One game in, ODU’s players are showing accountability as home opener against East Carolina looms

NORFOLK — After receiver Myles Alston tipped a high pass from quarterback Grant Wilson into the arms of a South Carolina defender late Saturday, the two Old Dominion players didn’t blame each other for squandering the Monarchs’ last chance to win the game.

Both blamed themselves.

The interception, which came with ODU down four points with 1:29 left to play, sealed the Gamecocks’ 23-19 season-opening win.

Minutes later, Wilson was sitting at a table in the bowels of Williams-Brice Stadium, telling the media how he planned to identify his mistakes “so they won’t happen again.”

It’s the kind of accountability Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne likes to see from his players. And he’s starting to see it more often as the team prepares to play host to East Carolina at 6 p.m. Saturday in ODU’s home opener.

“Both guys took responsibility for it,” Rahne said of the late pick in Columbia, Wilson’s second of the game. “Myles was like, ‘I’ve got to catch it,’ and Grant was like, ‘I’ve got to make a better throw.’ I think that that was something that says a lot about the character of those guys. They’re both putting that on them, and they both think that they should’ve done it.”

Senior receiver Isiah Paige caught eight passes for a career-high 115 yards at South Carolina, including a juke-filled 72-yard touchdown reception that landed him on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

The play already had received hundreds of thousands of views on social media by the time the team plane landed in Norfolk.

But Paige, a Richmond native, had no idea. He was consumed with something else as the plane’s descent began.

“I really didn’t look at my phone,” Paige said. “I was kind of disappointed in some of the plays I didn’t make. It’s a good feeling now, though. But the plays I didn’t make kind of overwhelmed me in the moment.”

The Monarchs surrendered five sacks Saturday, which recalled a consistent problem from last season.

The issue, Rahne said, wasn’t schematic; rather, it was a lack of technique in terms of standing too upright when blocking. That, too, was to be addressed this week.

When Rahne sat down to face the press after Saturday’s game, the first thing out of his mouth was that he and his players had expected to win the game. That’s despite the major disparities between ODU’s Sun Belt Conference and the Gamecocks’ vaunted Southeastern Conference.

The expectations — and the accountability — led to a set of postgame emotions that Rahne found important to distinguish.

“I think our guys have owned their mistakes,” Rahne said.

“No one was sad,” he said. “Guys have their jaws set, and they’re ready to go and prove that we can play better as a team and that they’re ready to go out there and earn the right to win this one. That was one thing that I noticed very quickly, is guys weren’t hanging their heads. You could see anger and determination in their face, but I wouldn’t say there was necessarily sadness.”

David Hall, david.hall@pilotonline.com .

East Carolina (1-0) at Old Dominion (0-1)

When: 6 p.m.

On the air : ESPN+, 94.1FM

The Pirates: ECU, on the heels of a dismal 2-10 season, opened with a 42-3 home win over FCS school Norfolk State. But all was not pretty for the Pirates. They won handily despite throwing three interceptions and losing three of four fumbles, something ODU’s coaching staff has identified as a potential weakness. QB Jake Garcia, a transfer from Missouri who won the job in mid-August, passed for 308 yards and four TDs against the Spartans. Ten players caught passes from Garcia last week.

The Monarchs: ODU surprised many around the nation last week when, as a 21-point underdog, it took South Carolina down to the wire in a 23-19 road loss. But the Monarchs, with nearly half their roster comprised of new faces, didn’t surprise themselves. They thought the Gamecocks were beatable, and they nearly pulled it off. QB Grant Wilson, ODU’s first returning starter at the position in a decade, showed his experience by generally managing the game well in a hostile environment. He showed some aggressiveness when he tried to force a couple of passes that ended up in the wrong hands.