Taking place as part of the Week 2 college football slate, the Old Dominion Monarchs will face off with the Virginia Tech Hokies. Both of these teams enter coming off a victory in their opening matchup, but this will be a leap in competition for each side compared to their first game.
Looking at the odds, Virginia Tech enters as an 18.5-point favorite and holds -1100 odds to win outright on DraftKings Sportsbook. Old Dominion holds +700 odds to pull off the upset, with the game total set at 48.5 points.
This article previews both teams and offers a pick for the Week 2 matchup.
Old Dominion Monarchs vs. Virginia Tech Hokies
Old Dominion Monarchs:
The Old Dominion Monarchs took down Norfolk State in a 31-10 win in their season opener. ODU leaped out to a 17-0 lead and held control from that point on. The Monarchs out-gained the Spartans 319-220, despite turning the ball over twice and losing the time of possession battle. Quarterback Quinn Henicle completed nine of his 12 pass attempts for 143 passing yards and two touchdowns in addition to his 68 rushing yards and two scores on the ground. Rushing production was a major strength put on display as the Monarchs rallied 176 total yards on the ground.
There is also plenty of reason for belief in the Old Dominion defense. The opening-week showing, including three turnovers forced, is worth noting, but this has been an area of significant improvement in recent seasons. The Monarchs are coming off a 10-3 season last year, which included upsetting this Virginia Tech team 45-26 almost one year to the date. A good portion of this unit returned, headlined by leading tackler Mario Easterly, Zion Frank at the CB position, and a few impactful pass rushers.
Ricky Rahne remains in place as head coach, entering his sixth season with the program. Rahne has had a difficult challenge to rebuild this roster with no offensive starter from last year’s starting offense returning. Devin Roche was the most notable returning player, who tallied 630 yards on the ground and five touchdowns as part of the running back rotation. But the early returns have been impressive for this team as they have leaned on similar principles for what brought them this level of success last year. There is some area for improvement, as last year’s Monarchs’ squad ranked 130th in the country in turnovers, and they lost more fumbles than any other program in the country. The pair of turnovers in the opening week were not the best sign for progress being made in this category.
Virginia Tech Hokies:
The James Franklin era at Virginia Tech got off to a commanding start, defeating the VMI Keydets 73-3. This was the first look at the program under the new head coach, and the Hokies were clicking on all cylinders just about right from the opening kickoff. Virginia Tech generated 619 yards of total offense, and they limited VMI to 83 total yards, including -4 rushing yards on the game. Virginia Tech understandably kept their foot on the gas in front of the home fan base as excitement begins to be injected back into the program following last season’s disaster. But the reality is there is not a ton to take away from this matchup given the quality of competition. VMI is coming off back-to-back 1-11 seasons while playing at a much lower quality of competition, and operate under the same recruiting restrictions as Army, Navy, and Air Force.
With that said, you can only beat who is in front of you, and Virginia Tech did exactly this. Ethan Grunkemeyer impressed under center, completing 17 of his 20 pass attempts for 224 passing yards and two touchdowns. Bryce Baker also spent time in the matchup, recording 10 completions on 12 pass attempts for 127 yards and a touchdown of his own. But the Hokies dominated at the line of scrimmage and paved wide-open rushing lanes for their running backs to feast. Virginia Tech rushed for 268 total yards and six touchdowns, with eight different players receiving chances across the blowout.
Franklin made quick work of rebuilding the program, and some of the same principles he leaned on at Penn State are becoming evident already. He brought in a top=25 caliber class through the portal, including four Penn State transfers on the defensive line. Several starters remained on this Virginia Tech roster, including all four spots in the secondary. The true tests that Virginia Tech will be graded on are still coming, but you can’t ask for much more than what was seen in the season opener.
Old Dominion vs. Virginia Tech Prediction:
While there was never any real doubt about the outlook in the Virginia Tech game, there are still some areas for the Hokies to clean up. They lost two fumbles and racked up 11 penalties during the blowout win. Old Dominion plays with an attitude and will not be afraid of this Virginia Tech team. While their level of competition was not very high, the Monarchs had one of the better defenses in the county last season, holding teams to 18.5 points per game.
But this feels like the proper half-step for James Franklin and Virginia Tech as they attempt to climb into a higher tier of college football conversation. There was a level of staleness that came across Franklin’s 12 years at Penn State. It is difficult to argue with his 104-45 record with the program and consistently being ranked within the top 10. But expectations are lofty for the Nittany Lions, and he could not quite reach these.
In a similar way, frustrations had grown in the town of Blacksburg surrounding Virginia Tech’s outlook. It has been since 2016 that the program tallied double-digit wins in a season, and since 2021 that they last appeared in the AP rankings for any stretch of time. An under-discussed storyline has been Franklin’s decision to bring on previously fired head coach Brent Pry. While this required some swallowed pride, the former head coach’s voice matters considering some of last year’s core remains intact. It felt like both Franklin and the Virginia Tech program were eager for the type of spark that occurred from them joining forces. If Franklin can elevate the Hokies to the level he did in his previous stop, he will hear nothing but praise.
Looking at this matchup specifically, expect Virginia Tech to once again have the advantage in winning in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Not quite to the extent they did last week, but the Hokies should be capable of bullying Old Dominion in the trenches and paving the way for plenty of production in the rushing attack. The best path for Virginia Tech to maximize their offensive output is by establishing the run early and this opening up some deeper passes as the game continues.
It will not be as seamless of a pathway as occurred last week. But Virginia Tech is the better football team, and expect this to be put fully on display throughout this matchup. Franklin has fair critiques about his ability to win big games. But he has consistently been dominant in beating up on inferior competition, and this is a trait I expect to follow him down south. Before the back-to-back losses as 20+ point favorites that led to Franklin’s firing last season, he was 16-0-1 in games that Penn State was favored by between seven and 24 points, as well as 19-4-1 when favored by over a touchdown overall. Expect Old Dominion to put up a fight in the early portions of this matchup and for Virginia Tech to gradually pull away and cover the 18.5-point spread as the buzz begins to grow surrounding this Hokies team.
