Preview - UD Football vs. Old Dominion

With no history between ODU & Delaware, I am going with
the awkward trophy shot from last week.

A few years ago, the CAA lost two of it's football teams due to contraction in the same off-season.  The conference that was looking to add Old Dominion and Georgia State programs down the line and rise up to a 14 team super conference in the FCS was dealt a blow that resulted in the destruction of the divisions and a fear of other teams making their way out of the conference for one reason or another.  Luckily, the break-up never really happened (Villanova would not commit to the Big East and only UMass has been able to secure moving up to FBS play).  Old Dominion is now joining the CAA as it's 11th member (Georgia State will be #11 again next season with UMass' exodus).  So what better way for a new team to begin conference play than to face last season's 2nd best team in the nation?  Talk about your baptism by fire!



Old Dominion has started off this season well.  It began the year with two convincing wins over Campbell at home and on the road against Georgia State (which started a year after the Monarch's program).  However, last week's battle with Hampton almost became too much for the Monarchs to handle.  Old Dominion barely squeaked out a 45-42 victory over the Pirates and come into conference play with a 3-0 record that does not quite tell the full story.  Coach Bobby Wilder described his team as having just played their worst game of the season so far this past weekend.  If the head coach is talking about his team being regressive, it can only be a good thing for Delaware come kick-off.

The key player for Old Dominion is their quarterback, senior Thomas DeMarco.  On the season, DeMarco has thrown for 608 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions.  As good as he as been through the air for the Monarchs, he is just as good on the ground.  After his two rushing scores against Hampton, DeMarco now has 30 career rushing touchdowns.  Along with being a dual threat on the field, the senior quarterback also helps the Monarchs to run a very up-tempo offense.  In the first three games of the season, Old Dominion's scoring drives have only averaged 1:50, 2:46, and 2:25.  If the Monarchs are to put points up on the board, it looks like they will do it quickly.  I am interested to see if they attempt to slow the game down if it looks to be a shootout with the Hens early.  The only other players to watch for offensively on Old Dominion are the two running backs, Colby Goodwyn and Angus Harper who have combined for 469 yards on the ground and 5 rushing touchdowns.  Defensively, their leading tackler is junior OLB Craig Wilkins (32 on the year).  He will be the Monarchs best chance for slowing down the Hens offense.

For the Hens, if this week plays out anywhere similar to how last week did, then Andrew Pierce is officially the focal point of the offense.  Pierce has accumulated 2,003 career rushing yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground.  This is your reminder that Pierce is only a sophomore in his 4th game of the year and has already amassed some incredible stats.  On the quarterback front, Donnelly looks to start his 3rd straight game for the Blue Hens after beginning the year as the backup to the injured Trevor Sasek.  Sasek is said to be "available" for this game, but whether or not he actually sees the field depends on if Donnelly implodes out of nowhere or if there is garbage time available to get some game-situation reps in for Sasek with the Hens up big.  I really do not see either being the case (Justin Burns is listed as 2nd on the depth chart anyway), so this must be either a case of a 90% quarterback may come in handy, or Keeler just being coy about what his plans really are and trying to mess with ODU.  I am voting on the latter.

With no history between these two teams, it is harder than usual to really make any predictions about this game.  Delaware looks like the better team on paper, but for all anyone knows, the Monarchs are just sleeping dogs in waiting that could end up taking the CAA by surprise.  ODU is 20-5 since starting their program, but two of those losses came to the only two ranked teams the Monarchs have faced since their re-inception.  It seems fairly obvious that the Hens will be putting up points in this game one way or another.  What this one will come down to is the battle between the Old Dominion offense and the front seven of Delaware's defense.  Can the Monarchs keep up with the Blue Hens and maybe even pull of the upset? Here are my predictions for this game:

My Over/Under for UD vs. ODU

• Total Points: 50.5 points
• ODU Total Yards: 359.5 yards
• Delaware Rushing Yards: 184.5 yards

Bold Prediction:  Tim Donnelly scores 3 touchdowns.
(I wanted to say "throws for," but this Hens team is so focused
on the run game that he'll probably punch one in.)

Projected Score:  Delaware 34, Old Dominion 17
(Delaware's defense is much better than any that ODU
has seen thus.  The Hens will double up the Monarchs.)
Watch the game live on BlueHens.com