Old Dominion Monarchs at Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
Fri Nov 6 · 11:00 PM CT
By Pablo SanchezUpdated 6d ago·2 min read
ODU
CCU
AT
11:00 PM CT
Share
Old Dominion just posted the best season in program history. Coastal Carolina just fired the coach who couldn't sustain its old one. That's the gap this Sun Belt East trip is measuring in November.
Bush’s Picks
ODUCCU
ODUCCU
OverUnder
Best BetOld Dominion
Old Dominion is the program with a proven staff, a Cure Bowl trophy, and returning pieces on defense — Coastal Carolina is the program that just fired its coach and is relying on a brand-new quarterback room to gel by November. Back the Monarchs here on name value and continuity alone. The Chanticleers' 41 incoming transfers could pay off, but that's a lot to bank on against a team this far ahead in program development.
Old Dominion
+Program-best 10-3 season, Cure Bowl champs
+Head coach Rahne staying, stability at the top
+Key defenders Easterly, Frink, Roche return
−Starting QB Colton Joseph left for Wisconsin
−Offensive coordinator also departed for Memphis
Coastal Carolina
+Hired ambitious young coach Ryan Beard
+3 preseason All-Sun Belt transfer additions
+Beard has FCS-to-FBS turnaround track record
−Fired Beck after 6-7 collapse season
−Projected 119th SP+, picked 5th in East
−Entirely new QB room, unproven together
Ricky Rahne's crew enters 2026 as the Sun Belt's feel-good story, and it's not close. ODU went 10-3 last fall, capped a Cure Bowl win over South Florida, and jumped from 95th to 50th in SP+ — a genuine breakout for a program that had one winning FBS season before Rahne showed up. Coastal Carolina, meanwhile, is starting over. Tim Beck got fired after a 59-10 finale loss to James Madison sealed a 6-7 season, and the Chanticleers handed the keys to 36-year-old Ryan Beard, fresh off leading Missouri State's FCS-to-FBS jump to a bowl game.
Beard didn't waste time remaking the roster — he brought roughly 41 Missouri State transfers with him, including a full quarterback competition between Deuce Bailey, Arkansas transfer Trever Jackson, and JUCO addition Tre Guerra. That's a lot of new pieces to fuse into a Sun Belt attack that's regressed five straight years since the Jamey Chadwell glory days. ODU has its own QB puzzle to solve after dual-threat starter Colton Joseph bolted for Wisconsin, leaving sophomore Quinn Henicle — who ran for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns in the bowl win — to hold off Washington State transfer Jaxon Potter.
Show fees
11:00 PM CT
Spread
ML
Total
ODU Old Dominion
CCU Coastal Carolina
Both rosters will look different by the time Coastal Carolina hosts this one, which is normal for a game this far out on the calendar. What isn't in doubt yet is the direction each program is trending: ODU ascending under a stable staff, Coastal Carolina hoping a well-regarded young hire can stop the slide before it gets worse.
Old Dominion Monarchs
Oct 30?vs Marshall—
Oct 23?@ Louisiana Tech—
Oct 15?vs Georgia Southern—
Oct 9?@ App State—
Oct 2?@ Georgia State—
Sep 25?vs James Madison—
Sep 19?vs East Carolina—
Sep 12?@ Virginia Tech—
Sep 5?vs Norfolk State—
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
Oct 30?@ Georgia State—
Oct 16?vs App State—
Oct 9?@ Marshall—
Oct 2?vs Georgia Southern—
Sep 24?vs Liberty—
Sep 19?@ Delaware—
Sep 12?vs Fordham—
Sep 5?@ West Virginia—
Recent form.
Preseason projections back up the eye test. ESPN's Sun Belt preview has ODU chasing James Madison in the East off that 10-3 run, while CCU was tabbed 5th in the division despite landing 3 preseason All-Sun Belt selections among Beard's transfer haul — names like RB Dominic Knicely and DE Ibrahim Diawara give the defense a floor even if the offense is still figuring itself out. ODU's continuity shows up in its own returnees, with RB Devin Roche and defensive backs Mario Easterly and Zion Frink back to anchor a group that already knows how to close out close games.
Old Dominion Monarchs
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
The two programs haven't played much recently, but Coastal Carolina has taken 2 of the last 3 meetings — worth remembering before anyone assumes ODU just rolls in and wins because the arrow's pointing up. Beard's Missouri State teams proved capable of quick turnarounds, and a home crowd in a rebuilding year can still be dangerous against a team that hasn't faced this many roster unknowns on the other sideline. Friday, November 6 is a long way off, but the story lines are already sharper than most Sun Belt matchups this early: an ascending program with real hardware to defend against a first-year coach trying to stop a five-year skid.
