Minium: ODU Football Looking Forward to Rabid Atmosphere at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion football team imported loudspeakers this week for practice that poured out a ton of crowd noise intended to simulate what the Monarchs will be hearing Saturday night.

That’s because the Monarchs play at Virginia Tech Saturday night (7 p.m., ACC Network), and even when the Hokies are slumping, and they are 0-2 so far this season, Lane Stadium can be among the most intimidating college football stadiums in the country.

When the Hokies take to the field, they do so to the strings of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” and the 65,000 or so fans aren’t just standing up and screaming, they are bouncing up and down to the music.

The stadium bounces so much that it registers on the seismic meter at the Virginia Tech Department of Geosciences.

But it’s not the opening minutes that wreak havoc with visiting teams as much as it is the constant roar of the crowd when an opposing offense is trying to call plays.

Tech faithful love nothing else than to force an opposing team to jump offsides as ODU offensive lineman Stephon Dubose-Bourne discovered two years ago when he made his first college start at Lane Stadium.

“It was insane. In the first series we had a false start and all I could hear was the crowd noise,” he said.

“Our quarterback was clapping but I couldn’t hear anything."

But he added: "I'm looking forward to playing there again. Going back there is going to be a lot of fun.”

The game matches head coaches who are close friends. Tech Head Coach Brent Pry was defensive coordinator at Penn State when Ricky Rahne, ODU’s head coach, was the Nittany Lions’ offensive coordinator.

There are many other ties among assistant coaches and support staff as well.  Rahne puts aside the personal relationships on game week, saying he has enough to worry about just preparing his team to go to Blacksburg. 

“Lane Stadium is one of the most hallowed grounds in college football,” Rahne said. “And that’s not me saying that. I mean, they’re on the commercial for the EA Sports video game for crying out loud. The game entrance is on the commercial.”

But Rahne does not see that as a negative.

“That’s awesome for our kids,” he said. “That’s unbelievable to be able to go in there and play and compete at that type of level. And to go in there and to win the game at that type of level is something if you do, that you’re going to remember always."

ODU enters the game as a slight underdog, from 7 ½ points to 9 1/2 , depending on the source. Regardless, it’s the first time ODU has ever been less than a double-digit underdog to a power school.

The Monarchs (1-1) are coming off a 54-6 victory over North Carolina Central. Tech lost at South Carolina, 24-11, and at home to Vanderbilt, 44-20.

This is the first time the teams will have met since the series between the two schools was renegotiated over the summer, a renegotiation made necessary by the rapidly changing circumstances in college athletics.

In 2012, college football was a far simpler game when then Tech Head Coach Frank Beamer was the first power coach to agree to play ODU in Norfolk. That first game came in 2018 and ODU pulled off a stunning, 49-35 upset over the then No. 13 Hokies.

ODU, then coached by Rahne, defeated Tech again in 2022 before losing at home to the Hokies last season. Tech leads the series, 4-2. 

Tech will host ODU in 2025, 2026 and 2030 but three scheduled games in Norfolk were canceled as was a fourth game in Blacksburg. The schedule changes were unavoidable and were negotiated amicably.

With the changing metrics of college athletics, Tech could no longer afford go on the road to non-power schools. Instead, the Monarchs will be paid more than $2.7 million for playing three times in Blacksburg.

ODU’s basketball team will also play a road game in Blacksburg in the next few years.

Rahne said the three games at Tech are something a lot of Group of 6 schools would love to have.

“Having the opportunity to play an in-state school like this is something that I do not take lightly,” he said. “Not everybody in our league gets this.”

He said that Sun Belt member Arkansas State finally got to play Arkansas last weekend for the first time since the Red Wolves began playing football in 1911. The schools have no future games scheduled.

“We have other schools in our league that will never get that opportunity,” he said.

ODU linebacker Jahleel Culbreath noted that while Tech is 0-2, the Hokies lost to SEC schools. And both South Carolina and Vanderbilt are among the nation’s top 28 teams, according to the ESPN power ratings.

“This is such a great opportunity for us to go in there and compete against a very good team,” he said. “They played two very good SEC teams.

“We’re not going to worry about the crowd. We’ve played in front of big crowds before. We've just got to focus on doing the things we know we need to do to win."

ODU has already played a Power 4 school and did pretty well, losing 27-14, at then No. 20 Indiana on Aug. 30. The game was relatively close and would have been much closer without three ODU turnovers.

“The Indiana game opened our eyes,” Culbreath said. “It showed us that when we play well, we can compete with anybody.”

“It’s loud and it’s electric” in Lane Stadium, he added.  “I went to Lane Stadium a couple of times as a kid. I’ve seen it on TV so many times.

“It’s a privilege to be playing there. I can’t wait for Saturday.”

Minium is ODU’s senior executive writer. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram