Old Dominion falls just short in bid for upset

NEWARK, Del.

Old Dominion's high-octane spread offense developed a knock in the engine Saturday as the Monarchs fell 27-17 to the Delaware Blue Hens at Delaware Stadium.

Playing in their first Colonial Athletic Association game, the Monarchs showed that pinning them as 23-point underdogs coming in was a bit much.

Pulling off the miraculous win that would have shocked the league, however, just didn't happen.

ODU quarterback Thomas DeMarco, who came in completing better than 70 percent of his passes this season, hit on only 50 percent of his throws, and the Monarchs' quick-strike offense never found a flow.

DeMarco completed 23 of 46 passes for 204 yards. A slew of passes were overthrown, thrown wide, thrown low or simply dropped.

"We just didn't play pitch and catch like we had been doing," ODU coach Bobby Wilder said. "Right from the start, we had passes where we either missed a receiver or the ball was dropped. And it kept us out of our rhythm all day."

It didn't, however, keep the Monarchs (3-1) out of the game.

Facing a Delaware squad known for its powerful running game, the Monarchs put the clamps on Andrew Pierce, who ran for 1,655 yards a year ago.

The Hens, ranked No. 7 in the Football Championship Subdivision by The Sports Network, managed 80 yards rushing and Pierce finished the game on the sidelines with a strained knee. He ran 14 times for 21 yards, his first game with less than 100 yards this season.

ODU also turned in some snazzy special teams play, blocking a field goal attempt and pulling off a timely fake punt in the fourth quarter that kept alive its lone touchdown drive.

But in the end, Delaware did what ODU couldn't: The Hens (3-1, 1-0 CAA) threw it and caught it well enough to win.

Tim Donnelly threw for 304 yards and completed 26 of 39 passes, none bigger than his 32-yard touchdown pass to Rob Jones with 9:29 remaining. It came on the heels of a 60-yard kickoff return by Travis Hawkins that would have been a touchdown if ODU's Craig Wilkins hadn't had a handful of Hawkins' shirttail.

ODU's last three drives were clunkers and the Hens tacked on an insurance field goal with 42 seconds remaining.

ODU had taken a 17-16 lead with 9:50 left on a 9-yard touchdown pass from DeMarco to Antonio Vaughan.

The drive was aided by punter Jonathan Plisco's fake-punt run of 15 yards.

According to DeMarco, that should have been Vaughan's second touchdown catch of the day, not his first.

Asked if there was one play he'd like to have back, DeMarco said, "I'm thinking about 15 I'd like to have back. But if there's one, it would be missing Vaughan on that post route."

It was early when that happened. Very early. Still in a scoreless tie, ODU had just recovered a David Hayes fumble caused by Eriq Lewis.

After a 20-yard end-around run by Colby Goodwyn, DeMarco had Vaughan open down the middle but overshot on what could have been a 62-yard scoring play.

Eventually, the Monarchs were first to score when Delaware fumbled on an attempted punt. The snap hit one of Delaware's shield blockers lined up 8 yards behind the line. A mad scramble followed and ODU's Chris Lovitt scooped it up and went 18 yards for a 7-0 lead.

Moments later, ODU botched great field possession after Eddie McClam blocked a 48-yard field-goal attempt by Delaware's Sean Baner.

ODU had the ball at the Delaware 38, but gave it right back when a quick-out pass by DeMarco was first tipped by Vaughan and then bobbled by Prentice Gill. The third player to get his hands on it was Delaware's Marcus Burley.

From that point, the Blue Hens were methodical and willing to take what ODU offered - the short passing game. A pair of Baner field goals pulled the Hens to within 7-6, and they ended the half with a 13-7 lead when Nihja White pulled in a 7-yard scoring pass from Donnelly with 42 seconds remaining.

The teams traded field goals, setting up the last 10 minutes when it looked like ODU just might pull off the upset.

"It's evident that ODU is pretty stout up front," said Delaware coach K.C. Keeler, whose squad lost last season's FCS title game 20-19 to Eastern Washington. "They are going to be pretty tough to run on.

"I wasn't sure what we were going to get today, but that's a good football team. They are going to win some games."

Rich Radford, (757) 446-2463, rich.radford@pilotonline.com