CONWAY, S.C. — Facing one of the nation's hottest football teams on its home field, Old Dominion responded with its best and most complete game of the season and rolled to a runaway, upset victory on national television.
ODU's offense exploded for 35 points in the second half and blew past previously unbeaten Coastal Carolina, 49-21 in front of a stunned homecoming crowd of 16,814 at Brooks Stadium.
Coastal had won 28 of its last 31 games and was unbeaten in six games this season.
The offensive hero for ODU was running back Blake Watson. The 5-foot-9, redshirt junior from Queens, New York, set the school record previously held by Thomas DeMarco by rushing for 256 yards on 18 carries. He also scored three touchdowns. His 14.2 yards per carry is also an ODU record.
It was the second signature victory for ODU (3-3, 2-0 Sun Belt) televised on ESPNU. The Monarchs upset Virginia Tech, 20-17, in their home opener.
The victory ended a nine-game Coastal winning streak and moved ODU into second place in the Sun Belt Conference East standings.
Coming off a bye week, the Monarchs solved whatever ailed their offense and rolled to a season-high 525 yards. Each time Coastal (6-1, 3-1) pulled within striking distance, the Monarch offense would retaliate.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Reihner added some wrinkles to his offense, including subbing in backup quarterback D.J. Mack several times, and that appeared to catch the Chanticleers off guard.
Mack rushed 20 yards for a touchdown early in the third quarter and then passed 21 yards to tight end Isaiah Spencer eight minutes later.
ODU led, 14-7 at the half before blowing open the game in the second half.
ODU coach Ricky Rahne said the Monarchs set the tone for the game on the opening drive, when the Monarchs drove 73 yards in eight plays capped by Watson's 25-yard touchdown run.
Rahne praised Reihner, his first-year, 30-year-old coordinator, for wrinkles he made to ODU's offense.
"He's a very talented coach who as he gets more experience is going to keep getting better and better and better," Rahne said. "I'm so proud of how he and the rest of the offensive coaches responded, that they were able to tolerate me daily in the meeting room and were still able to execute on a daily basis."
The soft-spoken Watson said the single-game ruhing record isn't his.
"A record like that is about all of the people around me," he said. "I mean, I can't break any records without the offensive line blocking for me, without the receivers out there blocking for me.
"It's a blessing, but I didn't do this by myself."
As if to punctuate that point, on Watson's final touchdown of the game, a 67-yard rush with 10:16 left that gave ODU a 21-point lead, wide receiver Javon Harvey hustled down the field and used his body to shade Watson from two defenders as he ran the last 10 yards.
The first TD of the second half was set up by a fumble caused and recovered by Tre Hawkins, which led to a 69-yard drive capped by Mack's 20-yard TD run.
Then came a fourth-down stand by ODU's defense that seemed to knock the life out of Coastal. On fourth and one from the ODU 49, Coastal Carolina went for the first down. But defensive end Marcus Haynes sacked quarterback Grayson McCall for a 10-yard loss.
ODU then drove 41 yards in 54 seconds, with Isiah Paige catching a 22-yard TD pass from Wolff that gave ODU a 28-7 lead.
Coastal twice cut the lead to 14, but each time, the Monarchs responded, with Watson's running for 67-yard touchdown run all but sealing the victory.
Asked if it was ODU's best and most comlete game since he came to ODU, Rahne said it might be.
"It's certainly up there," he said. "I mean, I'd have to go through the tape and look at everything before I could say that."
He said having both the offense and defense firing on all cylinders was certainly a main factor in Saturday's victory. ODU's offense has struggled to score most of the season.
"I thought that was key because we hadn't necessarily done that this year," he said. "I thought we responded in a really, really good way
"I was proud of how our defense responded after we gave up a big play. I thought we just played really well from the beginning of the game. That was a pretty special performance really by all three phases of the game."
ODU hosts Georgia Southern Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in its annual homecoming game.
