Inside the Sun Belt · preview

It's homecoming for the Monarchs, and Marshall leads the series 10-1

Old Dominion has scored 10, 10, 15 and 0 points in its last four games. That is 35 points in a month, and one of those games was a win.

Saturday is homecoming at S.B. Ballard Stadium, and Marshall is the opponent. Old Dominion is 2-6 and 1-4 in the Sun Belt. Marshall is 4-3 and 1-2.

Attendance at Ballard has dropped at every home game this season: 21,944 for Norfolk State, 21,444 for East Carolina, 20,035 for James Madison and 17,912 for Georgia Southern.

Old Dominion's quarterbacks

Quinn Henicle played in six of Old Dominion's first seven games. Ryan Huff played in four. Both threw touchdown passes against Georgia Southern on October 15.

Neither played at Louisiana Tech last Saturday. Jaxon Potter made his first start of the season and went 18 of 34 for 154 yards with an interception in a 26-0 loss, and he was sacked six times. Old Dominion's game preview this week does not mention Henicle or Huff, and the school has not said whether either will be back.

Marshall

Marshall leads the series 10-1. It has won the last three meetings 41-35 in 2023, 42-35 at Ballard in 2024 and 48-24 in Huntington last season. The one opponent the two teams share this year is James Madison, which beat Old Dominion 46-20 at Ballard on September 26 and beat Marshall 45-17 in Harrisonburg a week later.

Marshall has three quarterbacks, and its coach says he plans to use all of them.

Carlos Del Rio-Wilson was the Sun Belt's preseason Offensive Player of the Year and started Marshall's first six games. He threw three interceptions on six attempts against Coastal Carolina on October 10, a game Marshall lost 27-21 after turning it over six times. He did not play against South Alabama.

Zion Turner started that game and went 21 of 33 for 181 yards with no turnovers. Khalil Wilkins finished it and ran for 69 yards. Marshall won 20-13.

"What we want to attack will dictate which quarterback is in the game," Tony Gibson said this week, according to WV MetroNews. "I'd say that it's a 95 percent chance that all of our quarterbacks will get snaps in the game."

What decides it

Whether Old Dominion can run the ball. In its win at App State, Old Dominion ran 61 times for 207 yards and held the ball for 38:50. Against James Madison it ran for minus 14, and at Louisiana Tech it ran for minus 13.

The ball. Marshall has turned it over 14 times in seven games and forced six turnovers. Old Dominion has turned it over 16 times and forced 12. Six of Marshall's giveaways came in one game, the loss to Coastal Carolina.

So what happens Saturday

Marshall has won the last three meetings. It last played on Tuesday, October 20, so it has had eleven days to get ready.

Old Dominion has scored 35 points in four games and has not said who its quarterback will be. Its one win in that stretch came by holding App State to three points.

We think Marshall wins.

Kickoff is 1pm Saturday at S.B. Ballard Stadium, on ESPN+.