NORFOLK, Va. — Plenty was made about how Old Dominion would handle a short week with the chance to take first place in the Sun Belt East division on the line against Georgia Southern.
The Monarchs proving early they would be up for the challenge.
Colton Joseph put together the best performance of his young college career as the silver and blue rolled by the Eagles 47-19. It's the largest margin of victory for ODU since October 15, 2022 when it posted a 49-21 victory at Coastal Carolina.
"I was just proud of the guys and how they just continue to respond and battle," said head coach Ricky Rahne. "Everybody stayed in the game the entire time."
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Hosting a Thursday night football game for the first time in school history, Joseph shined under the bright lights. The redshirt freshman quarterback passed for 304 yards and four touchdowns, while running for 69 yards and accounting for another score on the ground.
"It's obviously a great experience, but at the end of the day it's just football," he said. "Just got to go down to our plays. Can't think about who's watching, just got to think about the play in front of you."
"He threw the ball with more accuracy today. 20-of-26, pretty darn good right there," Rahne said. "I thought he threw the ball with much more conviction today."
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Joseph becomes ODU's first 300 yard passer since Hayden Wolff's 308 yards against Appalachian State in November of 2022.
On its second drive of the game, ODU started the scoring when Joseph hit Devon Roche for a eight-yard jump pass touchdown. That would kick off a run of three straight scoring possessions for the Monarchs, one ending in a Demariyon Houston 23-yard touchdown catch and the other with a Pat Conroy 56-yard pitch, catch and run for a score.
Leading 20-0 in the second quarter, the Monarchs had its only slip up of the first half when Josh Dallas sprung free on a screen pass for the Eagles and went 59 yards for a touchdown.
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Rahne's group would respond with two more scoring drives. Ethan Sanchez connected on a 29-yard field goal with 3:40 left in the first half to make it 23-7, then Joseph led ODU on a quick five play drive capped off with a seven-yard scoring connection with Houston to make it 30-7 going into the locker rooms.
Will Jones II picked things up right where they left off in the third quarter, intercepting JC French just two snaps into the second half and setting ODU up in Eagle territory. Six plays later, Aaron Young bowled over multiple defenders to score his first touchdown since the Bowling Green game. He would lead the home squad with 14 rushes and 77 yards.
"We knew we had a good team coming in here and that it was going to be a four quarter battle," Jones II said. "We took that into halftime, came out and knew we were going to have to punch back and fight."
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"(Georgia Southern) was able to make a miraculous comeback before on another team in our conference," Rahne said. The Eagles pulled off a 20-point comeback over Marshall just 11 days prior to Thursday night's game. "For our team to come back and get the interception to start the second half and go down and score, I thought that was a big moment in the game."
On their next offensive drive, Joseph would take a final bow when he kept an option read and took it the distance for a 30-yard touchdown. Since being reinserted back into the Monarch's lineup in the second half of the Bowling Green game in September, he's accounted for 14 total touchdowns and helped guide the silver and blue to four wins in their last five games.
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"It's been a big change, big turnaround but I'm here for it," Joseph said. "I'm excited to keep rolling and keep going on. Can't soak on it too much, just got to go 1-0."
"He's been playing very, very well. When there's not something there, Colton has the innate ability to make something happen," Rahne said. "I'm very proud of how he's playing."
With the win, ODU gets to 4-4 on the season and grab its first three-game winning streak since 2021. At 3-1 in the Sun Belt, the Monarchs take the lead atop the Sun Belt East division with just four games left to go.
They can strengthen that lead on November 2 with a trip to Appalachian State.
