Appalachian State (3-1, 0-0 Sun Belt) vs Old Dominion (1-4, 0-2 Sun Belt)

Saturday, October 10th, 2026 1:00pm EST

TV/Video: ESPN+

Radio: FLAGSHIP 97.3 FM (North Wilkesboro), 730 AM & 97.5 FM (Charlotte), 950 AM & 92.7 FM (Greensboro), 980 AM & 96.7 FM (Winston-Salem), 107.7 FM & 1450 AM (Hendersonville), 93.7 FM & 790 AM (Johnson City, TN) 87.7 FM (In-Stadium)

Kidd Brewer Stadium

Capacity: 30,000

Surface: Astroturf

Jeff Sagarin Ratings

App State: 62.39

Old Dominion: 54.29

Home: 4.23

App State is favored by the Sagarin ratings by 12.33 points

VegasInsider Consensus: App State -9.5

Series: App State leads 4-2

Last Meeting: ODU 24, App State 21, October 25, 2025, Norfolk, VA

The Mountaineers have found themselves in a precarious situation during their bye week. Even after losing a tough game in which they trailed by several scores but fought back, they had to witness their next opponent get throttled before they made the visit to Boone. The battle here is for Coach Loggains to keep his team focused on the task at hand and try to erase the memory of what his team may have seen. Every game is a new game and brings different circumstances. Remember, both teams are starting without points. Even with a successful September behind them, the battle for the season starts over for the next eight weeks. Prior to the start of the season, the thought was that App State’s most difficult games were on the road in 2026. Now that we have results, perhaps the focus has shifted, and some of the toughest games for the Mountaineers will be at home. But this team cannot think about those games yet. The most important game is right in front of them this Saturday. You cannot beat the other seven teams remaining on the schedule this week, but your focus on them could cause issues. The focus is solely on Old Dominion, and we owe them one.

Old Dominion was dealt a brutal schedule by the Sun Belt to open the season, and their non-conference schedule didn’t help them much either. It was rather unusual for App State to have such an early bye week, splitting the conference and non-conference slate. Old Dominion is wishing for a bye week that will not arrive until November, when it might be too late to save their season. Now, don’t get me wrong, it feels like football just started and we are already at the point of talking about a lost season for some teams across the country. Old Dominion started their season with a 31-10 win over Norfolk State, but have lost four straight since. They were pummeled by Virginia Tech, and then fell just short at home to East Carolina the week after the Mountaineers beat the Pirates. The Monarchs then drew blanks on the turn and the river, with ugly losses to James Madison (not surprising) and Georgia State (that Georgia State?). James Madison remains as advertised, but Georgia State is the surprise team in the Sun Belt through last weekend. The schedule doesn’t get easier as the Monarchs are back on the road in Boone this weekend, before hosting Georgia Southern at home next Thursday night.

Since Old Dominion has played five games against teams with varying talent levels, it’s time to jump into some team statistics. The numbers jump off the bottom of the page. Now, I will give Old Dominion some credit in that they have played some tougher teams, such as East Carolina and Virginia Tech who have the resources to recruit talented players, and James Madison which has been very consistent since their move to FBS. Georgia State appears to have made significant strides as well. That does not excuse Old Dominion from having the worst offense in terms of total yards in the country. Yes, dead last, 138th in the country at 258 yards per game. Teams that have better offensive numbers than Old Dominion include every team in FBS. The Monarchs have managed 19.8 points per game, buoyed by their 31 points they scored against Norfolk State. In FBS games only, that number falls to 17 points per game, which would be better than six teams. Part of these issues revert back to their running game, which is shuffling along at less than three yards per carry as a team, and just 105 yards per game. Quarterback Quinn Henicle was the team’s leading rusher before missing a game to injury vs James Madison. Devin Roche is a dynamic player at running back, but is also averaging a career low 4.3 yards per carry. Most of these issues stem from an offensive line that is getting no push.

With the aforementioned bye week occurring so early in the season, the Mountaineers took some time off last week, with their fall break lining up somewhat with the rest of their classmates. App State looked to focus on their ground game after a tough showing in the first four games. They ran around Maine, but the last three games, the sledding was exceptionally difficult. The Mountaineers gained just 62 yards on twenty two carries, and were forced to abandon the ground game after falling behind 21-0 to NC State. But App State was not done, and they roared back to win the middle eight minutes, the four minutes before halftime, and right after halftime, to energize the visiting crowd and draw to a 28-17 deficit. After the Pack added a field goal, the Mountaineers scored once, and then used an onside kick recovery to tie the game at 31. NC State was back to doing NC State stuff. But the Wolfpack went back to their own ground game to ice the clock and score the games final ten points. Once again, the passing game was elite. Malachi Singleton threw for 317 yards and two touchdowns, and most importantly no interceptions. Singleton is still completing 72% of his passes which is an absurd number. You have to admire the fight for 60 minutes. Hopefully that pays dividends in the near future.

Sometimes the projections of games feel too good to be true. These ideas don’t just come down to records and a few cherry picked statistics that prove your case. We can only second guess results for a certain period of time before we clearly have to trust what we see and call it for what it is. If the way a team is playing right now, or in the past is an indicator, it looks like Old Dominion could have a season where they bottom out. I believe it comes down to the fact that the Monarchs are between quarterbacks. That doesn’t mean they will find one this year. I think they are between Colton Joseph, who is now starting at Wisconsin, and whoever the next guy is. That guy might not be on the roster. Quinn Henicle is clearly not fully healthy, and anymore in college football, you don’t have great talent on your roster that are backups. If they are good enough, at whatever age or class, they play. Old Dominion played three quarterbacks last week. Jaxon Potter is a transfer from Washington State who played in three games last year. Ryan Huff played in place of Henicle against James Madison, and completed just 50% of his passes and was gobbled up in the backfield several times. Huff is also a redshirt freshman who was played in favor of an upperclassman with more experience in college football, but not necessarily within the Old Dominion program. Last week against Georgia State, was the first time Old Dominion had played with the lead since their opening game. It didn’t last long, and the Panthers ran it right at them, and threw over the Monarch’s heads. They could not get in the way. As bad as the offensive line is, their secondary might be worse. It has been a long time since any Georgia State squad has thrown the ball at will on their opponents. Panther quarterback Cam Brown set a school record with six touchdown passes in the game. That day added to the seven touchdown passes that Old Dominion had already allowed, and slots them as the second-worst team in the country in that metric. Only Marshall has allowed more touchdown passes on the short season. Georgia State, James Madison and App State are top 20 teams in terms of allowing sacks, which just exposes that Monarch secondary further. I believe the Mountaineers can win comfortably but Old Dominion has nowhere to go but up. They might able to scrap together a gameplan that keeps the game within reach longer than the Homecoming crowd would like.

The First Pick

Commonwealthers 20

Mountaineers 31