Old Dominion is coming off a Cure Bowl title and a six-game winning streak. Georgia State is coming off an 0-8 conference season that ended with nine straight losses. This Sun Belt opener has a mismatch written all over it.
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ODUGAST
ODUGAST
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Best BetOld Dominion
Old Dominion is the far more complete program walking into this one — a 10-3 team with a proven coaching staff and a defense that returns nearly everyone, against a Georgia State squad that lost its final nine games last season. The Monarchs' offensive turnover is real, but it shouldn't be enough to erase this big a talent gap. Back ODU here even before accounting for how thin Georgia State's roster is beyond a handful of pieces.
Old Dominion
+Went 10-3, won Cure Bowl over South Florida
+Six-game winning streak to close 2025
+Six of top 9 DBs return on defense
−Lost starting QB Colton Joseph to Wisconsin portal
−Lost OC Kevin Decker to Memphis
−Only Devin Roche returns among pass catchers
Georgia State
+Cameran Brown averaged 25.3 PPG in his starts
+Three experienced starters back on offensive line
+New DC brings fresh system after 134th-ranked D
−Went 1-11, 0-8 in Sun Belt, lost final nine games
−Nine of 11 losses came by double digits
−Only four total returning starters
There's no probable-pitcher card here, but there might as well be a marquee matchup missing on both sidelines. Old Dominion enters fall camp replacing quarterback Colton Joseph, who transferred to Wisconsin, and offensive coordinator Kevin Decker, who left for Memphis — a lot of continuity walking out the door after a 10-3 season. Head coach Ricky Rahne has to sort out a QB battle between Quinn Henicle and Washington State transfer Jaxon Potter before the Monarchs open Sun Belt play in Atlanta on Friday, Oct. 2.
Georgia State, meanwhile, is trying to build off literally nothing. Dell McGee's Panthers went 1-11 in 2025, 0-8 in the Sun Belt, and lost their final nine games — nine of 11 defeats by double digits. The one thing worth watching is sophomore QB Cameran Brown, who averaged 25.3 points per game across his four starts last year and gives Georgia State a dual-threat piece to build around behind three returning offensive line starters.
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ODU Old Dominion
GAST Georgia State
The gap between these two programs is about as wide as it gets in the Sun Belt. ODU projects as an East Division contender capable of crashing the conference title picture; Georgia State projects as one of the worst teams in the FBS. That disparity is the whole story here — this is a rebuilding-year measuring-stick game for McGee's program against a Monarchs squad that's trying to prove last year's breakthrough wasn't a fluke.
Old Dominion Monarchs
Sep 25?vs James Madison—
Sep 19?vs East Carolina—
Sep 12?@ Virginia Tech—
Sep 5?vs Norfolk State—
Georgia State Panthers
Sep 25?vs Northern Illinois—
Sep 19?@ UCF—
Sep 12?@ Kennesaw State—
Sep 4?vs North Carolina A&T—
Recent form.
Give Georgia State credit for retooling on defense — a new coordinator is inheriting a unit that finished 134th nationally in 2025, allowing 37.8 points a game, and there's nowhere to go but up. The portal additions, running back Lanear McCrary Jr. and edge rusher Xavier Esquillen among them, are the kind of pieces McGee has leaned on to speed-run a roster rebuild. But four returning starters total is a brutal number to open a season with, especially against a team that still has six of its top nine defensive backs back.
That defensive continuity is Old Dominion's real advantage here. Even with the offense in flux, the Monarchs ranked 13th nationally in yards per dropback allowed in 2025, and that unit doesn't need a new quarterback to be good. Whoever wins the ODU quarterback job just needs to avoid mistakes behind a defense that can carry the team on the road in Atlanta.
