ODU Football Defeats Georgia State, 27-10, to Finish Regular Season 9-3

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – It wasn’t an artful game, but the Old Dominion football team finished off one of its finest regular seasons ever with a 27-10 victory over Georgia State Saturday in the 75^th annual Oyster Bowl at S.B. Ballard Stadium.

The victory was the fifth in a row for the Monarchs (9-3 overall, 6-2 Sun Belt), who won nine games for the first time since 2016 and went unbeaten at home, also for the first time since 2016 and only the third time in school history.

The Monarchs now await a bowl bid, and by winning Saturday’s game, likely increased their chances of garnering one of the Sun Belt’s more coveted bowl games. ODU will learn on Sunday, Dec. 7, to which bowl they are headed.

Devin Roche, the redshirt sophomore running back from Baltimore, won the Melvin T. Blassingham Oyster Bowl Most Valuable Player after rushing 21 times for 137 yards and two touchdowns. He also set up the go-ahead field goal early in the third quarter with a 47-yard punt return.

It was quite a way to cap off a season for a player who lost his mother earlier this season and was slowed with injuries.

“I’m so happy for that kid in the way he’s progressed throughout the year,” said Ricky Rahne, ODU’s head coach. “Things weren’t going the way he wanted earlier this season, but he just kept plugging along and trusting the process. I’m very proud of what he’s accomplished.”

On a day in which standout quarterback Colton Joseph struggled to complete passes – he was 9 of 22 for 106 yards – the Monarchs rushed for 303 yards, including 108 yards from Joseph.

The Monarchs set a single-season rushing record of 2,843 yards. Joseph, meanwhile, finished the regular season with 1,007 yards, to become the first ODU quarterback to ever rush for more than 1,000 yards.

ODU got another monstrous performance from its defense, which held Georgia State to 283 yards, and just 78 in the second half.  

“It was a great way to end the regular season,” Rahne said. “If you look at the great Old Dominion teams in the past, they’ve been undefeated at home. This is a big accomplishment for the kids.”

It was ODU’s coldest home game ever, with temperatures dipping into the 30s in the second half, and Rahne said given the weather, “I want to thank our fans for coming out today. They were helpful. They did a great job and stayed behind us when we were kind of struggling.”

The crowd was announced at 17,126.

It was Senior Day, an emotional day for players and coaches, and whether it was emotions or not, the Monarchs played as poorly throughout much of the first half as they have all season.

Rahne acknowledged that those emotions likely had an impact on ODU early on.

“You know, there are guys who are playing their last game,” he said. “Let’s call a spade a spade because some guys were playing their last game who were not seniors. That’s just the reality of college football.

“That was probably part of it.”

ODU was a 26 ½-point favorite to Georgia State (1-11, 0-8), which lost for the ninth time in a row. But the Monarchs trailed, 10-0, late in the second quarter and the score was tied, 10-10 at halftime.

The Monarchs got untracked late in the first half to win going away.

With the score knotted at 10-10, Roche set up the go-ahead score with a brilliant, 47-yard punt return in which he broke back and forth against the grain of defenders several times. The drive stalled in the red zone and the Monarchs settled for a Nathanial Eichner 22-yard field goal.

After holding Georgia State on downs, the Monarchs pulled together their best sustained drive of the game, rolling 94 yards on a drive capped by Roche’s 3-yard run. The Monarchs led, 20-10, with 6:03 left in the third quarter.

After holding the Panthers on downs again, ODU marched 80 yards on a drive in which Lady Luck smiled at the Monarchs. An interception was wiped off the board by a pass interference call. Joseph then fumbled at the 16, but picked up his own fumble and ambled into the end zone to make it 27-10 with 59 seconds left in the third quarter.

Both teams got off to a slothful start as they combined for 99 yards and seven first downs in the first quarter.

Georgia State’s offense warmed up first, as the Panthers drove 67 yards in five plays over two minutes.

Quarterback Christian Veilleux passed to Derrick Avery Jr. for the four-yard touchdown to give Georgia State a 7-0 lead.

On ODU’s next play, defensive back Jaylen Jones picked off a poorly-thrown Joseph pass, which led to a 32-yard Liam Rickman field goal and a 10-0 Georgia State lead.

But then the Monarchs found life. Joseph completed two passes then ran for 11 yards and just like the crowd came alive. Roche’s 21-yard run put the Monarchs in the red zone, and although ODU was forced to settle for a 19-yard Eichner field goal, momentum had swung back to the Monarchs.

In perhaps the key defensive play of the game, linebacker Seth Naotala then picked off an Veilleux pass at the 22 and returned it to the 20, and the Monarchs were in business.

Roche then reeled off an 11-yard run, followed by a nine-yard TD run and the score was tied, 10-10, with 4:12 left and remained tied into halftime.

From there on, it was all ODU.

Linebacker Jahleel Culbreath, a redshirt junior from Ocean Lakes High in Virginia Beach, said he and his teammates knew this was going to be a special season during fall camp.

“We thought we could have had an 11-1 season, and we could have,” he said. “But it feels so good to have won nine games, to have been unbeaten at home.

“Shout out to everybody who contributed to us being undefeated at home, including our fans.”

Asked where he would like to play in a bowl game, Culbreath said: “Someplace warmer than here today.”

Rahne said he knows some fans were disappointed that the outcome was so close, and said that’s a reflection of what this team has accomplished.

“I know there are some people who would say, ‘You only won by 17 points,’” he said.

“I think that speaks to how well this team is playing and how well the coaches are coaching when the expectations are so high that winning by 17 is a possible negative.

“I’m so appreciative that I get to spend three more weeks with these guys. They make me laugh every day. They make me smile. I have one of the best jobs in the country in part because I have so many great kids to be around.

“I’m looking forward to playing in any bowl game with these kids.”

Notes: At 44 degrees, it was the coldest home game in ODU history… With Devin Roche’s 12-yard run early in the second quarter, ODU broke the team single-season rushing yardage record. ODU has rushed for 2,843 yards. The previous record was 2,559 yards set in 2016 … Seth Naotala’s second quarter interception to set up an ODU touchdown was the second of his career, and first since 2021 when he played at James Madison … Roche had a career high 21 carries for 137 yards and two touchdowns. It was his second career 100-yard rushing game and first career multi touchdown game … Colton Joseph notched his third 100-yard rushing game of the year and fifth of the season and notched 1,007 yards on the season. He is the first ODU quarterback to break 1,000 yards in a season … Cornerback Zion Frink registered his second career double-digit tackle game, totaling 10 tackles … Hunter Malecki notched a sack, giving ODU a league best 31 sacks and a sack in all but one game this season (Marshall) … ODU rushed for more than 300 yards for the fourth time this season and for the third-straight game … ODU has nine wins for the first time since 2016 … The Monarchs went 6-0 at S.B. Ballard Stadium, the third undefeated home slate in program history, joining the 2013 and 2016 teams.