By Harry Minium
In case you hadn't noticed, and if you haven't, you haven't been paying attention, Old Dominion head football coach Ricky Rahne is a bit of a sentimental guy.
So, when he was asked during his weekly press conference Monday about Penn State's 28-20 victory over Auburn Saturday night, and whether he keeps up with his friends in State College, Pennsylvania he got, well, a little sentimental.
"I keep up with Penn State because I have a lot of people there I care about," said Rahne, who was offensive coordinator in State College before he came to ODU.
"Obviously, coach (James) Franklin is somebody I care deeply about," he said, speaking of Penn State's head coach.
"There are guys in that administration that are off the field that I've worked with for a long time that I know gave their blood, sweat and tears for that place.
"Their chief of staff, Kevin Threlkel, he was my student assistant when I was a graduate assistant at Kansas State, so I've known some people there for a long time. Ja'Juan Seider, Brent Pry, I've been through some battles with, Terry Smith and those guys," he added, speaking of assistant coaches.
"There are some players there that I've got some deep feelings about, so I keep up with them on that end of it.
"There's no one on this planet besides his mom and dad, who are great people, who wants to see (quarterback) Sean Clifford more successful than me."
Clifford had one of the best games of his career against Auburn, completing 28 of 32 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns. It was a white out game, which happens only once a year and is a big deal at Penn State, and matched nationally-ranked teams in prime time.
"The fact that he went out there and played the way he did is awesome. Especially in that environment. That's a pretty special thing."
Asked if he heard from friends at Penn State after his first victory, he said it was more important that he heard from them after his first loss.
"The people I'm talking about aren't just going to be there for you when you win," he said. "It's easy to be there for somebody when they win.
"It's a lot different to be there for somebody on the Tuesday after your first loss, right? Those people I'm talking about, those are the people who are there for me through thick and thin.
"I'm going to be there for them and obviously I'm going to be very excited for them when they win."
He was also there for his friends at Penn State when the Nittany Lions began last season with five consecutive losses before winning their last four games.
"We weren't playing last year but I texted Sean Clifford and (standout wide receiver) Jahan Dotson after every game they played last year," he said.
"I know they started off rough and they finished with how I know they can play football and carried on to this year."
Buffalo is the Best Team You've Never Heard Of
To casual college football fans, ODU's non-conference schedule might not look all that imposing. Wake Forest, Hampton, Liberty and Buffalo isn't a lineup of blue-bloods.
But serious fans know better. Wake Forest is 3-0, having beaten Florida State 35-14 this past weekend. And while this isn't a typical FSU team, the Deacons were dominant.
Hampton is 2-1 after absorbing a 47-7 loss to ODU. And Liberty is just as good as the Flames looked in dispatching the Monarchs Saturday night, 45-17.
Liberty (3-0) moved to 26th in the coaches' poll this week while Wake Forest is also receiving votes.
"When it's all said and done . . . they're probably going to be a top 15-20 team," Rahne said of the Flames. "They're a very talented team and they've done a nice job of building" a good program.
Buffalo, ODU's final non-conference opponent, is also very good. The Bulls were 6-1 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, with their one loss coming in the Mid-American Athletic Conference championship game. They rebounded by defeating Marshall in the Camellia Bowl.
They're 1-2 this season, but their losses came at Nebraska (28-3) and at home against No. 16 Coastal Carolina, where a late Bulls' rally fell just short in a 28-25 defeat.
Buffalo comes into S.B. Ballard Stadium Saturday night with a new coaching staff – former Michigan State defensive coordinator Maurice Linguist took over for Lance Leipold, now at Kansas.
Offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery came to Buffalo from James Madison University, and the Bulls have a physical running attack behind an offensive line that hasn't allowed a sack in three games.
"Buffalo has shown in the past that they can contend for the MAC title," Rahne said. "Usually somebody who contends for the MAC championship is a top 20-25 team."
The game will match a couple of former Norview High School teammates. ODU quarterback D.J. Mack Jr. and Buffalo running back Kevin Marks are both former Pilots.
It will also be a homecoming game for Ron Whitcomb, who was ODU's quarterbacks coach for 11 seasons and is now an assistant coach for Buffalo.
Marks was expected to be a one-man show for the Bulls' vaunted rushing attack, and has 221 yards and three touchdowns on 54 carries. But Montgomery has used Ron Cook Jr. (185 yards) and Dylan McDuffie (166 yards) a lot as well.
SafetyR'Tarriun Johnson watched the first half of the Coastal-Buffalo game Saturday before the Monarchs played and was impressed.
"They're a good team and they run the ball hard," he said. "They're not going to back down from us. We have to prepare well this week."
Rahne Says That At Times, ODU Played Well at Liberty
Rahne saw some good things when he watched tape of last week's lost to Liberty. The Monarchs scored twice in the second quarter and had it not been for a roughing the kicker penalty, might have scored three times.
"I thought we proved last week that when we play the way we're supposed to play, we can compete against those teams," he said, speaking of Buffalo, Wake Forest and Liberty.
He said a less-than-stellar week of practice last week played a big role in the loss.
"Yesterday was our best Sunday practice probably of the year," he said. And while Monday is an off day for the players, he said he saw a lot of players watching video of Buffalo.
"I told them knowledge is power and Monday is about knowledge, knowledge of our opponent."
Minium was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in his 39 years at The Virginian-Pilot and won 27 state and national writing awards. He covers ODU athletics for odusports.com Follow him on Twitter @Harry_MiniumODU, Instagram @hbminium1 or email hminium@odu.edu
Minium: Ricky Rahne Still Maintains Strong Sentimental Ties to Penn State Football
