Old Dominion falls to Wake Forest, 42-10, in Monarchs' First Football Game in 643 Days

By Harry Minium
 
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Old Dominion had not played a football game in 643 days and although the Monarchs at times showed flashes of potential, they also showed the effects of the long layoff.
 
Wake Forest took a big early lead in large part because of ODU mistakes and rolled past the Monarchs, 42-10 Friday night at Truist Field. It was ODU's first game since the Monarchs fell to Charlotte on Nov. 30, 2019. ODU did not play last season because of the pandemic.
 
The game marked the head coaching debut of Ricky Rahne, the former Penn State offensive coordinator, who inherited one of the nation's most inexperienced teams. Nearly half of ODU's roster is composed of newcomers and the inexperience showed with a number of unforced errors.
 
Wake Forest (1-0), meanwhile, is one of the nation's most veteran teams. The Demon Deacons have played in bowl games the last five seasons and returned 20 of 22 starters from the team that defeated Virginia and Virginia Tech last season.
 
ODU (0-1) plays its first home game in 651 days on Sept. 11 when the Monarchs host Hampton at 7 p.m. at Kornblau Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium.

Rahne said the lopsided loss did nothing to shake the confidence in his team.

"No one believes in this team more than me," he said. "I think we have a very good football team. We just didn't execute when we needed to execute.  And we had some coaching mistakes.

"We're going to get better. I believe in this team more than any human being on the planet. I know how hard they've worked and I know how capable they are."
 
Norfolk native and Central Florida transfer D.J. Mack Jr. started at quarterback but the Monarchs did not get their passing game in gear when it mattered. Mack completed 7 of 21 passes and had two interceptions before going to the bench early in the fourth quarter.
 
Redshirt freshman Hayden Wolff took over for Mack, and led the Monarchs on their only touchdown drive, a 55-yard possession capped off by a 9-yard TD pass to tight end Isaiah Spencer with three minutes left. Wolff completed of 11 of 17 passes for 88 yards, though much of his yardage came against Wake Forest substitutes.

"The way that Hayden has been working, he deserved a chance to play," Rahne said. "And he operated very well. He did a nice job. He had maybe one or two reads I wasn't overall pleased with. But in general I thought he operated pretty well."

But he added that doesn't mean Mack won't start against Hampton.

"We're going to get on film and evaluate, but I'm not a guy who likes to flipflop back and forth," he said.

Senior Stone Smartt, who started at quarterback in parts of 2019, practiced at wide receiver the last week and played at wide receiver and returned kickoffs. He led the Monarchs with three catches for 26 yards, had two returns for 52 yards and had two rush attempts.

In spite of giving up 42 points, ODU's defense played well. Rahne said the offense often left the defense in poor position and the defense at times gave up big plays. ODU gave up 357 yards, but that was with a defensive line that started three freshmen.

"I thought we played well on defense," Rahne said. "The yards we gave up I thought were largely because of errors.

"We've just got to continue to hone in, make sure we're in the right spot. We have to work work on our tackling, which we will. We're going go come back better next week, there's no doubt in my mind."
 
Wake Forest took a 28-3 lead in a first half that was much closer statistically than the score would indicate. The Demon Deacons outgained the Monarchs, 193-130, but took advantage of numerous ODU mistakes, including two interceptions and poor tackling on a kickoff return, to take the 24-point lead.
 
ODU drove from its own 25 to the Wake Forest 46 on its second possession, but on fourth down and inches, the Wake Forest line stacked the middle and stopped Blake Watson just short of a first down.
 
Three plays later, Wake running back Christian Beal-Smith ripped off a 48-yard touchdown run around the left side of ODU's defense to put the Demon Deacons up, 7-0, six minutes into the game.
 
ODU's defense then stepped up, stopping Wake Forest on a fourth-and-one at the ODU 42 when Tre Hawkins III blitzed and caught Justice Ellison for a 2-yard loss.
 
The Monarchs then drove to the Wake 21, with 31 yards coming on a burst of the middle from Elijah Davis, before being forced to kick a field goal. The Monarchs then scored their first points in 22 months on a 38-yard Nick Rice field goal to trim the Wake lead to 7-3 with 28 seconds left in the first quarter.
 
That was to be the high water mark for the Monarchs. Two big mistakes over the next three minutes allowed the Demon Deacons to build the lead to 21-3.
 
Ja'Sir Taylor returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown in which ODU's return team missed tackles.
 
Then a Mack pass glanced off a receiver's hand into the hands of Wake's Traveon Webb at the ODU 47. Four plays later, Sam Hartman passed 36 yards to A.T. Perry for a touchdown and the Demon Deacons led, 21-3, with 12:01 left in the first half.
 
Wake made it 28-3 when Jaquiri Roberson, the standout wide receiver, made an off-balance, one-handed touchdown reception with 2:45 left.
 
Wake appeared ready score again when Taylor intercepted a Mack pass and returned it 47 yards to the ODU 7 with 1:09 left.
 
But ODU's defense stood firm. On fourth and goal at the half-yard line, when Wake's Beal-Smith tried to vault over the goal line, he was knocked backward by Monarch freshman Chazz Wallace.

Senior linebacker Jordan Young, who led ODU with nine tackles, said he was encouraged by how well the Monarchs' young defensive players competed. 

"For those guys to go out and do what they did against an ACC team that went to a bowl game last year and competed highly in their conference, it was great to see," he said. "A lot of our young guys didn't play like young guys.

"And they're going to get better."

Notes: Season captains for ODU are Isaac Weaver, Jordan Young and Nick Rice … Game captains for tonight were Isaiah Spencer, Stone Smartt and Harrell Blackmon … Tonight's game was ODU's first Friday away game, and the first time ODU opened with a Power-Five opponent … Fourteen players started for the first time as Monarchs, including D.J. Mack, Ali Jennings, Javon Harvey, Isiah Paige, Tyran Hunt, Gerrik Vollmer, Leroy Thomas, Deeve Harris, Alonzo Ford, Tre Hawkins, Roger Cray, Ali Ali and R'Tarriun Johnson … Harvey, Paige, Hunt, Vollmer, Thomas, Harris, Ford, Ali and Johnson made their first career starts … Nick Rice kicked his 45^th career field goal to put ODU on the board in the first quarter … The 45 field goals is the second most in school history behind Jarod Brown's 49 … Elijah Davis tied his career long with a 31-yard run in the first quarter … Marcus Haynes recorded the first sack of the season for ODU on the first drive of the second half … Amorie Morrison recorded the first sack of his career … Ali Jennings, Jordan Bly and Isiah Paige made their first career ODU receptions, while Bly and Paige's receptions were the first of their careers … Alonzo Ford forced the first fumble of his career, while Ali Ali notched his first fumble recovery … Blake Watson rushed for a career-high 55 yards on also a career-best 15 attempts … Isaiah Spencer caught the second touchdown pass of his career … Cornerback Tre Hawkins III made his first career start, and notched eight tackles, three tackles for loss and forced a fumble.