Old Dominion coach preps team for loud and rowdy crowd at Williams-Brice Stadium
Old Dominion coach Ricky Rahne is turning up the volume in practice to get his team ready for Saturday’s opener against South Carolina.
Rahne said they have speakers blaring some of the music and sounds they expect to hear in the Monarchs’ first trip to Williams-Brice Stadium.
“We listened to (2001) Space Odyssey an ungodly amount of times and will probably crank up the rooster noises a little bit,” Rahne said Monday at his weekly press conference. “You just try to make it so it’s white noise as much as anything. Sometimes you will use white noise or even jet noises to simulate a crowd such as that. You are just trying to make it so guys could communicate, particularly the offense in that type of environment.”
This will be the first matchup between the two schools and only the second time ODU has faced a Southeastern Conference opponent. The Monarchs lost to Vanderbilt in 2014.
ODU played a night game last season at Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium, which is known for its rowdy environment.
Williams-Brice is also known for its loud crowds, the playing of “Sandstorm” on kickoffs, “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the crowing rooster sounds before an opposing team’s third down.
Rahne is no stranger to Williams-Brice Stadium, having been an assistant at Vanderbilt from 2011-13.
“We can prepare them for the noise and things like that. But one thing I want them all to do is soak it for a second and hopefully it is really, really quiet for the rest of the game,” Rahne said. “This is why you play college football for these types of environments whether it is our own home environment which is really awesome or being able to go on the road for something like this. This is what you dream of when you are a little kid.
“You don’t dream of an empty stadium and people sitting on their hands. You dream of it being loud, excited, having chants and things like that. I think it will be something that our guys will really enjoy.”
Here are some of the other highlights from Rahne’s press conference on Monday:
On Shane Beamer, South Carolina special teams
Rahne discussed the respect he has for Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer and USC’s special teams, which excelled under assistant Pete Lembo. The Gamecocks have a new special teams coordinator in Joe DeCamillis, who replaced Lembo after he took the Buffalo head coaching job. DeCamillis has experience as an NFL special teams coach, most recently in 2021-22 with the Los Angeles Rams.
“Coach Beamer grew up in the business and has a certain way of how he wants things to go. I think his teams play tough,” Rahne said. “You expect them to play good special teams just how he was raised in the business. They have a new special teams coordinator but obviously he has a ton of experience particularly in the NFL. But that is one area you always expect them to do is always play great special teams.”
USC’s improved running attack
South Carolina added three transfer running backs, including Arkansas’ Rocket Sanders in the offseason and signed another to help with its ground game. USC also worked to beef up the offensive line with transfers Kamaar Bell and Torricelli Simpkins III possibly starting along true freshman Josiah Thompson.
“They didn’t run the ball as well as they wanted to last year. They really invested heavily building both offensive and defensive lines,” Rahne said. “That is one area we got to expect they are going to go out and try to run the ball better. That doesn’t mean they are going to run it more. … They want to run it more efficiently.
“When you bring in a guy like Shawn Elliott (tight ends/run game coordinator) who I coached against and I know the toughness he brings. That mentality is going to start to rub off on the offense too.”
Rahne responds to stat padding
Rahne also was asked about the stats ODU preseason All-American linebacker Jason Henderson has put up over the past two years.
Henderson led the nation with 186 tackles in 2022 and then 170 last year. Alex Kirschner, host of Split Zone Podcast, called into question some of the numbers. He pointed out that 246 of his 356 tackles were assists and that he averaged 5.5 more tackles at home than on the road.
“Old Dominion’s official scorer is totally distorting the national tackling leaderboard in college football,” Kirschner said.
Rahne stuck up for his player and the numbers.
“I think it is a great example of what social media is in today’s world,” the ODU coach said. “Go on there, say something in a controversial manner, have some evidence to back it up but ignore any evidence that would say it is untrue. ... Everyone has a hot button opinion on something, has some evidence and decides to ignore all other evidence that would speak to the contrary.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2024 at 7:12 PM.
