The Monarchs, three-touchdown underdogs, are coming off a 6-7 record in 2023.
South Carolina was 5-7 under fourth-year head coach Shane Beamer, who is 20-18 at the school since taking the job in 2021.
Game Notes
- The game is set for a 4:15 p.m. ET kickoff on the SEC Network.
- This is the first meeting between the two programs and ODU’s first game against an SEC opponent since a 2013 tilt at Vanderbilt.
- ODU played a Division I record 11 one-score games in 2023, going 6-5 in those games. Of the 11 one-score games, six came down to the final play of the game. ODU went 3-3 in those games.
- South Carolina finished 2023 with a 5-7 record and went 3-5 in the SEC. The Gamecocks won 3-of-their-last four games on the year. SC was 5-2 at home and 0-4 on the road.
- ODU linebacker Jason Henderson led the country in tackles per game for the second-straight season with 14.2. He finished the year with 170 tackles, second behind only Jay Higgins of Iowa, who played two more games, and was fourth in the country with 19.5 tackles for loss. Henderson earned first-team All-America honors last season and is a two-time All-American.
- When Grant Wilson takes the opening snap from center in the season opener at South Carolina, he will become the first ODU quarterback in nine years to start the season-opener in back-to-back years. Not since Taylor Heinicke started the 2012, 2013 and 2014 season openers have the Monarchs started the same QB in consecutive years.
- Wilson started 11 games at quarterback for ODU last season. The Fordham transfer completed 178-of-312 passes for 2,149 yards and 17 touchdowns with eight interceptions last season.
- Old Dominion has 57 newcomers, including 28 transfers.
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Chris Graham
