekend and the layoff was apparent. He looked far more confident and ran the offense much more skillfully against Hampton.

"We calmed him down a little bit this week," Rahne said. "He watched a lot of tape and centered himself on a lot of things. We were able in practice to give him a lot of great looks. He didn't hit every one but his reads were great.

"If you're making the right decisions every time, even if you're not making the right throw, that's the most important part. That's what you have your confidence, when you're seeing it correctly. 

"I thought he did an unbelievable job."

The first home game since Nov. 30, 2019, drew a crowd of 18,363, including more than 5,000 students, the larges turnout of students ever for an ODU home game.
 
The Monarchs (1-1) ended any suspense early on, rolling to 408 offensive yards and a 34-0 lead by halftime.


 D.J. Mack Jr.

Elijah Davis rushed eight times for 109 yards in the first half before heading to the bench with an injury. He was replaced by Jon-Luke Peaker, a true freshman from Philadelphia, who rushed 18 times for 141 yards. Peaker was fourth on ODU's depth chart when the season began.

Rahne praised running backs coach Tony Lucas for getting Peaker ready to play as a true freshman.

"He's done such a great job developing running backs," Rahne said. 
 
The Monarchs were red hot from the start, driving 91 yards on their first possession, with Mack hitting Penn State transfer Zack Kuntz on a picture perfect, 43-yard catch and throw on the fourth play of the drive.
 
Davis finished off the drive with a 15-yard TD run with 9:22 left. Five minutes later, Nick Rice made it 10-0 with a 24-yard field goal.
 
The Monarchs drove 91 yards on their next possession, with redshirt freshman Keshawn Wicks running for 29 yards and catching a 10-yard pass on consecutive plays. Mack made it 17-0 with a keeper just seconds into the second quarter.
 
Mack finished off an 11-play, 76-yard drive with a three-yard TD run with 3:15 left. ODU had a second and goal at the 2 with three seconds left and Rice came in to kick an 18-yard field goal.
 
After Mack made it 41-0 midway through the third quarter with a 4-yard touchdown run, Rahne began inserting substitutes. By then, ODU had 458 offensive yards and Hampton just 90.
 
ODU next plays at Liberty Saturday, Sept. 18, at 6 p.m. in a game to be broadcast on ESPN3. Liberty was 10-1 last season and ranked 17^th nationally by the Associated Press after defeating Coastal Carolina, 37-34, in the Cure Bowl.
 
The Flames are 2-0 after a 21-13 victory at Troy Saturday night.

Team Notes
Kicker Nick Rice kicked four field goals, the second most in a single-game in ODU history ... Rice tied Jarod Brown for most field goals in an ODU career with 49 ... For the second time in ODU history, ODU had a pair of 100-yard rushers ... Jon-Luke Peaker had a game-high 141 and Elijah Davis rushed for 109 ... Both totals are career-highs.