#81 Old Dominion

Norfolk, VA

S. B. Ballard Stadium

September 27, 2025

Old Dominion 21 - Liberty 7 (ESPN Recap)

There was no rushing the field today. There wouldn’t have been a field had it been a natural grass field given how much rain came down the 4 hours before game and during the first three quarters of the game. 2nd wettest game for me.

After Torchy’s Tacos, Sebastian did yeoman’s work of driving the 3 hours from Charlottesville to Norfolk, almost all of it in rain like this.

It was raining intimidatingly hard and we were woefully underprepared for the elements. Sebastian had one pair of shoes on the trip and neither of us had any rain gear of any kind. Ponchos were sold out, but we were fortunate to pick up some sweet ODU rain slickers from the campus store that we sprinted to.

Considering the rain, the tailgate scene was pretty amazing. There were dozens of full tents with music and drinking and food. There were also corporate sponsor tents of BBQ and beers which hit us at the perfect time for pre-game dinner. It’s clear ODU is positioning itself to be considered for the next conference realignments if possible.

JuiceMan really led a nice rally cry before heading into the stadium:

It was raining so hard that on the way into the stadium 25 minutes before kickoff, the ticket takers were not taking tickets or scanning anything. They were just waving people into the stadium for free so that they didn't damage their phones scanning tickets. First ever FBS game where entry scan was not required!

I had bet ODU -16 earlier in the week which had come down to -14 with the total dropping from 58.5 to 54. I took more ODU at -14, and then instincts took control of my wet fingers and I bet a lot on the U54.0....Then the Q1 U10.5 and the 1H U27.5 as well. Football couldn’t be played in the conditions we were tailgating in and I have seen this movie before at the Notre Dame @ NC State hurricane game (10 fumbles, a blocked punt, fear of kicking, and 1 INT). As the game progressed, I live bet the U41, U35, U37.5, U37.5, U36.5, U38, U41, U39, and U41. I kept rhetorically asking Sebastian as I tapped buttons “how are 6 touchdowns going to be scored today?” Answer: only 4 were scored along with 7 turnovers (5 fumbles and 2 INTs). 0-0 end Q1 and 14-0 ODU at the half were pretty amazing scores.

The Liberty QB threw three passes into the ground, one pass directly to the wrong team, and had one nice throw all game that accounted for 53 of his 77 passing yards (on Liberty's only scoring drive). He finished with a QBR of 13.2 and was by far the worst QB I have seen live this season.

Old Dom absolutely dominated every aspect of the game, but struggled in the scoring points category with 0-4 in red zone trips including two fumbles inside the 5 yard line. I push and lost my ODU ATS bets, swept ALL the unders, and took an L on 2H ODU -7.5 as well. My take away is that ODU is a sneaky really good team and that their win against VT and tight loss to IU were not flukey. The game easily could have been ODU 41 – Liberty 10 in good weather.

There was a pretty funny 10-yard FG kicking contest for a fan.

The student section did a weird dance at one point.

The cheerleaders performed a total of 1 song, and ran out there waaaaaay too late into a media timeout, which left the players and refs waiting for them to finish their routine for about 20 seconds after the red digital clock had already hit zero and been pulled away.

We had a long drive back to Richmond before early morning flights out of RIC. Luckily, no rain on the return journey, though Sebastian did have to take two Delta flights back to El Paso with soaking wet sneakers…

Here are two lovely ODU fumbles inside their 5 yard line going in...smh.