This is Russ with the Thunder Cast, and you are listening to the Monarchists.
Ricky Rahne:podcast
Mike:Hey, Monarch Nation, it's your boy Mike for the Monarchs. We are back with a game recap for the Marshall Game and a preview for the Oyster Bowl against jmu. I am joined as always by Aaron and Gary, but this week we have a special guest, ODU, football alum, Jude Brennia. Uh, he played from 13 to 16. Fantastic career. 42 games. Lot of tackles, Jude, thank you so much for joining us tonight. We're excited to be able to talk to about this Marshall game and preview. The Jamie game was someone who actually played the. And can maybe dissect the defense and the offense a little bit differently than we can. So welcome to the show.
Jude Brenya:Thank you for having me. Glad to be here.
Mike:All right, fellas. So before we get to the game, there was a lot of positive stuff that happened on campus this week. we were lucky enough to play in the OU Baseball golf tournament on Friday. It was a fantastic event, Beautiful weather. and we actually got to go watch the baseball team, play in their fall ball on Friday night. Got to see a home run from one of the Wheeler brothers. A great environment there od field hockey. They make it to the championship. They fall short. But, they've had a great season so far when in the regular season conference championship and making it to the finals, hopefully they can get in at large. hearing the odds are not that great, but hopefully they make. O Women's soccer wins the, their the first Sunbelt championship for ODU in women's soccer today, beating GMU in overtime and I think the men's team is playing right now. But overall, pretty good weekend for ODU minus what happened on that football field yesterday. So, welcome everybody. What do you guys wanna talk about first?
Gary:First a shout out to Dex Blank for absolutely carrying our golf team in the tournament on Friday. I think we probably used 98% of his shots, so thank you Dex. I also saw him a ton at football on Saturday. Then out at Field Hockey again today. three of us were there at Field Hockey this evening. Over at l r Hill, Stan were packed. Lot of other sports teams were there as well. I know we saw Fred Chao and the volleyball team, and they're coming off their sweep of Georgia State over the weekend. I'm pretty sure I saw some women's cross players. I know tennis was there, baseball guys, football guys were looking in from the LR Hill building. So great atmosphere over there at LR Hill tonight. fortunately came up a little bit short, gave up an early goal kind of on a turnover, but great season for them and hopefully they can somehow sneak into the tournament.
Aaron:Yeah, Gary, we saw Dom, of course Finney was over there from baseball. But I am a little disappointed. I mean, I know D's played awesome, but I think I contributed one putt and for you to not mention that one putt, I'm kind of hurt.
Gary:Well, I did want to tell all your stories, you know, with your club head malfunction on the first tee box either, but yes, you, you had some clutch butts for us and, Mike had a couple of very, very nice shots. I did absolutely nothing in the golf for the team.
Aaron:Well, I will say I had concern and I expressed it to you guys that I hadn't golfed in seven years and I didn't know if dry rot of golf clubs was a thing, but apparently it is because on that first tee, the club had on my three wood, made it to the ladies' tees and my ball made it maybe 10 or 15 yards further than that. So that was, that was an eventful way to start that tournament off.
Mike:That glue just did not wanna work anymore. It just gave up. It says, This guy's not using me. I'm just, I'm quitting this. But it was a great, swing for how far that went. You clearly had some speed on that, that, that swing there.
Aaron:I do, I do appreciate that. And, there was one other cool event this weekend, before the football game at 9:00 AM over by the Mitch Nancy Lieberman unveiling of her statue and Nancy Lieberman pass there on 43rd Street. So that's pretty sweet. Kind of a nice opening to the, the weekend and men's and women's basketball kicking off their regular season tomorrow, tomorrow night at chart way. Almost said the Ted. That's just really natural.
Mike:It's the Ted.
Aaron:Okay. tomorrow night. That's right. Chartway is not sponsoring us. So yeah, tomorrow night at the Ted men's basketball opens up and the women open up on the road at Florida Gulf Coast. So I know we'll be streaming that game while we're watching the men at the Ted.
Mike:That's a tough place to go play. Florida Gulf Coast was like 30 and three last year. They're a really good tone. That's a tough way to start the season. But we are all here to talk about football. Uh, ODU hosted Marshall, we had another fantastic tailgate. we hosted Dick Hollerer and his family. His son is on the Marshall team right now, I believe is number 55. plays guard. Great family was awesome to meet them and hang out with them. And Harry brought it with those peppers off the grill. Those were fantastic. But then the, the game happened and ODU can't get anything going on. Offense. We lose 12 to nothing. No one gets in the end zone, but it doesn't matter cause we don't put up anything. upon a positive in this may be the best defensive performance od football has ever had in a game. They were on the field practically the whole game. They gave up no touchdowns. They kept putting our offensive in position to win. so shout out to Siler and those, that de defensive unit, that was fantastic. But offensively we got some stuff to talk about.
Aaron:Hey, while we were at that tailgate, if you guys had told me that we would give up 12 points on defense, I would've bet a lot of Gary's money. Cuz I don't bet mine, cuz I don't do well. I'd have bet a lot of Gary's money saying we'd have won that game. It was impressive performance by the defense. yeah.
Gary:You almost have to look at this game in two different pieces. You have the offensive side and the. Of side, and it was such a night and day difference. Seemed like everything we were doing on the defensive side was working. We were in the right position where blitzing at the right time, coverage was get great guys making huge plays, really all over the field. Then on the offensive side, it was the exact opposite. We were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at 'em from a passing perspective and just, just nothing was working. but Jude, I'd love to hit your perspective on, on the defense, how they played and what you saw out there on the.
Jude Brenya:so as a former defensive end myself and defensive player, I think that defense definitely did an amazing job this game. you know, that best thing a defense can do is to shout out by the next best thing is to not let a touchdown And, d. Defense was able to, to do that and kept putting the offense in, good situations to get a comeback. And unfortunately we were not able to do that on offense. But definitely big shout out to the defense. They, they kept us in the game and they kept fighting, regardless of what the offense was doing. But, back then when I was playing, it was always do your job, it does not matter what offense is doing. Defense, we still gotta go out there and, uh, still play defense. And I think this defense, did that this.
Gary:I felt like the defense was always. Kind of behind the sticks in terms of where they started with field position. I mean, we have the four turnovers. Marshall has a very favorable field, in a lot of those, and they, they didn't care the penalty to extend a drive. Okay. We're gonna cause a turnover on the next play. Really a, a gutty effort from a defense that I know at this point in the season is very banged up. I imagine that everyone on the field is dealing with some sort of injury. So to put out that performance, to be on the field as much as they were, I think it was over 38 minutes that they were on the field. Really just an impressive and, and gutty job by the defense. have to give a shout out to Ethan. Dwayne, eight punts average, 42.9 yards pinned. Marshall inside the 24 times had two 50 plus yard punts. He was a, a big weapon for us. And when we were able to set the stage for field position, he did an awesome job pinning him in. I know he had one that went down there at the one in the south end zone, and I think the referees were even confused that it didn't bounce in, just to, it was much better than my sand. We shots from the, golf tournament on Friday. I'll say that.
Aaron:I'm just thankful his foot didn't go flying off like my club head because we really needed him in this.
Jude Brenya:Oh yeah, definitely that punter was on point this game and, shout out to him cuz he, he did put, the defensive goods start, field position with, with the punts and most of the time within the 25 yard line. So that, that, that was good on him.
Mike:Oh, and we blocked the kick again. So shout to special teams.
Jude Brenya:Yeah, that kind of looks like it's becoming, the defense, uh, is kind of special to, you know, blocking, field goals and, uh, extra points and stuff like that. So yeah, shout out to them.
Mike:I think we should be, I haven't looked, but I would assume we're close to the top in the country right now for block on field. Aaron, maybe you can check that out on your fancy computer for us. All right, defensively, gotta give a shout out to Trey Hawkins and Tobias Harris. Tobias should have had an interception that was called off because of a pi. He also tips one to Trey Hawkins in the end zone, which ends a great drive for Marshall, gets the ball back in the offensive bands. so shout to him and Sean Asbury had his own, interception. We forced turnovers. We didn't let them score. they couldn't pass on us at all. Some of that was camp's accuracy, but our defense played well in the passing game. we bend on the run now, but we didn't break at all this game. So fantastic effort by the defense. But this offense guys, I'm not sure where to start with this offense.
Gary:Yeah, I mean, we really haven't played well on the offensive side of the ball since Coastal Carolina when we really had everything working in that game. The run game was going past game was wide open, just looked like a completely different team. we tried a lot of different and unique things on the offensive side of the ball. Saturday you can't say the. We weren't trying to get creative. dj Matt caught a pass and ball gets punched out and he turns it over, but you've got a quarterback throwing to your backup quarterback. we were putting guys in motion trying to create some leverage with motion plays and handoffs and kind of quick passes on the swings off of that motion. I think we even stole a play that Georgia State ran last week where we snapped the ball in the entire offensive line. Was moving to the left, had Hayden Wolf in motion hits Javonne Harvey for a pass. It actually goes for several yards. He gets the ball ripped out from, So it's almost like anytime we kind of got a little bit of momentum on offense, there was a turnover there or a penalty or something that set us back. we just couldn't do much on offense. the running game was not there early. And we, we didn't really go back to it. I think Blake Watson only had 10 carries. offensive line I think was what I was most concerned about going into that game, given the number of injuries we have there. Couple guys were game time decisions. I thought they were very strong in pass blocking throughout the whole game. They did a good job of keeping Hayden clean and keeping that pass rush off of them. there were a couple coverage sacks that were later in the game, but run blocking there. There was nothing. I had a very unique view of this game being in the south end zone, in the upper level in one of those suites. I've never sat up there before. but you can really see the lanes and things starting to develop and what's on the field. You get a really clear picture, and there's just nothing there. there, there's no run lanes open. There's nowhere for Blake to go. He made some, so a couple plays just based on him moving and kind of getting through the line. But we have problems passing, running. It was kind of a nightmare on the offensive side of the ball.
Aaron:the first play of the game kind of felt like a preview to the rest of the game with regards to offense. He had a play there that could have gone potentially for a touchdown, if not for a lot of yards. And it was just a little off from where I was seated. I couldn't really tell if the pass was off or if Ali was just, you know, he's nicked up. So I dunno if he just didn't have quite the get up that he normally would. But that one was there and we just weren't able to capitalize on it, and it never felt like we really could get anything going.
Mike:The timing in the passing office just did not seem to be there yesterday at all. either throwing behind receivers or throwing in front of receivers. It just, they weren't on the same page, and I'm not sure how to really describe it. Other than that, they just didn't seem to be on the same page at all.
Aaron:In a game where only 12 points are scored, it doesn't take many plays to make a big difference and. I know that Coach Ronnie will never talk about this, and I know that we try not to with regards to officiating, but there were a couple really bad calls or non calls on past interference, committed on our receivers that would've gone for significant gains and might have been enough to spark us a little bit there. but just kind of really hamper drives. yeah, it just never got going at.
Jude Brenya:I mean, uh, so with the officiating crew, there were certain calls where, they didn't call and there were certain calls where were very questionable. But one thing that really stood out to me was, the head ref whenever he was calling a, a penalty against, uh, you know, Marshall, he will confuse Marshall with ODU and, you know, will be like penalty deals on ODU rather than Marshall. Which kind of made me kind of question whether Evan, if the officiating crew had their, their head in the game and I'm not sure if they did, cuz I think he did that three times and maybe the first time you might be like, Okay, it's a mistake, but the second time and the third time, come on, uh, I'm not sure what was going on over there. So that, that was very concerning.
Gary:I got into that bourbon at the tailgate, I think before the game is, is what it seemed like they couldn't even point in the right direction. but yeah, I definitely some officiating issues. I don't think that's why we lost the game. And I do want to give credit to Marshall's defense. They've been a good defensive unit all year. they schemed well and put their guys in position to make plays and the players in the field executed. I. Think that we have enough talent and enough weapons to where we shouldn't get shut out by anybody in the country. but they played exceptionally well. And I, I don't want this to be just that the offense did not play well cause we know that, But Marshall played really, really well. And I thought they did a good job of making us one dimensional a little bit earlier in the game than we probably wanted to, where we weren't running the football and we were basically pass heavy. And we've seen that a lot from ODU getting down in the second half, having to throw, throw, throw and, and getting away from any chance to run. but Jude, I want to ask you this question. As a former defensive lineman, when you make an offense one dimensional and you know that they're passing, that makes the defensive lines job much, much easier. And I'd love to, to get your take on that and, and what you're doing if you're the defensive end when you know that you're in a, a passing down.
Jude Brenya:Yes. playing on the D-line when you realize that, okay, we're able to shut down the wrong game and now they're one dimensional and all they're gonna do is throw the most. probability is, you know, you're always gonna be in your pass rush mode and that gives you more drive to, you know, go attack the quarterback and not worry much about the run game cuz you know, you guys have shut down the run game and you're not going back to it. So it keeps everybody basically knowing, Okay, it's gonna be a pass, it's gonna be a pass and they don't have to worry about, the run game. So, you know, definitely Marshall, shout out to the air defense unfortunately, but they did a good job shouting down, down the run game and then made us one dimensional, which is, going to throw the ball. So, you know, being a defensive end, if I know that the quarterback is most likely gonna throw, my pass rush game is gonna be on the whole time and I don't really have to worry about the run game. Maybe, Blocking and, you know, staying my, in my lane or even worrying about the running back. definitely, it, it is never good for the offense to be one dimensional. You gotta be able to have the run game in the past game. So, you know, you keep the defense on your toes and, uh, guessing, but unfortunately that offense cannot not do that.
Mike:All right, so if we're going through the numbers offensively and defensively, they won third down efficiency. They were five of 19. So if we had said, Oh, we're gonna hold them to five of 19 on third down, you think, Oh, we're good. We're good to go here. But we were only two of 14. passing. we hold them to 89 yards, passing another great thing. we have 198 yards passing with an interception. They threw two another positive for our defense, we're held at 11 yards rushing, and they have almost 300. they had more penalties. They had the ball longer. And those four, those three fumbles. It all adds up to a 12 to nothing defeat, forward. I'm not sure what we can build on here. I know the, the defense is good to go I'm confident they can play with anybody right now, but the offense, something needs to change here.
Gary:One thing I noticed throughout the game was some communication issues on, on play, calling, getting play calls in where the quarterback's eyes pre snap. it seemed like we were getting calls in maybe a little bit late and we weren't able to move with the tempo that we wanted. we've set on this p. Podcast, many times this offense is best when they are going very, very quickly, getting one quick play call in from the sideline. Hayden comes to the line, checks, makes adjustments, and we go and we're snapping the ball with 20, 25 seconds left on the play clock. I saw so many times on Saturday we're set up at the line. There's 35 seconds on the play clock. Hayden's looking to the sideline, getting a call, still looking to the sideline. Another call comes in. Next thing you know there's 10 seconds on the play clock. There's no time for adjustment and I think. Hayden has been in our system for several years now. He probably watches more film than anybody in that building. I really want to see his eyes on the defense and seeing what he sees in front of him. certainly the perspective from the booth is helpful for initial setup, getting that initial call in. But I, I almost felt like he was micromanaged a bit on Saturday and then he wasn't comfortable, then he wasn't confident, and that really hurt some of the timing. so I, I wanna see more of coastal where we're going fast. He gets that one call in, we're making adjustments and we're going, I just felt like he didn't have time to make changes. W wasn't really able to read the defense as well. So that communication piece from the booth down to the sideline to get those calls in, at some point you just have to trust your quarterback to run your offense and nobody's gonna make adjustments. we all watched a lot of Taylor Heineke football and we know that there was one play coming in. He was gonna change it, do his thing, and he had that full trust. So I think you either trust your quarterback or you don't. And it seemed like on Saturday that there. Communication, micromanagement a little bit on Hayden.
Mike:So did you, when you were at Georgia State, did you see the same kind of things happening?
Gary:it's really been consistent this year and last year. I feel like there are some games when we get the offense going and we're moving quickly that it just kind of goes away and, and we're not looking to the sideline as much, but really it's Hayden's looking to the sideline, the receivers are looking to the sidelines. You, there's no way with 10 seconds on the play clock when you finally get the play that you can do any kind of protections, adjustments, motions, anything. it's definitely been a trend for us. notice it at Georgia State, especially when we're down. It just feels like we're squeezing too hard and we need to let guys go out there and play ball.
Aaron:Well, I know in my line of work perfects the enemy of success, so being so worried about having the exact perfect play call and looking over and getting this Jing changed all the time. I think I agree with you a hundred percent, Gary. It's. Hayden's been there long enough that he, I think that we just gotta give him that opportunity to get the play call, have some options, look at the defense and make a decision, make the best decision. And we need to live with it. because there's just appears to be too much of that, uncertainty and getting down. And Jude, you could probably tell us better than anybody, that play clock gets down and you've got it right in front of you. You can see you're, you, the play clock as well as the quarterback can. And it helps you be able to get off, and tying that as well. And we get down that play clock gets down sometimes pretty close when we're changing all those things.
Jude Brenya:yes, definitely. Um, play clock is a very, very big thing, um, in, in this game. And if your offense is not really set, everybody's not on the same page before the play clock is going down. Obviously everybody's worried about it, maybe you might have a snap earlier too, or you, everybody's not on the same page, before the ball gets snapped. So it gives, it definitely gives the defense advantage on that. I'm not sure what's going on with the play call there and what's taking long to get, the players the play call. But one thing that I will talk about the offense that I, I noticed, yesterday was. I don't really see a lot of energy coming out of, the guys, if you compare the offense that the level of energy the defense had versus the offense, I, I really don't see this year, cause most of the time you, you need that vocal leader, on the team to get everybody going in. I, I did not see a, a leader on that offense team that was to say, Hey guys, do you know what? We're down, but we gotta get it going. We gotta go. I just did not see it unless if any of you guys saw it, um, yesterday, but I just did not see it.
Aaron:And you have a pretty good spot because you're just a couple rows behind me on the 30 yard line behind our bench. So I know we're always kind of checking out and seeing what's going on there, who the coaches are talking to, what the players are doing after they come off the field. so yeah, typically you don't know who that's gonna be. A lot of, teams, it happens to be QB one, but it doesn't necessarily have to be, Hayden might be a more, more quiet type of leader, but somebody's gotta take charge in these situations, especially when you're only down 12. With seven minutes left now, I know it felt like it was a lot more perhaps cuz we couldn't get anything in it. But you, at that point in the game, you still have a legitimate shot at winning that game. And I know us as fans, we still believe that, hey, we're gonna win this game. and I know last year we were in a lot of positions where we were playing from behind and it was clear that the team had confidence that they were gonna pull that particular game out as well. but since the coastal game, we've just been really struggling to get anything going on the offensive side of the ball.
Jude Brenya:Yeah, the reason why I say that there's not being a lot of energy on the offensive side is, I tend to watch the player's body language and I do believe body language really speaks a lot, during game and believe that all the teams also looking at your body language, after, at three and out or after the offense, uh, gives the ball away. coming off the field, you see everybody's kind of like slow jaw. To the sideline, there's not really that energy, you know, even after we get the ball back and we're getting back on the field, after a defensive turnover, everybody should be hyped. Obviously you want to play under control, but be hyped. Going out there like, Hey, we got the ball back. This is a good thing. Let's go. But you just don't see, I just, I just don't see it. So I think that needs to change and I'm not sure if they do have that vocal leader on the team that could get the offense going as you know, the defense is going. So if they could get that done, I think that can make a change in the.
Gary:It almost felt in a way that everyone was looking to everyone else to go and make that play that was gonna jumpstart us instead of being that person that was gonna step up and make the play that got us going. Because Aaron, you're right. it's 12, nothing. There's seven minutes to go. We can score touchdown drives in less than a minute. And you just kept waiting all day for what's that big play that's gonna open this up? Put the defense on their heels and it, it never got there. But you always just kind of had that in your mindset. Like, I've seen us go four plays, 72 yards, Boom, we're right back in the game. And you have that confidence too, because if it's 12 seven and our defense goes back on the field, they're gonna be jacked up. They're gonna make that team go three and out or cause a turnover, and then now you've got a chance to go win the ball game. It's. Has to step up and be that person that makes that big play. Instead of looking around in the huddle, trying to figure out who's gonna be the one that's gonna make.
Mike:I mean, we've had multiple, a lot of injuries throughout the year, but there's only one I can think of since Tyran Hunt's injury. Ever since he got hurt, this offense has seemed to be stuck neutral. Maybe he was that guy for the, in the huddle. I don't know. I don't know enough about the team. I haven't talked to the players, but it seems pretty coincidental that ever since he went down, we can't score. I'm sure that's a big part of how, we've actually gotten worse running the ball, but, we're not passing that well either now. So, I don't know. Maybe it was Tyran hunt. Keith Lucas did tell us that Vernon Clark did get into the huddle and try to hype the guy guys up. At one point yesterday he thought he might be going into the game, but once he, he hyped him up, he, he went back to, he went back to. Cause it was on the sideline I think so he just left the area. But some guys were trying, they just, I don't know. Anyone else got any more takes on this game?
Aaron:No, I think we need to look ahead. this one's over. Let's forget about it going forward. Next game's the most important game of the season, in my opinion, and I think we should chat about it.
Mike:Also, I will say, who expected a 75 degree day in November? that did not feel like November.
Aaron:The weather was pretty beautiful.
Mike:Yeah, we were roasting out there too. All right. This week is the Oyster Bowl. it's one of our favorite events because it also coincides with our toys for Todds collection Drive. you may have seen our app that came out Friday. With OD coaches do Manila, Ricky Ronnie, Jeff Jones, Delicia Milton Jones, Mitch Briley from sailing, and Brian Conley, from, uh, OD Rowing. Do Manila and Don Mueller. But big shout out to do Manila for making that happen. He got us in touch with all the coaches, got them to put their time in to do that ad, and he got us Diego Crew who did the fantastic video shots of the Marines. The coaches a big shot to Harry McBride. He's been doing a lot of work behind the scenes for this collection drive. He's arranged an AAV to be set up on 49th Street. He's arranged for Marines to come and do the collection. He's arranged for ODU ROTC members to be walking the lots with ammo cans and he's arranged one of the coolest things I've ever heard. A fan arranged of two eighteens to fly over the stadium pregame. who else does that as a fan and what a dude so proud of Harry Happy, he's a part of our group. but alright, Toy collection drive, if you want to be involved, bring new unwrapped toys to the tailgate lot. We'll have a collection site in the blue lot and we'll have one on 49th Street where that AAB is. Just look for the Marines and you'll find it. we also are accepting cash and that's where you can, the ROTC members with the ammo cans look for them and you can get donate cash. Last year we collected 250 toys and a thousand dollars. That was great, but I think we can do a lot better. last year, Hampton Road's Toys for Tots Group gave out 19,000 toys, which is amazing, but they still didn't meet the need. And if we can help bridge that gap, it'll make us all very happy. So let's do it for the kids. now we gotta talk about this game. Jamie is coming to town, I believe they're five and three on this season. Lost three straight. last night they lost to Louisville, which, Louisville's one of the best teams right now based on what they've done the last two weeks. They whooped wake. They shut Todd Cento down last night. I saw his numbers was a little shocked that they didn't lose by more. but their defense, Jamie's defense is fantastic. So we're in for another low scoring game, probably. Whatever your takes, Gary.
Gary:JMU has a really strong defense. they've been bitten by the injury bug a little bit. I know one of their safeties is out for this season, but they're still pretty stout. they have a really good pass rush. they had a similar experience that we did, against Georgia Southern where they did a lot of things up front to neutralize that pass rush. and Georgia State was able, or Georgia Southern was able to, to throw the ball pretty well and move down the field. offensively it's Todd Cento. If he is playing well, their offense is probably one of the best offenses in the country. if he's not playing well, they're really difficult to watch on the offensive side of the ball, he was missed a couple games due to injury. He came back for the Louisville game, but really looked like a shell of himself. he was four for 15, for 52 yards passing. He had five carries, for 11 yards. That's not the Todd Cento that we saw when they went five oh oh. To start the season where just absolutely throttling people. I know his, his injury, I believe, is an oblique injury that stemmed from an earlier shoulder injury that he had. That's a tough one. If you're a baseball fan and you hear your picture as a oblique injury, you just fear the worst. Don't know if they're gonna be out two weeks or six months. Uh, but that offense really runs through him. and it, I think it really depends on what he's able to do. How healthy is he, how do they get him involved in the offense or if they have to go to another one of their backups. but when they are clicking and firing on all cylinders, they are really, really good. I know they've had some injury issues on their offensive line, which has probably not helped cento very much. so they're kind of in a similar boat to us. They're second, third string up front some of the time they've got some walk-ons playing. but this, this could definitely be another one of those where I tell you to absolutely hammer the under like I did last week. So if you were outside of Virginia, could bet on Virginia sports. I hope you took my advice for ODU Marshall last weekend.
Aaron:If folks didn't watch this game last night, though, this game was tied 10 10 at the half, and I don't know how many times that J Mu had cento throw the ball in the second half. I know it wasn't many because on the message boards and on Twitter, all the JMU fans were talking about that they really, I'm sure that Louisville stepped up on defense, but. It appeared that Jammu really shut down their passing game, and even attempting to try to do what they did in the first half. So it'd be interesting to be a fly on the wall here, because I don't know how much of it was of Louisville shutting them down or jam you just kind of turling up and going more conservative and stop throwing the ball. I didn't get to see enough of the game to know for sure, but if CentOS not throwing the ball, it's, they're a completely different team.
Mike:the line on this game opened at seven and a half in Jamie's favor, we are the underdog. The total is at 47 and a half. not a very big number Again,
Aaron:All right, well this is one of those games that we know, uh, We haven't played JMU in quite some time. I see you, you shaking your head there, man. You're familiar. So we started playing football in 2009 and James Madison quickly became, I would say, our biggest rival when it comes to football. And you guys beat him twice, once at home, once on the road in their house. And this is a big game. This is a rivalry game. So perhaps a lot of stuff goes out the window here. Kinda like when we play Virginia Tech, sometimes things just go out the window. And from my perspective, I know we were tailgating for the field hockey game today. We saw a lot of the football players go in, walking into l r Hill to do whatever they gotta do on Sunday. They know that this game is their season. I know Ricky, they, we talk one to oh, going one to oh, but if we don't go one to oh this week, the other two weeks wanna knows are a little different. So I'm thinking we might see some different stuff this week. There's really no sense in having saved rounds at the end of this game. We've gotta do whatever we gotta do to win this.
Jude Brenya:Yeah, so. Guys. So when I, when I played for odu, there are two teams that I wish I would've played against. One, Virginia Tech and, second jmu. unfortunately I was not part of the, team back then when they played jmu, when we were back in the caa. but definitely we heard about the games that, we had at games, JMU and the rivalry that we had. And, uh, it seemed like it was very positive thing for both schools. So the games, again, against jmu. Um, this upcoming week is gonna be great the stadium is, is gonna be packed and the students are gonna be in the stadium to watch the game. Now, this pa this past game, um, the disappointment there, I still believe that fans are still gonna be out there for the JMU games to support, mile football team. And hopefully we're able to get that win. Cause as you said, we could go, wanna know, each week, but this one we need to go, wanna know.
Mike:So this is our second sell of the year. student tickets have been sold out for weeks, we should be packed. I don't know how many people are gonna hold on their tickets and just not go, but, weather looks like it could be dicey. looks like rain all day, which is not ideal for a collection drive, but I hope y'all still come through on that for us. but that's good for the defense and it's good for the under.
Gary:It's not good for a team that has not been able to run the football though. so maybe we get a weather change like we did for Liberty. I know all week we thought that was gonna be a washout. Turned out to be a beautiful day. Maybe we get that. I don't know if those F 18 s are gonna be able to fly over if there's 20 mile an hour winds and rain, but, we'd love to see that. To get us kicked off. You wanna talk about some energy going in the building? Have those things go buzz the tower a little bit coming in.
Mike:Yeah. brain would be not ideal for anything going on that day. Won't be good for us, won't be good for the Shriners. Obviously we won't, we'll lose the flyover and we'll lose our ability to throw the ball. we can't have that, but we don't usually focus that much on the weather this early in the week because it does change so much over a short period. All it takes is one, uh, front to just change direction and then you're good. but. We're three and six fellows, we gotta win this. Or the last two games or preparation for next year.
Aaron:Hey, we were three and six at one point last season, right?
Mike:That's correct,
Aaron:So why not this?
Mike:man. Why not? a lot will have to change from yesterday to next week though.
Jude Brenya:And, hopefully maybe after, JMU game, if we win, we could start thinking about maybe bowl games. possible.
Mike:Yeah, we have to win it for that to be your possibility. so Jude, you played on some teams that won a lot of games and you played on some teams that did not qualify for bowl games. What was the locker room like when you were in this position where you know, you gotta win this kid? That bowl hopes a lot. what was that?
Jude Brenya:So, um, definitely join moments like this, you know, that that's where you figure out what your team is really made of. is he made of, uh, a bunch of people that are just gonna point the fingers and say, Okay, you know, this is, this person's fault, Is this person's fault, this person's fault. But I know historically we, we have looked at this to motivate us to go out there and, you know, and win the rest of the games, Um, If you know you, we have three that games left, then we have to win those three games to possibly extend their, our season. One more games, go to a ball game cuz everybody wants to go to a ball game. so most of the time the guys really do come together and trying to figure out how to get that done. So I hope that's what the, this team is doing now. trying to come together, lean on each other and figure how to get that one to know this, this upcoming week.
Aaron:So Juju got to a bowl game, didn't you?
Jude Brenya:Yes, sir. That's why I got my shirt on right. here.
Aaron:All right. Talk to us a little bit about that man.
Jude Brenya:oh, So The Bahamas boy, it was, it was very amazing for us ever. Bowl ODU has been too. And then we want, I think we were there f uh, five days. earlier before the game and, you know, everything, all inclusive, hotel paid, we stayed at Atlantis. We had an all day pass through all the water rise that we could go on and we go into, the city itself to explore it. So definitely one of the best experience I've had, playing football and I was glad I was part of that team that year to be able to go over there and, experience and play and win and bring back the, basically the bull win back to odu. So it, it was very good experience.
Aaron:Sounds like something cool for the fellows to look forward to, some to work towards.
Jude Brenya:Yes, sir. Definitely,
Mike:So Jude, 2015, Was it the second year we were in conference USA Officially. But the first year that we were both eligible,
Jude Brenya:Yes, yes. yes.
Mike:You guys, at this point in the season, you had four wins. so you're really in a similar position as these guys. You had four wins. You need to win two of the last three to make it doable. you only, they only manage to win one. But, this is a five win season. Gary, 2015, You're shaking your head no, but I'm looking at it. 2015 they won five
Jude Brenya:Right. Mm-hmm.
Mike:the beat UTEP lost at Southern Miss. At home against Florida Atlantic to not make a bowl. What was it like in that locker room? You guys were probably pressing, trying to make that first bowl.
Jude Brenya:Right. I I think I remember that last game. you said Florida Atlantic, right? Lost at
Mike:yeah. It was a, it was a very close
Jude Brenya:Yes.
Aaron:33
Jude Brenya:I, I remember that game. And what I remember about that was everybody that was playing that game wanting to win that game for the seniors. Cause most of the seniors was, the last game if we lost. And we were trying to get that win for the seniors so they could at least experience a bowl game, you know? Cause that was the first year we were both eligible and that loss was something that, we couldn't get over. And I could tell you in the locker room, it was very, it, it was a sad moment, Everybody was crying. Cause once again, we were trying to play for the seniors to be able to get a win and, experience a ball game. And we c we weren't able to do that. But however, I know that fooled us for the next season to go in, cuz we know how that, how we felt, at the end of that game, winning was so close to win that game. But we lost. So the next season, I do believe, um, got us there and then we were able to go to that bowl game in The Bahamas and, win.
Mike:You didn't just win you, you won 10 games, which is not, easy to do in college football.
Jude Brenya:Yes sir.
Mike:The only time we've ever done it,
Jude Brenya:yes. And I do know that season, um, that 2016 season, basically what was brought to our attention all the time is remember how we felt at the end of the day, at the end of the game during the fa u game, the 2015. And I do know that really motivated the guys to play the best. And you know, as you say, I win 10 games that, that next.
Mike:All right. So code you needs this one. We got a really strong running back come into town. I, I can't say his name and I, I don't wanna try, but Jimmy starting running back is very, very talented. He had a very good game against Louis. He had 24 carries for over a hundred yards. Someone can check me there.
Aaron:Mike just calling Mr. Percy.
Mike:Yeah. Mr. Percy has been fantastic the season and our defense is gonna have to play very well to slow him down. They've been, they play like they did yesterday. I feel pretty good about our chances, but the offense is gonna have to put it together.
Gary:Mr. Percy will probably run into Mr. Henderson just a couple of times on Saturday. I think that there'll be some, some pretty fun c. There throughout that game.
Mike:So speaking of Mr. Henderson, where are we at on this tackle stuff?
Aaron:Mike, while uh, we looked that up, you asked me to look up the block kicks earlier, so technically we are tied for fourth. There's only one team with six. There are three teams with five and we have four. So we're where should say our football team, is ranked towards the very top of Division one football teams with regards to block kicks.
Gary:We should be up pretty high now in red zone defense as well in terms of allowing touchdowns. I think Marshall had five red zone attempts on Saturday and did not get in the end zone once. We were already ranked pretty highly in that stat. So the bin but don't break is definitely working for us.
Aaron:All right. Jason Henderson has 148 total tackles per game at 16.4. That's pretty amazing.
Mike:So I asked that question. The NCAA all time record for single season tackles is 191. And you say he is at 1 46, 1 48. So he's got three games to get that, to bridge that gap. That's in striking distance with him averaging close to 20 a game.
Aaron:Yeah, he is got 16.4 a game. So you got three games left. That's roughly, 48, 49 tackles.
Mike:Yeah. He'd
Aaron:If you just go with a straight
Mike:Yeah, he has the record.
Aaron:I think if he stays healthy he does, or
Mike:that's a bit, I mean, he's not healthy now.
Aaron:Oh, I know that's, that's why I was, uh, I was taking a step back and say if he's able to stay on the field and be as effective as he has been. I think that especially with seeing it out there, and I don't know how conscious he is of it. it's out there a lot. People are chirping about it a lot. we're talking about it here, so I'm sure he is aware, but we see him on the field. Clearly the number one thing in Jason's mind is winning football games. That's the most important thing. So I'm sure if we were to ask him this question ago, what would you rather do win three games or break this record slam dunk? We know he wants to win the games, but it's clear that he's such an impact player. if we win these three games, he probably breaks a record.
Mike:Oh, he is probably gonna break their record regardless, but, uh, I wanna go back to what Gary's question about Red Zone Defense. We are now the 10th ranked team in the country in red Zone defense. phenomenal. we're at or 71%. we have a long way to go to catch UCF who is at 61%, which is pretty phenomenal, but top 10 hard, hard to complain about that. Gary, what were you gonna say? sorry. Cutting you on.
Gary:Just to, to keep these games meaningful down the stretch. We get a win on J against JMU on Saturday. Then that game at App State means, Hey, we can stay alive for a bowl game. If we win that, then the game at South Alabama means that's a meaningful game for us to get to six and six. I, I worry if we do get to seven losses that some of these guys that are. Some legit injuries, but are playing through the pain. they may be told the, Hey, you need to take it easy. And when you start thinking about next year, Jason Henderson will be one of those guys, I'm sure Terry Jones, they wanna play. You're gonna have to pry him off the field to give him out of there. But, you start thinking of long term health and things like that and why risk it when we have seven losses or eight losses? So winning keeps these games meaningful, it keeps that chase for that record intact. for sure. it all starts with beating jmu. if you can't get pumped up and motivated to go beat jmu, I don't know why you're playing football.
Aaron:If we beat JMU and then are able to go down to Boone and win that game, I'm going to hide in a wheel well of our charter flight to go to South Alabama. Just saying it right
Gary:I'll risk going in the dog house and bailing on Thanksgiving plans. If, if that would be the six win down there
Mike:So I'm looking at it. Jason's already 48th on the all time, like single season tackle record list. He's got three games to go
Aaron:In NCAA all time
Mike:in a single season. He has, right now he is tied for 44th best season ever for tackling.
Aaron:due as a machine.
Mike:Luke Kiley, he's number one and he's number. In 2010, he had 183. In 2011, he had 191 for Boston College.
Gary:They're very similar style linebackers too. Like they just, every time you look around at a pile, like they're in there, they've hit somebody, they, they play fast, they hit hard, and they do not shy away from contact either one of them.
Jude Brenya:I don't know. I don't know if he even gets. That dude is a machine. I'm like, How? How does he keep going?
Aaron:I actually watched that pretty, uh, pretty intensely cuz he's all over the field. So when he comes back, I said he, he was huffing and puffing, but I'll tell you what, he gets ready for the next time to go out in the field. He's got a way to push through, through that, regardless of how beat up he is, how tired he is. They're trying to pull him off the fields. you can see him limping sometimes that he is pull, pulling himself out, and he's being that traffic cop out there and directing the defense and where they need to be and getting ready for the next play. it's really fun to
Mike:It's that wrestler's mentality cuz wrestling the best wrestlers know that to fight through the, their exhaustion to win. And if they don't, they're not gonna win. that's how guys get pinned and we all know he was a fantastic wrestler and it's because of that will to win. So I'm just trying to enjoy what we have while we have it. who knows how long A guy like Ja, Jason Henderson will play college football cuz he's talented enough to go at next level. So I'm just gonna try to enjoy it while we have it cuz this guy is a specimen and he's amazing to watch. So just try to enjoy what we do have while we have it. the losses are tough, but there are some fantastic athletes on this team that you could just if you can just appreciate what they're doing for us at the time they're doing it. Like Ali, dude went into the locker room very early yesterday and still came back out and tried his best to make plays. and he's been doing that whole season playing hurt, making plays, just trying to show them appreciation for what they're doing. That's, it's not easy. I don't know. Jude, maybe you can talk a little bit about. How many injuries these guys have to fight through just to play every week.
Jude Brenya:Oh yeah, definitely. I do know a lot of these guys are, playing hurt and part of the drive that keeps them coming back is, to, to play a good. And to Winful team. so definitely these guys are great players pushing through the pain cuz you know, there are times where some guys are banged up, they're taped up to Wazu. You don't, you know, there's tape here, taped there, taped there just to keep their mind walking straight and, every single time in the ice bath and having to go through, the trainer room to get taped up to, get that, those treatments. So definitely late into the season there's a lot of guys that are hurt, but if we keep playing and we, we get those wins, that really motivates them to keep staying on the field and to give, uh, give us all their best.
Mike:So one guy you played with that, I always loved was Deb Washington. This. He got moved around. He got moved to receiver, then moved back to quarterback, but he played Hardnosed football. He wasn't, he never was afraid to get hit and he just kept going at it. I'm sure he had a lot of injuries that he had to deal with in that 10 win season.
Jude Brenya:I think that what thing great about David was, he had the mentality as. Just put me wherever I could be useful. I know he was, uh, the quarterback and then he got, he lost that position, but he basically was repping with the receivers and he was like, I wanna be useful to the team and put me where I could be useful. And that's how he played. And I do know that season he was, uh, playing hurt a lot, but his mentality and his drive, um, he kept coming back in to, to play, to put us in good positions. So there are guys like that on this team. And, oh, if they're listening to this, I keep telling them to stick with it, keep fighting. And I do know that there are better days coming too.
Aaron:Hey Gary. I know one of your favorite players. We've got one of those on our team right now, right?
Gary:Stevie Williams. He's a quarterback. He's a receiver, and now he's a very scary linebacker. I believe he set, a personal record for tackles on Saturday. He was flying all over the field. he looks settled, but yeah, it's just. You just can't help but root for guys like that, like David Washington. what an amazing story he had at Old Dominion. quarterback loses that goes to receiver, ends up coming back, becomes really one of the most efficient pastors we've had, which says a lot considering he followed Taylor Heineke. just ultimate team guys will do whatever. Stevie Williams doesn't look like a quarterback anymore cuz he's bulked up and he is massive and he is just a scary human being to, to be around now. but yeah, it's, it's awesome seeing guys like that, like Jason Henderson, Terry Jones playing through injury. There's so many guys that are just throwing it all out there every Saturday, playing through all kinds of things that you'll never know about. The team doesn't release the injury. Stuff like you don't know what those guys are dealing with and they're still out there, playing with injuries. Us mere mortals wouldn't be able to like, walk outta the house with.
Aaron:So here's my take on Saturday, last home game. Our guys, our coaches know that we've gotta win this game. We gotta go want to know. And as a fan myself, I know this is my last home game this year until next September of being able to watch these guys play. So as fans, we need to show up. If you have tickets and you can't show up, find another Monarch fan and give them your tickets. Don't be worried about selling them. Find Monarch fans or someone at work who hasn't had the opportunity to ever go to a game. Let 'em take their family to the game, and we need to show up and go all out as we can do, making noise, supporting the team, show up to work the following Monday with no voice, whatever it is. This is our last opportunity. Let's do our.
Mike:You heard the man showed Ballard Get loud. We're blue, let's go. Wanna know?
Aaron:And bring a new unwrapped toy or lots of cash for the Marines.
Mike:Yes sir.
Aaron:these kids in the 7 57
Mike:Let's, let's do it. Go Monarchs.
Aaron:Go Monarchs.
Gary:Go Monarchs.
Jude Brenya:Go Monarchs.
Ricky Rahne:podcast