BSD Staff Predictions: Old Dominion

The first game of the 2021 football season is just hours away! As always, we are going to try our best to predict the outcomes of games this season and see who has best record at the end of the season. The first team up is Old Dominion, playing in their first game in a very, very long time. I’m going to do my best to keep track of everyone’s overall record, record against the spread, and record on over/under.

Game Info

• Opponent: Old Dominion Monarchs
• Spread: Wake Forest -31.5
• Over/Under: 62

SF: Wake 31—ODU 7 | ODU +31.5 | Under

I’m going to say 31-7 Deacs. Deacs jump out a pretty dominating lead and don’t really let up except for one touchdown in garbage time.

Elijah: Wake 42—ODU 17 | ODU +31.5 | Under

Wake Forest opens their season on a Friday. ODU is an overmatched opponent so the Deacs should be in good position to get a lot of players in the game. Wake’s offense should be strong after returning their QB and about half of their rushing production (still slightly bummed about Walker).

Look for the Deacs to get started quickly and get a lot of younger players in the game to start the season strong. Wake Forest wins, 42-17.

Adam: Wake 48—ODU 10 | Wake -31.5 | Under

I may be over confident in this one, but that is just because I think Old Dominion is going to be completely outmatched in this game. The Monarchs haven’t played a football game since November 30th, 2019. Furthermore, in 2019, ODU was 1-11 with one win in the first game of the season over FCS Norfolk State—who they were losing to with 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter. They have not won a game against an FBS opponent since 2018. This is a program that is in a 100% rebuild literally from the ground up.

The offensive line should be able to open up some huge holes for the Wake Forest backs and give Sam Hartman plenty of time in the passing game to find open receivers. I don’t think Old Dominion will have anyone in the secondary that will be able to match the size and speed of Jaquarii Roberson, who caught 62 passes for over 900 yards in just 9 games last season. The Monarchs are going to have to cover him with multiple defenders, leaving the other receivers like Taylor Morin, who I think is poised for a breakout season, in one on one situations. Obviously, I like our chances in those matchups.

The spread in this game is 31.5 points, and I think Wake can probably get near that in just the first half alone. I think Wake Forest jumps out very quickly and takes a 31-3 lead into halftime. From there, the Deacs will work in some of the younger guys and make sure everyone gets some experience while coasting to a 48-10 win.

Cam: Wake 52— ODU 10 | Wake -31.5 | Push

Think they just blitz them to start the game and they can’t recover from there, walk ons give up a late TD move on to next week.

**Cam will have more details on his prediction in his gambling article.

Average: Wake 43—ODU 11 | Wake -31.5 | Under

Obviously we really like the Deacs in this game, which should be a fairly popular pick.