NORFOLK — True to form, Ricky Rahne lamented the plays his team failed to make Saturday while appreciating with silent satisfaction the ones it did.

If, underneath it all, Rahne wasn’t at least quietly ecstatic, then it’s possible that the Old Dominion coach — publicly, at least — couldn’t be pleased with a pleasing machine.

Colton Joseph passed for 257 yards and three touchdowns, and the Monarchs used a downright pyrotechnic third quarter to cruise to a thorough 54-6 nonconference win over North Carolina Central in their home opener at S.B. Ballard Stadium.

ODU (1-1) opened the home portion of its season with a victory for the fourth time in five tries since Rahne took over the program before the COVID-canceled 2020 season.

N.C. Central (1-2), a Football Championship Subdivision program that plays in the MEAC with Norfolk State, received $315,000 in guaranteed money from ODU to make the trip to Norfolk.

The Monarchs, behind an explosive offense and an unrelenting defense, made sure to get their money’s worth.

ODU scored 28 consecutive points in the third quarter, which started with the Monarchs leading 16-3 and ended with them ahead 44-6.

It wasn’t enough to get Rahne, a former offensive coordinator at Penn State, to cop to any level of giddiness — even after the most lopsided victory the program has enjoyed since a 77-14 drudging of Virginia Military Institute in 2018.

“There were still plays in the third quarter I was angry with,” Rahne said. “There were plays in the first half I was excited about. I was happy with the way we were executing and the way we were playing. I was more happy with how resilient we were being.”

ODU routinely bounced back from what are often crippling penalties. Poor field position on both sides of the ball proved to be no major hurdle for the Monarchs, who had 24 first downs to N.C. Central’s 14.

Trequan Jones carried five times for 163 yards for ODU, including touchdown runs of 39 and 93 yards, as well as an inconsequential 14-yard score early in the fourth quarter to help account for the final margin.

Two of Jones’ touchdowns began as seemingly innocuous RPO (run-pass option) carries through the interior.

“(Joseph) makes great reads, and the O-line just does their job,” Jones, a junior, said. “That’s it. There’s nothing crazy to it.”

The Monarchs, who had four touchdown drives of at least 62 yards, outgained N.C. Central 545 yards to 224 in total offense.

Joseph’s 34-yard scoring pass on fourth down put the Monarchs ahead 44-3 with 2:24 remaining in the third quarter, and many in the announced crowd of 18,111 — already sparse to the naked eye — began descending the stadium’s stairs.

Joseph’s 2-yard touchdown run around the right end put ODU ahead 37-3 with 5:19 left in the third quarter.

Joseph found a wide-open Ja’Cory Thomas on a bootleg right for a 4-yard touchdown pass that gave ODU a 30-3 lead midway through the third quarter.

Jones scored on a program-record 93-yard touchdown run — right through the gut of the defense — to put the Monarchs ahead 23-3 less than four minutes into the third quarter.

ODU took a 16-0 lead with 2:30 left before halftime on Joseph’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding. The score followed Jerome Carter’s first career interception.

Old Dominion receiver Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding (7) shucks a tackle attempt from North Carolina Central defender Malcolm Reed (2) for a touchdown in the second quarter. Old Dominion faced North Carolina Central at S.B. Ballard Stadium in Norfolk, Virginia, on Sept. 6, 2025. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot)

From there, the Eagles managed just a pair of Kaleb Robison field goals, amounting to slingshots discharged skyward at a bomber.

The lack of end-zone trips by the visitors was not lost on the Monarchs.

“We harped on it all week,” Carter said. “That’s what we want to do every game. So it was pretty good. That’s all we wanted to do.”

Joseph, a sophomore who retained the starting job in fall camp, completed 19 of 24 passes. Rahne, whose “1-0” mantra is applied one play at a time, said he could think of only one poor decision Joseph made all night.

True contentment for Rahne after any game remains elusive.

“It’s not that I’m not satisfied,” he said. “I think some people with the whole 1-0 mentality don’t understand that. I’m still judging us on that play, and then there’s a moment where I shut it off and I move to the next one. It’s not like I ignore that play the whole time. You have to still evaluate that play and move on to the next one.”

ODU, a Group of Six program, will swap roles with N.C. Central on Sept. 13, receiving $400,000 in guaranteed money to play at Virginia Tech, a Power Four school.

The taste of Saturday’s blowout win, the Monarchs hope, could linger.

“It definitely helps the spirits in the room,” Joseph said.

“No matter what happens, you’ve just got to go into every week with a new mindset.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

https://www.dailypress.com/2025/09/06/huge-second-half-lifts-odu-to-win-in-home-opener-2/