By Harry Minium
BLACKSBURG, Va. – Old Dominion's new offense at times looked explosive and quarterback Grant Wilson played well in his debut as a starter. The defense was strong against the run, and a young ODU team with 58 new newcomers often played with poise.
But the Monarchs made far too many mistakes, including three turnovers and a punt snap that went out of the end zone, and fell to Virginia Tech, 36-17, Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 65,632, the largest ever to see an ODU football team play.
The game marked the debut of the offense that offensive coordinator Kevin Decker imported from Fordham, where he coached last season, and at times, the Monarchs moved the ball well.
Fordham scored nearly 50 points per game. ODU was far from prolific but playing in his first FBS game, quarterback Grant Wilson was impressive in one of the most hostile environments in college football.
He completed 13 of 25 passes for 94 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 19 times for 81 yards. He missed some throws and threw an interception, yet nonetheless showed a lot of promise.
"I was proud of him," linebacker Jason Henderson said. "There was a lot of talk about the atmosphere here. But I don't think he let that get to him. He really did a great job of running and tossing the ball. I'm proud of the way he led our offense."
Head coach Ricky Rahne said the reason ODU lost was simple – Tech's players "did their jobs and we didn't do ours.
"I just didn't think we did our job enough, and that's on all of us as coaches, as players, as everybody. We've got to do our job consistently, and we did not do that.
"It's not back to the drawing board for us. It's just back to practice. Unfortunately, some of the things we saw on the practice field showed up tonight."
ODU fell behind 9-0, 16-7 and then 23-10, in the first three quarters and each time pulled back within six points. But ODU was unable to get much, if any, pressure on Tech quarterback Grant Wells, and the Hokies pulled away in the fourth quarter.
The game's key play came early in the third quarter. The Monarchs trailed 16-10 at halftime and after taking the second-half kickoff marched 44 yards to the Tech 31, when they committed their first turnover of the game that proved to be costly.
ODU running back Kararius Calloway had the ball knocked away by defensive back Derrick Canteen and it was recovered by safety Nasir Peoples.
The Hokies then marched 69 yards for a touchdown that gave them some breathing room, with Wells throwing six yards to Ali Jennings for the touchdown that gave Tech a 23-10 lead five minutes into the second half. Jennings, the transfer from ODU, caught two TD passes for the Hokies.
ODU's offense then punched back. The Monarchs drove 75 yards, with Wilson rushing six times for 34 yards and passing for 11 more, on a TD drive capped by his five-yard pass to running back Keshawn Wicks.
But then the Hokies responded, driving 65 yards on a drive capped by a one-yard TD run by Wells that returned the lead to 13 points, 30-17.
ODU never got close to scoring again, and the Hokies kicked two late field goals to win going away.
The game began poorly for ODU on offense and special teams. The Monarchs committed three early penalties, their offense had poor field position and a bad snap on an attempted punt rolled through the end zone and gave the Hokies a 2-0 lead on a safety.
ODU's offense generated just 24 yards in the first quarter, which was all negated by the 24 yards on the botched punt snap.
Yet, for the game, the yardage was fairly even. Tech had 368 yards to 295 for ODU.
ODU's defense avoided major damage after a costly penalty on Tech's second drive when defensive lineman Amorie Morrison was assessed a roughing the passer penalty, then tossed from the game for targeting.
That gave the Hokies a first down at the ODU 14. Seven plays later, the Hokies faced a fourth and goal at the two, but the Monarchs held, as a Wells pass fell incomplete. Six plays later ODU's punt snap went through the end zone to give Virginia Tech a 2-0 lead.
Tech took a 9-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter on a 20-yard pass from Wells to wide receiver Jaylin Lane.
But then ODU's offense finally got into gear.
Wilson engineered a 12-play, 83-yard touchdown drive capped by his 16-yard TD pass to Dominic Dutton, a former South Carolina track sprinter from Glen Allen, Virginia playing in his first college football game.
Ethan Sanchez's extra point trimmed the Tech margin to 9-7 with 9:33 left in the first half.
Jennings caught a 10-yard TD pass from Wells to make it 16-7 with 2:03 left in the first half.
ODU's offense then went into the two-minute drill, driving 66 yards to the Tech five, where they faced second and goal. Unable to get into the end zone, the Monarchs settled for a 28-yard Sanchez field goal which narrowed the lead to six at halftime.
That was as close as ODU would get.
Rahne said he was generally pleased with Wilson's performance.
"I think he played tough," he said. "There were a couple of reads I know he'd like back. But we've got to be more consistent doing our job at the wide receiver position, pass protection and other things like that."
Wilson said that mistakes, including some he made, doomed the Monarchs.
"A lot of things went right," he said. "At times we executed the game plan well.
"But we also shot ourselves in the foot too many times. We had too many unforced errors.
"That's what practice is for. We'll get that cleaned up in practice."
NOTES: Four players started their first career game -- linebackers EJ Green and Wayne Matthews, cornerback LaMareon James and Wilson … True freshman Devin Roche gained 22 yards on his first career carry … Dutton's 16-yard touchdown reception was the first catch and touchdown of his career … Wilson's 16-yard touchdown pass to Dutton was the first of his ODU career … … Wicks ran for a career-high 73 yards and caught two passes for 10 yards, including his first career receiving touchdown … Safety Tahj Ra-El had a career-high 12 tackles … Wide receivers Kelby Williams, Dutton and Reymello Murphy caught their first career passes … Henderson had his 16th career double-digit tackle game wtih 11. He led the nation in tackling last season. … EJ Green had a career-best nine tackles and Wayne Matthews notched a career-high eight … Shawn Asbury totaled a career-high eight tackles … Twelve players made their NCAA Division I debut, including Kadarius Calloway, Monterio Smith, Khian'Dre Harris, Reymello Murphy, Dominic Dutton, Devin Roche, Ryan Ramey, Brock Walters, Kelby Williams, Jack Shields, DJ Chandler and Jalen Butler.
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