Football Stages a Late Rally But Falls at Home to WKU, 43-20

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va - In a decision he kept a secret until minutes before gametime, Old Dominion football Coach Ricky Rahne started redshirt freshman Hayden Wolff at quarterback Saturday in place of D.J. Mack Jr., who started the Monarchs' six previous games.

And while Wolff threw well, especially in the second half, the Monarchs buried themselves with a series of early mistakes and fell to Western Kentucky, 43-20, before a homecoming crowd of 16,418 at S.B. Ballard Stadium.

It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Monarchs (1-6, 0-3 Conference USA), who lost the previous three in heartbreaking fashion.

This game was still in doubt midway through the fourth quarter, as the Monarchs staged a late comeback that trimmed WKU's lead to 13. But ODU could not overcome its poor start.

ODU essentially committed three first-half turnovers – if you include a pass intercepted by a Monarch defender and fumbled into the hands of a WKU receiver – and found themselves trailing, 30-3, at halftime.

Wolff had two interceptions – the second in the waning moments when a storm whipped around S.B. Ballard Stadium with wind and rain – but had the best passing performance for the Monarchs since 2019. He completed 26 of 41 passes for 327 yards – it was the first time ODU passed for more than 300 yards since 2019, when he passed for 321 yards at Middle Tennessee. 

Zappe, one of the nation's most potent passers, completed 37 of 54 passes for 397 yards and five touchdowns.

ODU wide receiver Ali Jennings III, the transfer from West Virginia, also had his best game of the season, hauling in 13 passes for 172 yards. He fell one catch short of tying the school record for pass receptions in a game.

Rahne said that for the foreseeable future Wolff is ODU's starter, which is much the same thing he said when Mack was announced as the starter for the Monarchs' opener at Wake Forest. In both instances, he said he doesn't want his quarterback looking over his shoulder.

"Hayden has been practicing very well and I thought he gave us a better chance to win this game and win into the future," Rahne said. 

"I'm not a guy who wants to flip flop on quarterbacks. Hayden is our starter. He did some very good things. And when I say the future, I don't mean next year. I mean this game, Louisiana Tech (ODU's next opponent on Oct. 30) and this season.

"I've never been one of those coaches who's going to play a guy who's going to help us in anything other than this season."

ODU's defense faced a mammoth task in trying to stop WKU (2-4, 1-1), the nation's fifth-highest scoring offense. The Hilltoppers averaged 40.4 points and 550.4 yards per game, and it didn't help that Wolff was intercepted and fumbled in the first half. 

Nor did it help, with just over 10 minutes into the first half and with WKU leading, 7-0, when Zappe fired a pass into the end zone that appeared to be picked off by safety R'Tarriun Johnson, then fumbled into the hands of WKU's Dakota Thomas.

The interception would not have counted, as the Monarchs were penalized on the play.

Johnson came up with two big plays in the second half that blunted two drives that appeared headed for touchdowns, and sparked ODU's rally.

With a first and goal at the ODU 1, WKU failed to score on two runs, so Zappe rolled to his right and fired a pass that Johnson picked off. On WKU's next series, the Hilltoppers had a first and goal at the 4 after a 64-yard punt return by DeAngelo Wilson, in which he tripped just before he got to the end zone.

Johnson had a pass breakup that helped force WKU to settle for a field goal.

"I thought that sequence of events that I was maybe the most proud of a football team than I've been associated with in a long time," Rahne said.

"We at least made him stumble (on the punt return) and our guys kept fighting and fighting and fighting. Our guys are to the point where they see as long as they keep fighting, good things will happen."

Good things did happen. ODU scored touchdowns on back-to-back drives that trimmed the WKU lead to 33-20.

Wolff completed five passes, including three to Jennings, on a eight-play, 79-yard touchdown drive capped off by a 24-yard Elijah Davis touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter.

After the defense held WKU on downs, the Monarchs then drove 78 yards in eight plays that Blake Watson finished off with a 7-yard run with 10:17 left that trimmed the lead to 33-20. But needing a defensive stop, ODU couldn't quite git it. WKU drove just long and deep enough to set up a 41-yard Brayden Narveson field goal with 5:41 left that made the score 36-20. ODU turned the ball over on downs on the ensuing drive that put the game out of reach. 

Wolff had not started a game in two years, and he said it showed.

"There's a lot of room for improvement," he said. "There were a bunch of base plays in which I may have overlooked some things. 

"Overall, I kind of settled into the game as the game went on. You know, that happens. It was my first start in two years. I've got to do a better job of executing the base offense and doing what the coaches ask of me."

NOTES: Terry Jones earned his first start at safety . . . Wolff made his first start of the season at quarterback and fourth of his career . . . Johnson intercepted a pass for the second-straight game. The INT's are the first two of his career … Johnson had a career-high 10 tackles and two pass breakups to go along with the interception … Terry Jones had a career-best 11 tackles … Ryan Henry recorded 10 tackles and two pass breakups . . . Jennings was one catch short of tying Aaron Moore's school record for receptions in a game, catching a career-best 13 passes for 172 yards … Moore set the record at Middle Tennessee on Nov. 23, 2019 . . . Jennings' 172 receiving yards was the eighth most in a game in school history . . . Zack Kuntz caught eight passes for a career-best 114 yards. The 114 yards is a career-high, while eight grabs ties his career-high . . . Kuntz and Jennings are the first set of ODU teammates to go over 100 yards receiving since Jonathan Duhart (100) and Travis Fulgham (151) on Oct. 6, 2018 at Florida Atlantic . . .  Wolff's 327 passing yards was a career-high . . . For the second-straight game, Blake Watson went over 100 yards rushing, carrying 22 times for 104 yards and a touchdown . . . Elijah Davis had 10 attempts for 53 yards and a touchdown.