Resurgence no surprise to Monarchs
As surprising as Old Dominion’s unlikely entry into the postseason conversation might seem from the outside, those inside the program claim they saw it coming.
The Monarchs, who were 1-6 and left for dead just three weeks ago, sit two wins away from bowl eligibility as they visit Middle Tennessee State today for the regular season’s penultimate game.
Second-year coach Ricky Rahne, whose team sat out the 2020 season over COVID-19 concerns, spent more than an entire season watching this largely unknown entity work out against itself, unsure of what would happen once the games returned.
ODU (4-6, 3-3 Conference USA) has won three straight for the first time since 2017, giving credence to the system Rahne brought with him from Penn State.
“Not surprised with the evolution because I’ve seen us buy in to practice and I’ve seen us understand as a program how important fundamentals are — practice, game plan,” said Rahne, the Nittany Lions’ former offensive coordinator. “I think that’s the thing that I’ve been able to see over and over again. Watching an entire program embrace that usually shows you that you’re going to get some improvement throughout the year and start playing your best football as the season progresses because you keep getting better.”
The Monarchs have won in a variety of ways. They used a last-second field goal to earn a 23-20 victory over Louisiana Tech. They scored 17 fourth-quarter points in a 47-24 win at Florida International. Last week’s 30-16 triumph over Florida Atlantic included two safeties, a blocked PAT return and a two-point conversion, making for what Rahne called “the most unusual game” he’d ever attended.
Despite ODU’s most unusual season, its players say their confidence never wavered. Not after a season-opening 42-10 loss at Wake Forest, not after consecutive heartbreaking losses to Buffalo, Texas El Paso and Marshall and not after a 1-6 start.
The turnaround, the players believe, was inevitable.
“I’m honestly not very mindblown, to be honest,” said Nick Saldiveri, a sophomore who has started all 10 games at right offensive tackle. “Even when our season got canceled, I knew exactly the potential that we had. It’s just really nice to see it come to fruition and being able to reap those benefits now because we’ve been putting in the work for so long. I know where this team can go. It’s just promising to see it happening before my eyes.”
Senior safety Joe Joe Headen agreed.
“I wouldn’t say it was surprising at all, honestly,” Headen said. “I knew our team was a team full of fighters and that regardless of the ups and downs, we were still going to stay together.”
Bloomin’ punter
Perhaps no one on the team has shown more obvious improvement in recent weeks than punter Ethan Duane.
A native of Australia who had never played American football until his first punt at Wake Forest, with nearly 26,000 people and a TV audience looking on, Duane punted five times last week for an average of 43.4 yards, twice trapping FAU inside the 20.
This season, Duane has averaged 40 yards on 46 punts, including a long of 60 yards, and he’s placed 11 kicks inside the 20.
Rahne pointed out Duane’s relative inexperience.
“He’s been more consistent,” Rahne said. “His fundamentals have gotten better. What we’ve all got to remember is that first punt at Wake Forest was the first time he’d ever punted a football in a live football game, where people are actually going to hit him if something went wrong. Yeah, he’s done a nice job.”
No looking back
Even as much as they’ve turned things around, the Monarchs have had to resist the temptation to consider what might have been had they pulled out some of their close losses.
Had they reversed their fortunes against Buffalo, UTEP and Marshall, for example, they’d be 7-3, bowl-bound and in the hunt for a conference title.
But Rahne said his “1-0” mantra, which urges his players to win each workout, each meeting, each snap and each series, applies to hindsight as well.
“You can’t just live by it when you’re winning,” Rahne said. “It’s got to be all the time. You’ve got to let those things go. It’s even playto-play.”
Ali Jennings, a sophomore receiver who transferred from West Virginia, admitted that he has discussed the close losses with family members and teammates.
But then he remembers Rahne’s incantation.
“It’s just something that we can’t control anymore,” Jennings said. “We just focus on the things that we can control, which would be how we approach this week (against) Middle Tennessee, how we come into practice, how we go to meetings, how we recover ourselves, how we prepare for this game and then how we go play this weekend.”