NORFOLK — It wasn’t the longest, the prettiest or the most difficult of his career, but Colton Joseph’s quick pop-up pass to Ke’Travion Hargrove in the second quarter Saturday might’ve been his most telling.

Joseph, Old Dominion’s protean quarterback, took a shotgun snap, half-faked two steps’ worth of a draw play, hopped up and tossed a short pass over the middle.

Hargrove, a senior running back, caught the ball on ODU’s 32-yard line and sprinted unmolested for a touchdown that covered 80 yards.

The seemingly simple play was part of an offensive avalanche in a 47-7 Sun Belt Conference win over Coastal Carolina. And it epitomized what has made Joseph so dangerous.

A sophomore from Newport Beach, California, Joseph leads all FBS rushers with 8.33 yards per carry. He’s fifth in the nation with 15 yards per completion, a combination that has helped point the Monarchs (4-1, 1-0 Sun Belt) toward national relevance.

What made the quick scoring pass to Hargrove appear so effortless wasn’t Joseph’s sell of the run; his acting job was hardly reminiscent of Sir John Gielgud’s Hamlet.

Rather, it was the simple threat that he might actually do it.

“If he’s not a big runner, that play probably doesn’t get off the ground,” ODU coach Ricky Rahne said.

“He’s playing very well, and he is very talented, not only with his arm, but with his legs. The ability for him to run has opened up some of the passing game.”

Joseph, who made eight starts last season before re-earning the job in fall camp, has completed 81 of 124 passes for 1,215 yards, 12 touchdowns and four interceptions.

He’s rushed 52 times for 433 yards and five scores, averaging 86.6 rushing yards per game.

For the Monarchs’ veteran offensive line, which has melded from five pennies into one nickel, Joseph is a running, breathing Plan B.

With wheels in the backfield, a missed block on a called pass is hardly the end of the world.

“It’s definitely a nice resource to have back there,” said seventh-year center Ryan Joyce.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Joseph, often known as “Cowboy Colt” to his teammates, isn’t likely to earn Olympic gold as a sprinter.

Instead, it’s his instincts that routinely take him through defensive lines and past linebackers, leaving cornerbacks and safeties diving at his heels and wondering how it happened.

Rahne, a former record-setting passer for Cornell, can hardly relate. Starting the run? No problem. Getting away is an entirely different proposition.

Joseph runs like a fugitive with warrants on “Cops.”

“If I was playing quarterback for us, I could get to those same places that Colton was getting to,” Rahne said. “And then I’d get tackled for a 5-yard gain. There’s the difference, is his ability to make people miss.”

It’s also his ability to keep people honest.

ODU defensive end Kris Trinidad has seen all the ways Joseph tests a defense’s moxie when facing him in practice.

“He’s a hard guy to defend,” Trinidad said. “It’s a very difficult thing to deal with.”

Later in the Coastal game, Joseph reiterated why defenses can’t cheat back a step and expect him to pass.

His 50-yard touchdown run through the middle gave the Monarchs a 40-0 lead early in the third quarter and cleared out most of what was left of the announced crowd of 20,895.

Joseph, who is as quick to share credit as he is to tuck and run, praised the team’s defense after it allowed just 189 total yards and 12 first downs.

“When they’re doing their thing and getting the ball back, it definitely helps our offense just keep moving and playing our game,” Joseph said.

The Monarchs enter this weekend’s visit to Marshall ranked 46th in ESPN’s College Football Power Index, a simulation-based metric that gives them a 20.4% chance of reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time.

Rahne mentioned the growing cohesiveness of ODU’s offensive line and the collective savvy of his offensive staff as reasons Joseph, using all of his available skills, can make things look so easy.

Hamlet doesn’t have to be played by Gielgud as long as it’s believable.

“That’s what coaching is,” Rahne said. “You want to make the plays as simple for your guys and as complicated to defend for (opponents) as possible. That’s what a good football play is, or what a good defense is: something that’s simple for your guys, can allow them to play fast, allow them to play physical and violent, but is very difficult for the other team.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

https://www.dailypress.com/2025/10/06/simple-pass-play-shows-myriad-facets-of-odus-offense/