NORFOLK — Any way it’s dissected, Saturday presents a rare opportunity for Old Dominion.
Not only are the Monarchs getting their second shot of the season against a Power Four football program; they don’t even have to leave the Commonwealth to do it.
ODU (1-1) travels to Blacksburg to take on hobbling Virginia Tech (0-2), with a chance to upset the Hokies for the third time in seven seasons.
Even with the hodgepodge of nonconference games played this season throughout the Sun Belt, the Monarchs’ visit to Blacksburg is one of just three scheduled in-state SBC games against Power Four schools.
“Having an opportunity to play an in-state school like this is something that I do not take lightly,” sixth-year Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne said. “Not everybody in our league gets this.”
Arkansas’ 56-14 home win over Arkansas State on Sept. 6 was the first, and Coastal Carolina plays at South Carolina on Nov. 22.
In between, the spotlight falls on ODU, which defeated the Hokies in 2018 and ’22.
The Monarchs are 2-4 in the series, with both wins coming in Norfolk. ODU is a seven-point underdog this time around.
Virginia Tech has fallen to Vanderbilt and South Carolina. The Hokies weren’t entirely competitive in either game, especially late.
ODU fell at No. 20 Indiana and won 54-6 over North Carolina Central last week.
Junior linebacker Jahleel Culbreath, a former star for Ocean Lakes High in Virginia Beach, was on the field for the Monarchs’ 20-17 stunner over Tech in 2022.
It’s not something he and his fellow upperclassmen have forgotten.
“We take that into consideration, more or less,” Culbreath said. “We take it as people don’t believe in us, when we’ve done it before. So we’re going to go in there with that fire and that motivation to show people that we can do it again, and over and over and over again.”
Any repeat performance will have to come in one of the game’s most notorious environments.
To prepare for Lane Stadium’s deafening cacophony, Rahne has, as he is wont to do for such games, pumped in artificial crowd noise and marching band music during practice to simulate the atmosphere.
Tech’s “Enter Sandman” entrance, Rahne pointed out, provides the soundtrack for EA Sports’ College Football 2026 video-game trailer.
“Lane Stadium is one of the hallowed grounds in college football,” Rahne said. “The entrance is on the commercial. So guess what: That’s probably saying something.”
ODU offensive tackle Stephon Dubose-Bourne has heard it. Now a right tackle, Dubose-Bourne made his college debut as a guard at Lane.
The Monarchs were flagged for a false start during the first series.
“I couldn’t hear anything,” Dubose-Bourne, a product of Indian River High in Chesapeake, said. “All I heard was the crowd noise.”
The series is part of what was originally a 13-game, staggered home-and-home agreement, which was amended in July to include only three games at Tech through 2030.
Virginia Tech cancels 4 football games against ODU
Rahne and tenuously situated fourth-year Hokies coach Brent Pry are old pals, having coached together on the staffs at Vanderbilt and Penn State.
But given the six games in the series since 2017, the two haven’t chatted much about how Saturday might go.
“Rick and I, we’ve said multiple times it’d be nice if we weren’t playing each other, where we could talk a lot more about our teams and our process and the way we do things,” Pry said. “With the way we’ve played each other pretty consistently, it hasn’t allowed us to do that.”
By Sunday, the Monarchs will have gone from Power Four opponent to FCS school back to the Power Four.
Tech, possibly, will have a better idea of where its program is heading.
None of that ultimately matters to Rahne, whose concern is facing whatever team lines up across the ball.
“We go into every game with the attitude that if we play up to our expectation and up to our potential, that we can win the game,” Rahne said. “I wouldn’t bring these players here if I didn’t think that they could help Old Dominion beat Virginia Tech.”
David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.
Old Dominion (1-1) at Virginia Tech (0-2), 7 p.m. Saturday
Old Dominion quarterback Colton Joseph (1) makes a throw downfield. Old Dominion faced North Carolina Central at S.B. Ballard Stadium in Norfolk, Virginia, on Sept. 6, 2025. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot)
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The Monarchs: Thanks largely to a pair of disparate opponents, ODU remains inherently enigmatic. The Monarchs, as they should have, easily handled FCS program North Carolina Central last week after challenging ranked Indiana on the road to open the season. QB Colton Joseph (353 passing yards, three TDs, three INTs) is a proven dual threat, having rushed for scores of 75 and 78 yards.
The Hokies: Trending in the wrong direction, Tech might be as vulnerable as it has been in the six previous games between the teams since 2017. In losses to South Carolina and Vanderbilt, the Hokies struggled to maintain their effort in all three phases. QB Kyron Drones has completed half of his passes for 355 yards and a TD, but he’s thrown two picks. Tech is averaging just 15.5 points per game.
