Liberty (3-1) heads to Norfolk, Virginia to face Old Dominion (3-1, 1-0 Sun Belt) on Saturday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+. It will be the first of two games for Liberty this season against in-state opponents while the Monarchs are playing their third opponent from the Commonwealth.

This will be the second straight season the two in-state foes have met and fourth all-time meeting.between Liberty and ODU. The Flames hold a 2-1 edge in the series, having win each of the last two meetings by large margins. Liberty defeated Old Dominion, 52-10, in the program’s first ever game as a FBS member on Sept. 1, 2018. Last year, the Flames handed the Monarch a 45-27 setback in Lynchburg.

Under second year head coach Ricky Rahne, the Monarchs have shown a lot of growth since that meeting last year. Old Dominion lost four straight after falling to the Flames, to slip to 1-6 on the year. Since that time, the Monarchs are 7-3, including a win over Virginia Tech, 20-17, to open the 2022 campaign.

Liberty will look to hand the Monarchs their first home loss of 2022 and halt their five-game home winning streak at S.B. Ballard Stadium. ODU is 2-0 at home so far this year, and the home team has come out on top in each of the first three games of the series between the two programs.

“It’s going to be a challenge for us offensively,” Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze said of this weekend’s game. “Coach Rahne is, obviously, already got a Power Five win this year. Been in every game, at Virginia, came within a hair of having two Power Five wins. Playing at their place, which I hear is an exciting place to play at. They have great support there. So, it will be a great challenge.”

Both Liberty and Old Dominion have played three games decided by seven points or fewer this season, and each squad is 2-1 in those contests. The Flames have actually had all four of their games so far this year decided by single digits while the Monarchs fell at East Carolina, 39-21.

“Offensively, this quarterback, as he goes they go,” said Freeze. “Big, strong, throws a really good deep ball. Has very, very athletic tight ends and receivers. Tight end looks 6’9″ or something like a giant on there but he’s probably 6’7″, I guess or something. But that’s a matchup problem. So, we will have to have a good plan. Those receivers, 0, 1, and 18 are all as good as we’ve seen. The running back is the same. This quarterback is throwing the ball around and doing a lot of good things. Coach Rahne has got it going there. His staff does a good job. They will have a good plan. We will have to be on top of our game to go and come out of there with a win.”

While Liberty may have questions at quarterback, that is certainly not the case for ODU. Hayden Wolff has attempted all 133 passes for the Monarchs so far this season, completing 74 of them for 954 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 1 interception. His favorite target is Ali Jennings III who has 24 receptions for 559 yards and 5 touchdowns. Tight end Zack Kuntz has 11 receptions for 141 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jordan Bly also has 11 receptions, going for 106 yards.

“Every bit as good as anyone we’ve faced, like Brownlee from Southern Miss and those kids from Wake,” Freeze said of Jennings. “Everybody’s got good skill people. Everybody. It’s just too many people out there. Everybody doesn’t have a great O-Line, that’s the hardest position to find. It seems like everybody now has pretty good D-Linemen that can run and are strong and athletic, but skill is out there to be found and they’ve done a good job. They’ve got a really good receiving corp and the tight end makes them better. You better know where he is.”

The running game has not been something Rahne and the Monarchs could rely on early this year. They are averaging just under 60 yards rushing per game with Blake Watson rushing for 58.3 of those yards each contest. Old Dominion has gone to their deep passing game to take shots with their receivers to try to attack defenses with a lack of a consistent run game to this point.

“It could go either way,” Freeze said of this weekend’s game. “I think this is one of the more complete teams we have played. They are really, really, really athletic on defense which has given us problems, O-Line wise. I think their transfer corners are really good and made them better from last year. It’s kind of the same front, for the most part. 42 is one of the better linebacker’s we’ve faced. He’s averaging double digits tackles a game. Really, really good football player. All the guys on that side are just really athletic and they’re deep. They rotate and kind of remind me of us a little bit up front.”

PREDICTION

Liberty 28, Old Dominion 21

Line: Liberty -3.5

Picks results this year:
Straight-up: 4-0
ATS: 3-1