ODU defeats Georgia State, 53-27

ATLANTA

It wasn’t the picture-perfect homecoming that Taylor Heinicke had hoped for.

Old Dominion’s standout quarterback threw three interceptions, nearly threw a couple more picks and got sacked four times in his first college game played in his hometown.

“I played horribly,” he said. “It was one of my worst performances of the year.”

But Heinicke played well enough to lead ODU to a 53-27 victory over Georgia State on Saturday at the Georgia Dome that the Monarchs say clinched a bid to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

At 8-1 overall, the fifth-ranked Monarchs will finish no worse than 8-3. And rarely has a Colonial Athletic Association team been denied an NCAA berth with such a record.

“Eight wins gets us in,” coach Bobby Wilder said. “I think nine wins gets us a home game in the playoffs.”

Sophomore tailback Tyree Lee was a workhorse for ODU, rushing 25 times for 126 yards and two touchdowns. It was the third time this season – and second in a row – that he has rushed for more than 100 yards.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Phoebus High graduate, who was a third-stringer two weeks ago, appears to have helped fix what had been a poor ODU rushing attack – at least for the time being.

A sophomore from the Atlanta suburb of Lawrence-ville, Ga., Heinicke completed 28 of 42 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns. And while those numbers sound good, he was well below his average of nearly 470 passing yards per game.

Heinicke was feted by the Atlanta media prior to the game and saw hundreds of family members, friends and former teammates and coaches.

“I don’t know what it was, if I was too comfortable coming home, but I wasn’t myself,” he said.

“When we flew into Atlanta yesterday, it felt so good. I felt at home. And I don’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.

“We came here on a business trip, to play a football game. And my mind might have been a little distant.”

Georgia State fell to 1-9 in the last home game for coach Bill Curry, who is retiring after this season.

ODU appeared on the way to a blowout victory early on, taking a 32-0 halftime lead as Heinicke picked apart Georgia State’s secondary and the Monarch defense limited the Panthers to 124 yards and just eight first downs.

With the exception of a 55-yard pass from quarterback Ben McLane to Emmanuel Ogbuehi, ODU held Georgia State to just 69 offensive yards.

“That was unquestionably the best half of football we’ve played,” Wilder said.

But ODU has been challenged to maintain defensive intensity with big leads this season, and that was the case on Saturday.

At halftime, Curry made a change at quarterback, subbing Ronnie Bell for Ben McLane, and the Panthers responded well, mounting a 74-yard touchdown drive on the first possession of the second half that was capped by a Rosevelt Watson 3-yard run.

ODU responded with an 81-yard touchdown drive in which Heinicke completed 4 of 5 passes, including a 62-yarder to Blair Roberts that set up a Nick Mayers touchdown reception.

However, Albert Wilson returned a kickoff 100 yards for Georgia State, trimming the ODU lead to 39-14 and bringing the crowd of 12,293 to life.

Although the Panthers would score twice more, the Monarchs matched every Georgia State touchdown.

“When you’re down that far to a really good football team, it’s difficult to come back and win,” Curry said.

Heinicke said Georgia State’s secondary played the same way Villanova did when the Wildcats handed ODU its only loss last month – its safeties played deep, denying long throws, but the cornerbacks played aggressively in order to deny short throws as well.

“Georgia State’s secondary played well and Taylor made some mistakes,” Wilder said.

“But I need to remind Taylor that we’re 8-1 and that he’s quite honestly the primary reason we’re 8-1.

“We want to be very careful. By Taylor’s standards, this wasn’t a great game. But we need to make sure that it doesn’t affect his confidence level.” 

Harry Minium, 757-446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com; twitter.com/@harry_miniumVP