When the Monarchs (0-2) are visited Saturday by Virginia Tech, they might have to dip into their depth chart.

Grant Wilson, a junior who has started ODU’s first two games, spent the seconds immediately following last week’s 20-14 loss to East Carolina doubled over in pain while appearing to hold his left wrist.

Wilson was hurt on the game’s final play, a scramble up the middle that cost ODU the final seconds.

Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne, who rarely discusses specific injuries, wouldn’t say Monday whether Wilson would be available.

“He’s going to continue to be evaluated,” Rahne said. “Whoever gives us the best chance to win the game is going to be the starter. That’s how it is at every single position we have.”

If Wilson can’t go, the job would likely fall to Colton Joseph, a redshirt freshman who is second on the depth chart but has never played a college snap.

Senior receiver Diante Vines, a transfer from Iowa who caught six passes for 64 yards against ECU, described Joseph as mobile and accurate.

“He likes to run around,” Vines said. “He’s a fast dude, a little Johnny Manziel-esque sometimes when he tries to run out of the pocket and throw a nice little ball. Colton’s a great quarterback. If he’s out there, I know he’ll handle business how it’s supposed to be.”

In 12 games last season, including 11 starts, Wilson passed for 2,149 yards and 17 touchdowns with eight interceptions. So far this season, he has completed 42 of 72 passes for 389 yards, two touchdowns and three picks.

Wilson could join All-American linebacker Jason Henderson, who did not play last week, on the shelf. Rahne said Henderson’s status had not changed.

Speaking generally, Rahne said it’s the responsibility of him and his staff to make sure players are ready before they return from an injury.

Rahne said he avoids discussing injuries because it can endanger players if opponents are aware of a sore spot.

“If you’ve ever been at the bottom of a football pile, you know why I was so guarded on injuries,” he said.

Vines said it doesn’t matter who starts behind center.

“I’m confident in all our quarterbacks,” he said. “Those guys put in the work all the time. We catch balls from them all the time, too, so I’m confident in how we’ll jell in the field. Whoever’s out there, I know he’ll be able to make some plays for us.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

Chesapeake, Suffolk, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampton have installed speed cameras in local school and work zones to deter speeding and enhance overall public safety.

Though law enforcement leaders tout the equipment as a safety measure to deter speeding, the cameras can also be significant moneymakers — with Chesapeake and Suffolk already raking in millions.

Chesapeake has a dozen cameras that have been active since 2022. The city reports a total of 158,075 violations since then, along with about $9.7 million in revenue.

Another 10 cameras in Suffolk went active in fall 2023 along with one at a work zone. Since then, the city reports roughly 196,000 citations, collecting $14.2 million in revenue. After paying the vendor, net revenue is $10.5 million. Suffolk did not specify whether the citation and revenue figures provided to The Virginian-Pilot were specific to school and work zone speed cameras only. The city also operates red light and school bus cameras.

Both cities previously said net revenue would go toward highway safety improvements and personnel costs.

The school zone speed cameras in Chesapeake and Suffolk are targeted in two lawsuits brought by former Del. Tim Anderson, an attorney who alleges the cities are improperly issuing speeding violations and allowing third party vendors to impersonate local government when collecting fees.

Anderson’s case in Suffolk is awaiting an order from a judge on whether it will move forward. A hearing in the Chesapeake case is scheduled for Sept. 18.

The Virginia General Assembly approved legislation in 2020 that allows state and local police to set up speed cameras at highway work sites and school crossing zones. Under that law, only motorists caught going at least 10 mph over the speed limit are ticketed up to $100.

Hampton is in the process of rolling out a dozen cameras in school zones this fall as part of a pilot program with staggered warning periods.

A 30-day warning period began Aug. 26 for cameras located near Bethel High School, Hampton High School and Hunter B. Andrews Pre-K. A 30-day grace period will begin for cameras at Jones Magnet Middle School, Kecoughtan High School, Lindsay Middle School and Machen Elementary School by Sept. 30. And cameras at another set of schools — Mary W. Jackson Elementary School, Thomas Eaton Middle School, Aberdeen Elementary School, Barron Elementary School and William Mason Cooper Elementary — will have a 30-day grace period beginning no later than Oct. 15.

Hampton city officials said about $3.5 million would be budgeted for the school zone speed camera pilot program.

Norfolk has 19 cameras in place across 10 public school locations. A 60-day warning period was slated to end in May, but a city spokesperson said last week that the cameras are still in an active warning period “until summons language can be resolved with the general district court and our vendor, Verra Mobility.”

Part of Anderson’s complaint in his lawsuits was that officers weren’t issuing an official Virginia summons document consistent with other traffic infractions when making the speeding citations.

Portsmouth has 16 cameras, and police began fining drivers in December. The city reports 28,289 citations and $951,061 of revenue collected between January and June. Of the total revenue, $565,042 will be paid to the third-party vendor.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the latest citations and revenue figures from the city of Portsmouth. The city provided the figures after the article published.

Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com

Almost six years later, the project has a new planned development partner and a much smaller scope. Gone is the enormous tower, replaced by plans for a modest five-story, 200-room hotel and minimum spending of at least $300 million, according to a new development agreement City Council members will vote on Tuesday.

Even so, Mayor Kenny Alexander said he believes the Pamunkey’s new partner Boyd Gaming has the track record and legitimacy to follow through on development, including financing the project to the tune of more than $500 million.

“We’re very confident in Boyd’s ability to exceed our expectations, and more importantly, be a great corporate citizen,” Alexander said.

Here’s how the proposals for the casino have changed over the years.

___

Current plans call for scaled-back project

Design teams presented the current casino plans, backed by Boyd, to the Norfolk Architectural Review Board in August. They include:

• A 200-room, five-story hotel tower
• An at-least 935-space parking garage
• An outdoor pool and bar
• Restaurants, including a food hall with four or five restaurants; a sports bar and a steakhouse
• A fitness center and spa

Absent from the latest plans and the agreements is a marina on the Elizabeth River, which was shown in previous renderings.

However, the agreements would require casino developers to pay for part of two significant waterfront projects — up to $7.5 million for the southern portion of the downtown Norfolk seawall project and up to $562,000 to maintain the portion of the Elizabeth River Trail near the property.

The city documents reveal Boyd, a major Nevada gaming company with 28 properties in 10 states, is set to become the new majority owner of Golden Eagle Consulting, the company created by Yarbrough that oversees development. Under the new agreement, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe also would possess a 20% equity interest in the company.

It’s unclear from the documents whether Yarbrough would have a role in the new agreement. Alexander also didn’t know.

“I’ve never met him,” Alexander said about the billionaire backer. “I’ve never had a conversation with him on a telephone. I’ve never met him.”

Also removed from renderings is the name Golden Eagle previously used for the development: HeadWaters Casino and Resort.

___

Significantly smaller than 2019 plan

The latest plans are smaller in scale than what was presented to the City Council in September 2019, about a year before Norfolk voters passed a referendum authorizing the casino. Those plans included:

• A $700 million price tag
• 500 four-diamond hotel rooms
• 3,500-4,500 slot machines and 100-225 table games
• A 750-seat entertainment venue and a spa
• 3-5 restaurants
• Roughly 6,500 parking spaces

Some city officials, including former City Manager Chip Filer, were skeptical of the tribe’s initial investment figures. In a December 2019 economic analysis, the city predicted the developers would only spend $375 million on the project. As recently as 2023, however, tribe officials said investment in the development would top $500 million and include at least 300 hotel rooms.

___

Agreement includes minimum standards

The new development agreement, like the old agreement, comes with minimum standards that must be met. It requires a minimum investment of $300 million. Other minimum standards detailed in an option-to-purchase agreement include:

• A casino floor with at least 750 electronic gaming machines and 25 table games
• At least 150 hotel rooms, with a lobby bar, retail store and coffee shop
• Several food and beverage venues including a food hall, a sports bar and grill, and a fine dining restaurant and lounge
• A 500-seat “intimate showroom”
• A parking garage with at least 103 spots for Amtrak customers
• An outdoor function space
• A spa and fitness center

A 2019 agreement by the developer and Norfolk also includes similar minimum figures, such as 750 gaming machines, 25 tables and 150 hotel rooms.

___

Timeline and construction phasing

One of the biggest hangups with the project has been the phasing of planned construction. An initial plan would have housed a temporary casino inside Harbor Park baseball stadium while the permanent structure was built. But that was scrapped after the city ran into statutory issues with using the location.

Developers later pitched a phased construction plan that built the casino first followed by the hotel and resort. But city leaders made clear they did not support the two-phase approach, and the design was pulled from review.

Alexander said, unlike the past proposals that included temporary gaming, he is confident Boyd can deliver on the whole project in a single phase.

Norfolk voters approved the casino construction in a 2020 referendum, which came with a five-year deadline. To meet that deadline for obtaining a state gaming license, Boyd plans to build a temporary casino at the site while construction for the permanent casino commences. The temporary casino would open in late 2025 and the permanent space in late 2027, according to a project timeline.

Norfolk City Council members will vote on the option-to-purchase agreement, development agreement and construction and use covenant Tuesday.

Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com

A successful two-minute drill would result in a win. An unsuccessful one would lead to another near-miss.

For a second straight Saturday, the Monarchs couldn’t pull it off.

Rahjai Harris rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns, and East Carolina’s defense made sure ODU ran out of time in a 20-14 non-conference win at sold-out S.B. Ballard Stadium.

The Monarchs (0-2), trailing by the final margin with no timeouts, failed to put together a go-ahead, 90-yard drive in the final 1:53.

ODU found itself facing a similar situation during last week’s 23-19 loss at South Carolina. That time, a Grant Wilson pass was tipped into the arms of a defender.

“We’ve got to get better on offense at two-minute drill,” Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne said. “We’ve done pretty well at it at times. We’ve done pretty well at it in practice at times.”

This one petered out unceremoniously. As the final seconds ticked away, Wilson scrambled to the ECU 35-yard line. The offense failed to line up in time for one more play.

The Pirates (2-0) held a 466-292 edge in yards of total offense and won despite turning the ball over four times.

ECU quarterback Jake Garcia passed for 283 yards, but his four picks helped keep the hosts in the game.

The Monarchs (0-2) lost for the third straight time, going back to last season’s Famous Toastery Bowl. It was ODU’s 14th one-score game in 16 contests.

Aaron Young rushed for 83 yards and a score for the Monarchs, who punted on nine occasions and committed 10 penalties for 95 yards — many of them at the worst possible time.

A 72-yard scoring punt return by ODU’s Isiah Paige was nullified by a pair of penalties with 3:57 to play. It could’ve given the Monarchs the elusive lead.

Instead, down 20-14, ODU got the ball back on its own 26 and went nowhere. Wilson was sacked on third-and-long, and the Pirates failed to run out the clock.

“Obviously, that’s frustrating,” linebacker Koa Naotala said, referring to the penalties. “But as a team, we can’t rely on penalties giving us yards or taking away yards from us.”

Wilson completed 20 of 34 passes for 192 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He was sacked three times.

Andrew Conrad’s 50-yard field goal gave ECU a 20-14 lead with 9:09 left in the game.

Young’s 1-yard touchdown run pulled the Monarchs to within 17-14 with 4:11 to go in the third quarter. It completed a 13-play, 75-yard drive that consumed nearly five minutes.

Down by a point, the Pirates scored 11 in a minute-and-a-half.

Conrad’s 33-yard field goal gave ECU a 17-7 lead with 9:07 left in the third quarter.

It came after Harris broke free around the left side for a 63-yard touchdown run that gave ECU, after a successful two-point conversion, a 14-7 lead with 10:42 left in the third quarter. The Monarchs fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, which led to the field goal.

In a first half that was unsightly by any measure, the teams combined for 11 penalties and four turnovers. ECU outgained the Monarchs 278-128 in total yards.

The Pirates, who trailed 7-6 at halftime, had a chance to take a lead before the horn. Out of timeouts with just more than a minute to go, they quickly marched to the ODU 6. But with five seconds left, they failed to come set before a snap, and the remaining time was run off.

Wilson hit Kelby Williams on a crossing pattern for a 44-yard touchdown, giving ODU a 7-6 lead with 9:24 left in the first half. The score was set up by Jahron Manning’s 45-yard interception return.

Harris capped ECU’s opening possession with a 22-yard touchdown run to give the Pirates a 6-0 lead just more than three minutes into the game. The run, which preceded a missed PAT, finished off a 10-play, 80-yard drive.

Early in the game, thanks to a strong gust of wind, the top of the left upright in the stadium’s north end zone got caught in the netting behind it, bending the upright outward. The Monarchs’ lone PAT of the half, by Ethan Sanchez, was therefore kicked at the field’s south end after they scored going northward.

A cherry picker was brought out as ODU’s band marched at halftime, and the crowd roared when a worker untangled the mess.

Old Dominion played without All-American linebacker Jason Henderson because of an undisclosed injury. Henderson, a senior, led the nation in tackles per game last season.

Asked about Henderson, Rahne said, “We’ll continue to evaluate.”

Rahne, a former Cornell quarterback, understood Wilson’s thinking in the final seconds to a point.

“With no timeouts — and this is really hard for a quarterback — but you can’t scramble there,” Rahne said. “You’ve got to throw that one away, spike it, do whatever you’re going to do. And that’s a really difficult thing. You see that same problem happen in the NFL. You see it happen everywhere. I’ve watched 12-year NFL quarterbacks make the same mistake.”

The offense in general could be better, Young said.

“Our details are just a slight bit off,” he said. “Once we correct that, I think we’re going to like the results we get.”

Things don’t get any easier for the Monarchs, who will be visited by Virginia Tech next week. First, though, they’ll nurse the wounds left by another one that got away.

“One of the key stats, I knew, was going to be field position,” Rahne said. “When you take the ball away four times, you’re going to have an opportunity to have good field position. And we didn’t take advantage of it. That’s unfortunate, to say the least.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

She was 19 in March 2022 when she auditioned for “Les Misérables” and flew to New York City to sing for casting directors without any intention of trying out for a lead. 

“But I was told that I ‘looked like Fantine’ that day, whatever that means,” Dortch said, in an interview.” They asked me if I knew ‘I Dreamed a Dream.’ “

Yes, she said. She knew “I Dreamed a Dream” — one of the most recognizable theater songs of all time, sung by one of the genre’s most coveted characters — and knew it well. She sang, nailed it, started rehearsals that August. She was on the road by October.  

Dortch, the 22-year-old former musical theater major, plays Fantine in the national Broadway tour of “Les Misérables,” which opens Tuesday at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk and runs through Sunday.

Based on Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel set during the French Revolution, the show tells the fictional story of Jean Valjean, a convict on the run after breaking parole. In his new life, as a factory owner and mayor, he agrees to be the guardian of a young girl after her mother, Fantine, dies. Fantine — portrayed by Anne Hathaway in the 2012 film adaptation — is a young woman who has been forced into prostitution after backstabbers get her fired from her job at the factory.

“She’s resilient, very persistent, and she loves her child more than anything,” Dortch said.

“And she has the best song in the show — but,” she added, “I might be biased.”

Fantine sings “I Dreamed a Dream” in the first act. Even after two years and more than 650 performances, Dortch sings it as heart-wrenchingly as possible every time she’s on stage.

“It’s so true that each show is someone’s first experience with theater or somebody’s first experience with ‘Les Miz,’ and I can remember those exact first moments for myself,” she said, about formative experiences watching theater, “and how much they inspired me and meant for me, and especially as a person of color too — what that can mean for young artists of color who are coming to see the shows.”

Colin Warren-Hicks, 919-818-8138, colin.warrenhicks@virginiamedia.com

___

If you go

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Blvd., Norfolk

Tickets: Start at $40

Details: sevenvenues.com

Latorya Credit and her parents and siblings all log in to ESPN+ in the Houston area and watch the games separately, communicating via an eight-person group text that includes her son, Monarchs wide receiver Kelby Williams, in real time.

“Did you see that?” one might write to another.

“How did that slip through your fingers?” one might say to Williams, or “What was your coach thinking?”

Williams doesn’t see the texts until after each game, but the virtual gathering is an anecdotal testament to the power of technology. It’s also partially indicative of the immense value of ODU’s two years as a member of the Sun Belt Conference.

The Monarchs’ football “media value” — a figure calculated by the conference to determine what it would cost to acquire the exposure teams receive by playing on ESPN platforms — went from $46.1 million in 2022 to $52.2 million last year.

To be clear, that’s not money the school receives; it’s money it doesn’t have to pay in exchange for that national footprint.

Additionally, 104 ODU games across all sports aired on ESPN platforms last year, part of the New Orleans-based Sun Belt’s ongoing deal with the network.

It’s a benefit that trickles down to recruiting in every sport, from football to field hockey and men’s and women’s soccer.

College athletes want to play on TV. Fans want to watch them play. Parents around the world, who often wield substantial influence over where their children go to college, really want to watch them play.

Williams had offers from Tulsa, Rice and Ball State, none of which could offer his mother, a former high school track and basketball athlete, a chance to easily see him play every week.

“For him to go to ODU, which is two plane rides away, it’s a big deal for us to stay connected with him,” said Credit, a math coach at an elementary school. “That way, he doesn’t feel like he’s alone, like he’s just there all by himself and his family is not able to see him. Because that was a big deal for Kelby selecting ODU, was that we would be able to at least watch him on television.”

Williams chose the Monarchs when he left Trinity Valley Junior College after the 2022 season.

“It means a lot to be able to have television time,” Williams said. “It kind of makes me feel like a celebrity, one of those people that I watched growing up.”

Men’s soccer games at ODU now trigger a similar scene in Wayne, New Jersey, where freshman midfielder and defender Jett Aktan’s family members gather around their respective TVs.

“They’ll be back home watching the team and me, supporting us from states away,” Aktan said.

“The Sun Belt’s great. ESPN+ is a great way for people around the country to watch.”

But it’s not just athletes’ families watching. According to the conference, a league-record 35.17 million viewers saw Sun Belt football games on TV last season, up from 29.82 million the year before.

It’s a far cry from when the Monarchs were in Conference USA, a vast league that spanned into West Texas and had no such deal with ESPN.

On top of that, the Sun Belt is successful on the fields. It’s one of the country’s best men’s and women’s soccer conferences, and sent a nation-leading 12 of its 14 football teams to bowl games last season.

It’s not lost on coaches when they recruit. In football, ODU competes on the field and in homes with so-called “Power Four” programs from the country’s major conferences.

The Sun Belt is considered a “Group of Five” league, with fewer advantages than programs from the ACC, the SEC and the Big Ten.

The disparities between the two levels can be striking. According to the latest data from Sportico, which tracks college sports finances, the University of Virginia generated nearly $141 million in total revenue in 2022-23. Virginia Tech generated nearly $130 million. Both play in the ACC, one of the country’s elite conferences.

ODU’s overall revenue came in at just under $51 million, far below that of the $160 million generated by South Carolina, the Monarchs’ season-opening football opponent. The Gamecocks play in the SEC, widely considered the nation’s top football league.

ODU fell 23-19 at South Carolina on Aug. 31 in a game that went down to the final seconds.

“It’s probably one of the first points that comes out of my mouth to these kids,” the football team’s offensive coordinator, Kevin Decker, said. “I say, ‘We play in the Sun Belt, and it’s the best (Group of) Five conference in the country.’ ”

The Sun Belt, which emphasizes regional rivalries, added ODU, James Madison, Southern Miss and Marshall to its then 10-team football membership in 2022. Conference USA, meanwhile, was bleeding members.

The fit, it turns out, was perfect.

“I think the move for ODU from Conference USA to the Sun Belt Conference could not have been any better timed than it was,” Monarchs athletic director Wood Selig said. “And it has been an absolute blessing for our athletic department and our entire university to become a Sun Belt Conference member institution, and I say that for a lot of reasons.”

Selig listed Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill, whom he called “an incredible leader,” as first among his reasons. Another is that the member schools, Selig said, are leaders academically in their states.

“And then you get the obvious ones,” Selig continued. “Gosh, geography: It’s better for our fans to travel to away games. It’s better for our student-athletes with less missed class time. It’s better on the budget.”

For men’s soccer coach Tennant McVea, whose team plays in one of the two toughest soccer conferences in the country, having games on TV is a selling point to potential players.

McVea’s roster includes players from all over the world and the country, like Aktan, who had only seen the Monarchs play on TV when he committed.

“Hey, get online,” McVea, a native of Northern Ireland, said he tells recruits. “You can see us live. Get online this weekend, 7 o’clock. We’re going to be on TV. Have a watch of the game. I want to know what you think about it on Saturday. So definitely a useful tool.”

Women’s soccer coach Angie Hind, a native of Scotland whose team has won three straight conference titles, has a roster that includes players from seven countries and various states around the U.S.

Not just having games on TV, but having them professionally produced, is helpful, she said.

“The first thing a European player will say is, ‘Where can I watch you play?’ ” Hind said. “And now with the technology that we have all over the world, they can tune in live. They can do that. They can get the opportunity to see us, and I think it’s huge.”

When ODU was in Conference USA, it had football games carried by Stadium, ASN, ESPN+, ESPN3, CBS Sports Network, Fox Sports Network, MASN and CUSA.tv.

Now, other than occasional games broadcast to NFL Network’s 51.5 million homes, all ODU football games are on ESPN platforms. From 2014-21, the Monarchs didn’t play a single home game on an ESPN linear network.

The Monarchs will have had three games on ESPN2 in three years, including a Thursday night home game against Georgia Southern on Oct. 24.

Head football coach Ricky Rahne said part of the Sun Belt’s appeal is its layout.

Trips to places like JMU in Harrisonburg; Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina; and Coastal Carolina in Conway, South Carolina, simply make more sense while giving athletes “a little bit more of a traditional college experience, if you want to be honest, as opposed to really what’s going on across the country,” Rahne said.

There are also more personal benefits. Like Williams, his mom can see his games with little effort.

“She knows exactly where to find it,” Rahne said. “And it’s not hard for her to find, as opposed to before, where maybe she would call me and say, ‘I can’t find where to find it this week,’ and all that sort of stuff. I think that’s been great.”

Selig agreed.

“Forget what it means with the monetary or even the eyeballs; it’s just so much easier to find,” he said. “And fans are super creatures of habit. And if they’re in the habit of going to ESPN to look for and find you, they’ll continue that, and they’ll continue to find you. If you make them work hard and search and have to dig — Where is ODU playing? How can I get them? — they’re going to give up.”

Having games available on ESPN can be a fine introduction to an otherwise foreign program. High school athletes, or even those looking to change colleges, can catch a glimpse of what they might be getting into.

“They want to see something,” Hind said. “They want to be convinced before they come on campus. And just being able to see that has made a big difference.”

It certainly made a difference in Houston, where Williams wanted his family to be able to keep an eye on him every Saturday.

His mother accompanied Williams on his visit to ODU and helped persuade him to commit.

Credit plans to attend the Monarchs’ Sept. 14 game against Virginia Tech. Otherwise, it’s TV and group texts for her and her family.

That’s fine with her son.

“Now I’m one of those people that my little cousin and them watch, and they think I’m a superstar every time they turn on the TV and see me,” Williams said. “Yeah, it just means a lot to be able to have ESPN record our games and have us out there on television.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

Both blamed themselves.

The interception, which came with ODU down four points with 1:29 left to play, sealed the Gamecocks’ 23-19 season-opening win.

Minutes later, Wilson was sitting at a table in the bowels of Williams-Brice Stadium, telling the media how he planned to identify his mistakes “so they won’t happen again.”

It’s the kind of accountability Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne likes to see from his players. And he’s starting to see it more often as the team prepares to play host to East Carolina at 6 p.m. Saturday in ODU’s home opener.

“Both guys took responsibility for it,” Rahne said of the late pick in Columbia, Wilson’s second of the game. “Myles was like, ‘I’ve got to catch it,’ and Grant was like, ‘I’ve got to make a better throw.’ I think that that was something that says a lot about the character of those guys. They’re both putting that on them, and they both think that they should’ve done it.”

Back in Ballard… it’s GAME WEEK

: East Carolina
: 6pm ET
: ESPN+
: Norfolk, VA#ReignOn | #RFG pic.twitter.com/5Tfaoy4d7k

— ODU Football (@ODUFootball) September 2, 2024

Senior receiver Isiah Paige caught eight passes for a career-high 115 yards at South Carolina, including a juke-filled 72-yard touchdown reception that landed him on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

The play already had received hundreds of thousands of views on social media by the time the team plane landed in Norfolk.

But Paige, a Richmond native, had no idea. He was consumed with something else as the plane’s descent began.

“I really didn’t look at my phone,” Paige said. “I was kind of disappointed in some of the plays I didn’t make. It’s a good feeling now, though. But the plays I didn’t make kind of overwhelmed me in the moment.”

The Monarchs surrendered five sacks Saturday, which recalled a consistent problem from last season.

The issue, Rahne said, wasn’t schematic; rather, it was a lack of technique in terms of standing too upright when blocking. That, too, was to be addressed this week.

When Rahne sat down to face the press after Saturday’s game, the first thing out of his mouth was that he and his players had expected to win the game. That’s despite the major disparities between ODU’s Sun Belt Conference and the Gamecocks’ vaunted Southeastern Conference.

The expectations — and the accountability — led to a set of postgame emotions that Rahne found important to distinguish.

“I think our guys have owned their mistakes,” Rahne said.

“No one was sad,” he said. “Guys have their jaws set, and they’re ready to go and prove that we can play better as a team and that they’re ready to go out there and earn the right to win this one. That was one thing that I noticed very quickly, is guys weren’t hanging their heads. You could see anger and determination in their face, but I wouldn’t say there was necessarily sadness.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com.

East Carolina (1-0) at Old Dominion (0-1)

When: 6 p.m.

On the air: ESPN+, 94.1FM

The Pirates: ECU, on the heels of a dismal 2-10 season, opened with a 42-3 home win over FCS school Norfolk State. But all was not pretty for the Pirates. They won handily despite throwing three interceptions and losing three of four fumbles, something ODU’s coaching staff has identified as a potential weakness. QB Jake Garcia, a transfer from Missouri who won the job in mid-August, passed for 308 yards and four TDs against the Spartans. Ten players caught passes from Garcia last week.

The Monarchs: ODU surprised many around the nation last week when, as a 21-point underdog, it took South Carolina down to the wire in a 23-19 road loss. But the Monarchs, with nearly half their roster comprised of new faces, didn’t surprise themselves. They thought the Gamecocks were beatable, and they nearly pulled it off. QB Grant Wilson, ODU’s first returning starter at the position in a decade, showed his experience by generally managing the game well in a hostile environment. He showed some aggressiveness when he tried to force a couple of passes that ended up in the wrong hands.