Liberty and Quarterback Malik Willis are Too Much for ODU as Monarchs fall, 45-17

By Harry Minium
 
LYNCHBURG – Old Dominion's football team could not contain Liberty University standout quarterback Malik Willis and fell to the Flames, 45-17, Saturday night at Williams Stadium
 
Liberty (3-0) is arguably the best team on ODU's schedule. The Flames have most players back from last season, when they finished 10-1 and won a bowl game, and are 28^th in voting for the Associated Press Top 25. They are likely to enter the Top 25 this week.
 
Clearly, they have one of the best quarterbacks in the college game. Willis, considered a lock as a first-round NFL draft choice, beat the Monarchs with both his legs and his arm.
 
He completed 21 of 28 passes for 242 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 77 yards and two more TDs, with nearly all that yardage coming in the first three quarters.

ODU coach Ricky Rahne said Willis played an exceptional game, but that his Monarchs did not play nearly well enough to win.

"That's a very good football team with a quarterback who is getting recognition as a first round draft pick and it's warranted," Rahne said. "He was especially good throwing n the pocket.

"Everyone is going to look all the very special plays he made with his feet and say that was the difference in the game but it was really how well he threw in the pocket that was the difference."

ODU quarterback D.J. Mack Jr., who turned 23 Saturday, completed 15 of 27 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown. He threw an interception, but Rahne said it wasn't a bad throw.

But Mack was often rushed from the pocket and was sacked five times. He said Mack needed to get rid of the ball quicker on some of those sacks.

"There were some times when the ball didn't come out like it should have and it led to a sack," Rahne said. "Everyone always loves to blame the offensive line for sacks but having played quarterback (at Cornell)  I know I caused an inordinate amount of sacks in my day.

"Half the time I'd tell my parents if I'd thrown the ball when I should have I wouldn't have gotten hit. And I think that happened today. We've got to make sure that the ball comes out on time."
 
ODU kept it close for a while. The Monarchs rallied in the final minutes of the first half to drive 75 yards for a touchdown that narrowed what had been a 21-3 Liberty lead to 28-17.
 
But the Flames asserted themselves quickly in the second half, sacking Mack twice on ODU's first possession, then driving 48 yards for a touchdown.
 
Willis passed 13 yards to Kevin Shaa for the touchdown and Liberty led, 35-17. The Monarchs never threatened again.

Asked if Willis was that good or ODU was that bad, defensive back Joe Joe Headen said "it was a little bit of both."

"A guy like him is going to make his plays.  Our goal was to limit him and we did not do that. I feel like we beat ourselves as well. We missed two many tackles and against a team like this it's going to bite us.

"That's a very good team. You just can't afford to make mistakes against a team like that."
 
For much of the first half the Flames threatened to blow the game open. The Flames led, 21-3, on two touchdown passes and a touchdown run by Willis, who had 140 offensive yards on the Flames' first four possessions, including a 56-yard jaunt after he was nearly sacked.
 
But the Monarchs (1-2) got a big break when the Flames were called for roughing punter Ethan Duane that handed the Monarchs a first down at the 42. Lynchburg native Elijah Davis, an all-state pick at nearby Heritage High School, finished off the drive with a run of 17 yards, then a 1-yard TD run and the Monarchs trailed, 21-10.


 Zack Kuntz scores his first career touchdown for ODU.

ODU's defense then held, and would have had good field position at its own 42. But the Monarchs were also called for roughing the kicker. Willis then threw a near-perfect 38-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Shaa, who was well covered by Tre Hawkins III, but nonetheless hauled in the pass, and the Flames led 28-10.
 
ODU wasn't finished, however. The Monarchs patiently and methodically mounted a 75-yard touchdown drive sparked by two key plays. On fourth down and two, Mack tossed a 4 yard pass to freshman Jordan Bly.
 
On the next play, Mack found tight end Zack Kuntz at the 11, who carried it into the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown. That narrowed the lead to 28-17, and kept the Monarchs within striking distance of the Flames, albeit only temporarily.

Asked if he saw things he liked about his team, Rahne mentioned the rally late in the first half.

"I thought we battled, especially at the end of the first half," he said. "But we've got to have passion regardless of what is going on."

Headen said the Monarchs did not have a good week of practice last week and that it showed in their performance Saturday.

"We knew this was going to be a tough battle and we that we couldn't afford self-inflicted wounds," Kuntz said. "And just had too many self-inflicted wounds."

Kuntz and Stone Smartt both had four pass receptions for ODU while Davis rushed for 57 yards.
 
ODU hosts Buffalo this Saturday at 6 p.m. at S.B. Ballard Stadium. The Bulls (1-2) fell at home to No. 16 Coastal Carolina, 28-25, on Saturday night. Their other loss was a 28-3 defeat at Nebraska.
 
ODU will don Hudson Blue uniforms for the first time against Buffalo. The sky-blue color is named for former ODU sports information director Carol Hudson and was the color worn by university sports teams for decades.
 
Team Notes: Joe Joe Headen, Donta Anthony Jr. and John Morton were game captains … Senior Cory Jackson started his first career game at defensive end … Zack Kuntz made his first career start at tight end … Redshirt freshman long snapper John Morton recovered the first fumble of his career … Nick Rice set the ODU record for career field goals with the 50^th of his career, when he made a 43 yarder in the first quarter. The field goal snapped Rice's tie with Jarod Brown … Zack Kuntz recorded a career-high with four catches for 60 yards and his first career TD grab … Defensive end Deeve Harris registered his first full sack of the season … Ethan Duane had a career-long 55 yard punt in the third quarter … Steven Williams recorded his first career sack … Ryan Henry totaled a career-best and game-high nine tackles.