I’m going to level with you here: I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed. This is largely due to my persistent simple-mindedness; if there’s anything I don’t need to know or care to retain, chances are I won’t.
With that said, something even I haven’t been able to forget is how bad of football Old Dominion plays, as it’s essentially become an annual expectation since the program’s graduation to the FBS—so imagine my surprise when the 2025 Monarchs inexplicably acquired the gumption to pile up 10 stinkin’ wins.
But hey, any team can catch a glimpse of glory at least once through the occasional stars aligning, right? So who cares about one fluke? I do, at least when the odds of it not being one are as strong as they are in this case, which is all thanks to the calendar.
The first thing that stood out to me about 2026 ODU’s schedule is the fact that both James Madison and Marshall, two of the three teams to down the 2025 Monarchs, will serve as home games this time around. On top of that, the only other loss (at Indiana) isn’t part of the schedule at all. When measuring your potential to keep the wins coming, there’s not many healthier starts to have than that.
The rest of the slate doesn’t really halt the hype either though, consisting of the following: Norfolk State, Virginia Tech, East Carolina, Georgia State, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Louisiana Tech, Coastal Carolina, UConn, and Southern Mississippi. Of that gang, none are great as of last reference, with the best being a 9-4 Pirates squad (encountered through yet another home game).
Now understand, I’m not betting on perfection from the Monarchs, as guys like the Dukes and Hokies are unlikely to be pushovers. However, taking losses from both of them, along with one from a LA Tech or UConn, would still not be enough to close the window on Old Dominion once again finishing with 10 dubs.
If the Monarchs can pull that off, we’d no longer have reason to label them a “fluke,” nor would we be able to justify getting hung up on allegedly lucky scheduling. We’d instead have to be fair, and define them solely off of what they’ve done—which is continuously find ways to win under a culture now several years in the making.
Add us as a preferred source on Google