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Stick and Go: Monarchs Win Battle of Norfolk, Now It's Virginia Tech
Camo, Character, and a Statement Win: Monarchs Win Battle of Norfolk, Now It's Virginia Tech
Season Opener Breakdown | Week 2 Preview
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By Mike Langston
Standing with some friends under a tent in the Blue Lot as a downpour soaked campus, I worried the weather would ruin the day's turnout and energy. But when those same friends regrouped in that exact spot after the game, we realized we'd just witnessed one of the best days ODU has seen in a long time.
The Army Golden Knights deliver the game ball. Photo courtesy of CB Sports Photography.
Between the Blackhawk missing-man flyover, the Golden Knights parachute team, Taylor Heinicke's jersey retirement announcement, and an ODU win, campus felt alive. Most importantly, it was a deeply moving tribute honoring one of our own and his selfless bravery, a special moment made even better by the solid crowd that came out to share it. Every Monarch who jogged out of the tunnel wore the same name on his back,Β LTC SHAH, in place of his own. The camouflage Under Armour uniforms, sold online Saturday before kickoff and gone within minutes, honored the 2007 ODU graduate and Army ROTC leader who sacrificed his own life to protect his students, with proceeds going to his family.
But you didn't come here to read my game-day recap. So let's get to the numbers.
WATCH: THE FULL BREAKDOWN
Aaron, Mike and Justice break down everything we learned from the Norfolk State victory before turning their attention to a completely different Virginia Tech team under James Franklin.
THE HENICLE ERA OPENS FAST
Quinn Henicle scores on the ground for the Monarchs. Photo courtesy of CB Sports Photography.
Quinn Henicle has taken snaps for this program before, but Saturday marked the first time he took the field as the named full-time starter, and he made it count: 9-of-12 passing for 137 yards and two touchdowns, plus 68 yards and two more scores on the ground. That's a 75% completion rate and 11.4 yards per attempt on limited volume, exactly the kind of efficient, low-mistake profile you want from a quarterback stepping into the role for good, and one who was also the offense's leading rusher. The lone blemish, an interception at the ODU 20 with two minutes left in the half, set up Norfolk State's only touchdown drive and is worth flagging precisely because everything else on his ledger was clean.
PFF Grades
Henicleβs performance laid a strong foundation, earning a solid 73.0 overall PFF grade anchored by a sharp 71.6 on the ground and 63.6 through the air. While his passing grade leaves clear room for growth, the box score highlights his high efficiency and poise. When given time, he was lethal downfield; going a perfect 3-for-3 for 93 yards and a touchdown on deep shots. Even with Norfolk State converting two of four pressures into sacks, Henicle protected the ball well and executed the game plan with impressive discipline. He limited high-risk decisions, stayed on-schedule, and took full advantage of clean schemes, showing the potential to take even bigger leaps as his pocket comfort grows.
The two touchdown throws both went to TJ Johnson (11 yards, 14 yards), and the game's most important non-scoring play might have been Leon Haughton Jr.'s 38-yard grab on third-and-19 from the ODU 46, the kind of down-and-distance conversion that keeps a comfortable game comfortable. Devin Roche added 51 yards on 13 carries as the early-down complement to Henicle's designed and scrambled runs. Henicle's dual-threat production is even more impressive given that ODU ran a stripped-down playbook to keep its new Kody Cook offense under wraps against an FCS opponent.
A DEFENSE THAT TOOK THE BALL AWAY EARLY AND OFTEN
If the offense was efficient, the defense was disruptive. Three takeaways, three sacks, 11 tackles for loss, and only 220 total yards allowed against an NSU offense that scored 56 points in week 0. The signature play came on Norfolk State's opening drive: after the Spartans marched 93 yards in 11 plays, Zion Frink forced a Jalyn Daniels fumble at the one-yard line, and Brandon Crutchfield recovered it in the end zone. That's as close as a defense can come to a touchback that isn't a touchback, and it set the tone for the rest of the night. DeAndre Lynch posted a career-high 10 tackles, Koa Naotala added nine with two for loss, and Javen Gibson's 1.5 sacks included the strip that Jackson Forrest recovered to set up ODU's fourth touchdown.
PFF Grades
The pass rush backed up the box score. On true pass sets, the front generated pressure on 6 of 9 dropbacks, a 66.7% rate, and converted three of them into sacks. Jackson Forrest graded out highest of anyone up front at 92.5, winning on 5 of his 9 pass-rush snaps (55.6%) and adding a sack. Mario Thompson was right behind him at 76.3, pressuring the quarterback on 3 of 7 rushes and picking up half a sack. Javen Gibson logged the most total pressures with three, though on a much heavier workload of 17 pass-rush snaps, and turned his push into a team-high 1.5 sacks. Depth and finish, not just one standout, is the encouraging read here.
The secondary matched that effort. Lucas Struck graded out at 76.6 in coverage, playing 19 of the game's 20 pass snaps and allowing just 3 catches on 4 targets for 24 yards, with a forced incompletion and a pass breakup mixed in. Zion Frink, who also delivered the goal-line strip on Norfolk State's opening drive, was even tighter in man coverage: on 16 pass plays, he was targeted exactly once, and it fell incomplete, good for a 70.5 grade. Mario Easterly played all but one of Norfolk State's 28 pass snaps, gave up a single short completion of 6 yards on his lone target, and turned the other opportunity into an interception, the third and final takeaway in ODU's 3-turnover night, for a 65.5 grade. Three different levels of the secondary, three clean assignments.
BEYOND THE SCOREBOARD: A GENUINELY EFFICIENT OFFENSIVE DAY
This wasn't just a win built on turnovers and explosive plays, it held up on the ground-level numbers too. Old Dominion converted 5-of-9 on third down, a 55.6% clip, and won the first-down battle outright, 16 to 12. That's sustained-drive efficiency to go with the big plays, not a mirage propped up by a handful of chunk gains and a friendly turnover margin. The one number worth flagging is discipline: six penalties for 65 yards is more self-inflicted damage than a team wants to carry into a Power Four road environment, where officiating tends to tighten up and free yardage is harder to come by.
Which brings us to the bridge. Old Dominion is 1-0. So is Virginia Tech, but the Hokies' version of 1-0 came in a very different manner against their FCS counterpart.
ENTER VIRGINIA TECH: A 73-POINT STATEMENT AND A FAMILIAR FACE
Virginia Tech opened its James Franklin era by beating VMI 73-3, the program's highest point total since a 1995 win over Akron, with ten total touchdowns split six rushing, three passing, and one blocked punt returned for a score. PFF named the Hokies its top overall team for Week 1. The Franklin hire brought a full staff overhaul, including Ty Howle running the offense, and, in a move I still think is bizarre, Brent Pry now serves as Virginia Tech's defensive coordinator after previously being the Hokies' own head coach. Pry knows exactly what this ODU program is building, which cuts both ways: familiarity can breed a sharper game plan, but it can lead you to preparing for a style of play that isn't neccessarily guaranteed with the roster and staff changes ODU has seen themselves this offseason.
The obvious caveat on VT's 73-point outing is the opponent. VMI sits near the bottom of the FBS/FCS gap in efficiency ratings. SP+ ranks VMI 406th, behind 32 Division III teams, including the Commonwealth's own Randolph-Macon; and a blowout of that magnitude tells us more about roster talent disparity than it does about Virginia Tech's execution against a real defense. Old Dominion, for what it's worth, is rated as the second-lowest remaining opponent on Virginia Tech's full schedule by SP+, which should tell you something about the remaining schedule for Virginia Tech, and also exactly the kind of spot where a disciplined, opportunistic team can make its money back on defense and special teams.
PFF Grades
The concern here isn't noise, it's a clean sheet. Virginia Tech's top six pass protectors allowed a combined zero pressures on the day. Right tackle Aidan Lynch anchors the group at a 93.2 overall grade (92.4 run block, 78.6 pass block) on all 43 snaps, without surrendering a single pressure on 19 pass-block reps. Left tackle Justin Terry (78.4 overall, 82.5 pass block) and guard Layth Ghannam (67.9 overall, 81.5 pass block) were similarly spotless in protection, and both centers who saw time, Tommy Ricard and Kyle Altuner, graded 78+ in pass block without allowing pressure either. Against VMI, that's an easier bar to clear than it will be Saturday, but a line playing this clean gives Virginia Tech's quarterback a full structure to operate from, exactly what ODU's front seven, which forced pressure on two-thirds of true pass sets against Norfolk State, will need to disrupt.
One more number underscores just how lopsided that opener was: between the starter and backup, Virginia Tech's quarterbacks threw the ball 32 times against VMI and the Keydets only managed to produce one contested catch. That's about as clean a picture of the talent gap as a stat sheet can paint, receivers running wide open rather than winning tight-window throws, which means the clean pass-block grades above still need to be read with VMI's defensive talent level attached as an asterisk.
THREE KEYS FOR OLD DOMINION
1. Clean up the penalties. Six flags for 65 yards was survivable against Norfolk State because the offense was already converting at a high rate. Against a Virginia Tech defense now run by Brent Pry, who knows this program's tendencies, self-inflicted yardage on drives is a much more expensive habit. The third-down efficiency was there in Week 1; the discipline needs to match it.
2. Take care of Henicle's first road P4 start. Lane Stadium in September, under a first-year staff looking to validate a 73-point opener, is a different environment than a home opener honoring a fallen alum, a bowl game in Florida or a road trip to Arkansas State. If the ODU offensive line can hold up in protection, the same low-mistake efficiency from Week 1 travels. If not, havoc could lead the Hokies to a win and a 5-3 series lead.
3. Win the turnover and takeaway battle again. ODU forced three turnovers and allowed just 220 total yards against Norfolk State. That formula, disruption up front, opportunistic tackling, is the Monarchs' clearest path to staying inside a game against a talent gap. It's also the area where PFF's pressure and coverage grades will matter most heading into Saturday.
CLOSING THOUGHT
Old Dominion did what it needed to do in Week 1, and it did it in front of 21,944 fans while honoring a name that matters more than any statistic in this article. But the analytics underneath the final score, six penalties chief among them, point to the margin for error shrinking fast against the kind of test Virginia Tech will present on Saturday at noon on The CW.
ODU is a program that has beaten the Hokies before under different circumstances but they didn't do it by accident; it's a program that has to execute the fundamentals, create havoc and pounce on opportunities for four quarters to do it again.
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