ODU vs. Marshall Recap

By David Asbury

Monarch Kryptonite
The 4-1 Monarchs were having a great start to the season with CFP buzz, the favorites of the Sun Belt.  The 2-3 Herd were in a rebuilding year with lots of new faces all over the place.  It did not matter.  The Marshall Thundering Herd is Old Dominion's kryptonite and everything that could go wrong went wrong for the Monarchs.  They got thrashed, ran into a buzz saw, steamrolled, and other idioms that mean ODU lost by a lot.  The final score was MU 48, ODU 24.  The Monarchs drop their eighth straight game to Marshall and sport a rancid 1-10 all time record against them.  Rahne is 0-5 against the Herd.  This was by far the ugliest of the five losses.

So, why did this otherwise good team lose so badly?  Well, Rahne said it best at halftime, "uncharacteristic mistakes."  The Monarchs gave up five turnovers, three lost fumbles and two interceptions.  The punt return squad deserves extra attention after they lost two fumbles and had a costly offsides penalty which extended a Marshall drive.  Then there were also three turnovers on downs.  The card will say five turnovers, but if you include the turnovers-on-downs and costly offsides, it is more like nine turnovers.  When the other side is not giving up any turnovers, you will lose such a sloppy game every time.

Colton Joseph had one of his worst games of the season throwing two interceptions and completing only 15 for 28 attempts.  One interception was a pick-six by Boogie Trotter who I had previously warned was a ball hawk that leads the Sun Belt in interceptions.  Joseph would finish the day with 50 yards on the ground, 266 yards through the air and an impressive 9.5 yards per attempt.  He needs to keep his head up because bad days can happen and he is far from the biggest issue the team had.  As Rahne put it, "it is never just one guy" that causes a loss like this. 

The Herd had a good game plan for the strong Monarch offense.  It can be summed up in three words.  Stop. The. Run.  Early in the game, they often loaded the box and crashed hard to stop the run.  It is a risky strategy because it leaves corners one-on-one on the outside.  Joseph made them pay for that a few times throwing deep early and that led to the first-half 71-yard touchdown catch by Tre Brown.  He also made them pay for it with his legs when one man missed, letting him get passed the second level where he broke off a long 42-yard run.  But he also missed some receivers deep that could have changed the game.

But then when it came to the fourth down attempts OC Kevin Decker chose to run up the gut right into the Herd's run defense.  The Monarchs were 1-4 on fourth down attempts.  As stated earlier, this caused three turnovers on downs, two of which were in the Herd's red zone.  This game could have gone very differently had the Monarchs converted with a better play call or just kicked field goals instead.  When the game was out of reach, running back Maurki James would finally open up the run and gain 83 yards and a touchdown.  Joseph would also score a late rushing touchdown.  But it was too little too late.

The Marshall offense had a very good day.  With extended drives the Herd scored often.  Carlos Del Rio-Wilson had a good day throwing 219 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.  The pass rush could not get to him at all and he would have time to find his receiver in the Monarchs' soft zone coverage.  He often found his go-to wide receiver Demarcus Lacey who finished with eight catches, 121 yards, and a touchdown.  Del Rio-Wilson also torched on the Monarchs with his feet gaining 95 yards on the ground and two more touchdowns.  He looked like the better quarterback out there.  The only major highlight ODU defense was Seth Naotala's career-high 12 tackles.

The Monarchs defense would give up 445 total yards, the most given up since Indiana gained 503 yards in Week 1.  The Herd's offense was good, and I warned that they were the best offense ODU have seen since Indiana and that proved true.  However, the Monarchs' defense did make some key stops, those stops were just overturned by the sloppy punt return unit.  The defense did enough to win this game against a very good offense.  They just needed help and did not get it.

The Herd improve to 3-3 (1-1) and the hunt for bowl eligibility is still very much alive.  With teams like Coastal Carolina and Georgia State on their remaining schedule, I expect them to reach bowl eligibility.  Credit to the Herd, they had the better gameplan, executed better and avoided costly mistakes. They were the better team on Saturday.

For the Monarchs, this ugly loss will practically eliminate them from consideration for the College Football Playoffs.  No Sun Belt team can realistically make the playoffs with two losses.  It is a shame too, because Indiana's big win over Oregon would have made ODU's Week 1 loss look even better. 

While this loss is humbling, it can be a learning experience.  The season is only half over and there is a lot of football left to play.  The Monarchs can still compete in the SBC East.  In fact, a win against the Dukes next week would put them right back as conference contenders.  But there are other milestones within reach as well.  Winning two of the last six games would reach bowl eligibility.  Winning three of the last six would cement the first winning season since 2016.  4-2 (1-1) is still a pretty record right now.  The Monarchs need to keep their heads up and get ready to go 1-0 as they invade Harrisonburg next week.