Old Dominion head coach Ricky Rahne and starting quarterback Colton Joseph are looking for a historical upset to kick-off the 2025 season as they take on the No. 20 ranked Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday.
“This game is going to be hard,” Cignetti told On3Sports this week “I expect a very tough challenge from Old Dominion, and we’re going to have to play really well from the first play to the last play.”
"“All but one of Old Dominion’s losses last year were by one score or less,” Cignetti said. “Like I’ve told you in the past, they’ve beaten Virginia Tech twice in recent history, so we’ve got to be ready to go.”"
Last season, Old Dominion almost started the season with one of the biggest upsets of the year when they took on the South Carolina Gamecocks, where the final score was 23-19. Old Dominion finished 5-7 overall and 4-4 in Sun Belt Conference play but the young team brings a lot of talent back into the fold and they are right on the cusp of being a top tier Sun-Belt team in 2025. ODU knows it all starts with the quarterback Colton Joseph and the Monarchs offense.
The Newport Beach, California native Joseph completed 133-of-122 passes last season for 1,627 yards,11 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, in five career starts. The redshirt sophomore also rushed for 647 yards and 11 touchdowns, making him fourth in the Sun Belt Conference in rushing touchdowns and finishing seventh in the league with 72 rushing yards per game.
This is how ODU QB Colton Joseph performed in 2024.
— taylor from bite-sized bison (@ByTaylorL) August 25, 2025
Plenty analysis to come from this in this week's BSB Preview. pic.twitter.com/MpOnnKnnZS
Curt Cignetti knows exactly how dangerous Sun Belt teams can be — because he helped make them that way. His rise at James Madison helped the conferences national respect and profile. At James Madison was 52-9 overall across five seasons (2019-2023).
“Obviously, we’ve talked about the history of the Sun Belt teams, current members of the Sun Belt and the blue bloods that they have defeated,” he said. “It’s a who’s who in the top 15.”
Here's what ODU head coach Ricky Rahne said about facing off against Indiana week one.
“It takes good players and a good plan to win against a Power school,” Rahne said. “And we’ve got good players and a good plan when we’ve played them.”
"“Our guys want to play in these environments because that’s what college football is all about, right? When you’re a kid throwing a football in the back yard that’s the type of environment that you imagine."
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound quarterback will try and lead Rahne's offense to another close nail biter and this time a victory, as he wasn't the quarterback on the South Carolina game it was Fernando Mendoza's back up Grant Wilson who transferred to Indiana this off-season after losing his jon to Joseph during the middle of 2024 season.
His best game came on a Thursday night game on ESPN2 against Georgia Southern, when he completed 20 of 26 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns while also rushing for 69 yards and another TD.
His worse performance was versus App State where he had five turnovers in a 28-20 loss on the road.
“He’s a playmaker,” said Kevin Decker, ODU’s offensive coordinator. “So, you don’t want to handcuff the kid. You want him to make plays, and he made a bunch last season.
“But there’s a fine line. You’ve got to know when to fight that urge, when you’ve got to tuck it.
He’s made every list I’ve seen of the Top 10 quarterbacks in the Group of 6. The media named him to the preseason All-Sun Belt third team and he was also named to the Manning Award Watch List.
Is Joseph ready to explode on the national scene in 2025?!
The Hoosiers will square off against Joseph and the Monarchs offense on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 PM CT at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. The game will be broadcast on FS1.