ODU Falls in a Thriller to UVA, falls to 1-2 on the season (9-17-22)

By: Tyrone Montgomery Jr.

All Photos Courtesy: Darrell Owens-LMS Network

In life, most Americans tend to indulge on the weekends. This often happens particularly during football season. Perhaps you’re doing Weight Watchers Monday-Friday but on Saturdays and Sundays, you get that urge for a beer or 2. If you’re not a drinker, maybe you’re a baker and a smile appears on your face when you hear the word cake. Have you ever woken up one weekend morning and decided to bake a cake? You get out of bed, throw on your robe and slippers, and head to the kitchen. You grab the cake mix out of the cabinet, head to the refrigerator, and then noticed that you don’t have any eggs. You’re frustrated because you wanted to bake your cake and relax. Now, you have to head to the grocery store. You get back home with your eggs and proceed to bake your cake. The cake comes out of the oven and is nice and hot. You then, however, notice that you don’t have any icing. Now, you’re frustrated. You have to go back to the store and get icing for the cake.

This is the story of the ODU Monarchs. In week 1’s victory vs. VA Tech, ODU’s offense looked shot. Particularly, QB Hayden Wolff didn’t look like his usual self. Week 2 came, and Wolff looked sharp as he threw for nearly 300 yards to go along with 3 passing TDs. He was fine offensively. The running game, however, didn’t look very well. In fact, in that loss to ECU, the Pirates dominated time of possession 40:52 to 19:08. Another cause for alarm was the fact that ODU gave up nearly 40 points to ECU.

We’re now in Week 3 of this early College Football season and 1-1 ODU is visiting the Virginia Cavaliers. The odds were against the Monarchs coming into this one. ODU played their hearts out as they lost by 2 points on a go-ahead field goal to end the game 16-14.

The Monarchs played stifling defense. Brennan Armstrong is one of the best QBs in the ACC. Their defense was able to force 3 fumbles in this game. Armstrong didn’t even throw or run any TDs in this game. 2 of the turnovers were in the first half as ODU held UVA to just 10 points. The Monarchs tried to emphasize their running game early on in this game until they needed to hit the acceleration on their offense. The game was getting late, and ODU needed to put some points on the board. Hayden Wolff led the way as he threw a TD to Ali Jennings with just over a minute left to go. We all thought this game was won until UVA was able to get a nice return on the kickoff. They then were able to move the ball into field goal range and draw a pass interference call to put them in the red zone. That’s where the game was won as The Monarchs simply ran out of time. Time was against them, unfortunately.

This was another solid performance by Hayden Wolff. He threw for 235 Yards to go along with 2 TDs. Despite ODU emphasizing running the ball early on, they still only managed 89 yards on the ground compared to UVA’s 229.

The Monarchs along with their coaching staff have NOTHING to be ashamed of. Despite this loss, they all should hang their heads up high along with the fanbase. This game was won and despite their lone turnover, ODU played a perfect game and couldn’t have played any better. Defensively, they gave UVA fits.

While ODU may have had to return to the store multiple times to get all of the needed materials, they finally look ready as if they have the tools needed to succeed. You have to respect the job Coach Ricky Rahne has done with this program. The Monarchs will be in a must-win situation next week as they face Arkansas State at home. ODU does not want to fall to 1-3.