Welcome to the 2025 college football preseason
Offseason hibernation is over. The days are getting longer, but time is getting shorter until Ireland gets introduced to Farmaggedon. Now is the time to start learning about teams for the 2025 season, whether it’s the new QB for the reigning National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes or who has the best chance to win Conference-USA. This series will cover my top 100 preseason college football rankings for 2025 as we count down 100 days until Week 0. We will dive into a new team each day as we draw closer to the college football season.
Countdown to Kickoff: Day 91
Coming in at No. 91 in our 2025 preseason rankings: Old Dominion Monarchs.
Old Dominion is coached by Ricky Rahne, who is in his 6th year with the program and has a program record of 20-30. The Monarchs finished last year with a record of 5-7 and 3rd in the Sun Belt East.
Old Dominion returns 57% of production from the 2024 team: 46% on the Offense and 68% on the Defense. According to 247Sports, the Monarchs finished the 2025 cycle landing 31 recruits and ending the recruiting cycle with the 102nd overall ranked class, which was good for 8th in the Sun Belt. Along with their high school recruiting, Old Dominion has brought in 14 players through the transfer portal and has a portal ranking of 134. 38% of the 2025 roster will be made up of new additions.
Offensive Coordinator Kevin Decker, heading into his fourth year with the program, will lead the offense that put up 28 points per game last season (53rd nationally). The Monarchs finished 2024 with 70.8 plays per game (45th) and a pace of 23.7 seconds per play (19th). The offense averaged 40.1 runs (22nd) for 209.8 per game (13th), along with 27.8 pass attempts (95th) for 192.6 yards per game (101st). The offense relied on the run, with a 55%-44% run-pass play call split. The overall offensive success rate was 42%.
Up front, Old Dominion brings back 51% of its offensive line production from last year, including three clear-cut starters for 2025. Colton Joseph returns for his second year in the program and aims to improve the poor pass success rate from 40% in 2024. In 2024, Joseph finished with 27.8 fantasy points per game. In 75% of games, Lewis passed for at least 130 yards and 19.85 fantasy points, with a season high of 52.1 and a low of 0.7
The Monarchs return 5% of the receiving production from 2024, with Na-eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding being the only returning contributor. 2024 leader Jaden Smith totaled 819 yards, 3 touchdowns, led the team with 61 receptions, and averaged 14.15 fantasy points per game. In 75% of his games, he scored 3.8 fantasy points. His best game was against Appalachian State, where he caught 13 passes for 205 yards and 1 touchdown.
The ground game returns 58% of rushing production from 2024. With the departure of Aaron Young, Devin Roche is expected to be the lead back for 2025. Young’s skillset, mixed with the game script, led him to 172 carries, 887 yards, and 8 touchdowns. Young finished with 13.89 fantasy points per game. Young surpassed 8.5 fantasy points in 75% of his games, totaling 67 rushing yards in those starts.
Old Dominion enters 2025 with the 79th-ranked strength of schedule. The Monarchs will play in front of their home fans 6 times, with back-to-back home games in Weeks 7 and 8.
Our model predicts a 5-7 record for the Monarchs. Our model gives the team a 75+% win expectancy in 1 game, a 50-75% win expectancy in 5 games, a 25-50% win expectancy in 3 games, and a <25% win expectancy in 3 games.
According to their conference championship odds of +1200 at DraftKings, the Monarchs are predicted to finish 6th in the Sun Belt.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to return tomorrow as we continue the countdown with Team 90.
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Returning Production for all teams can be found at Punt and Rally Stats for all players can be found at College Football Team Stats | TeamRankings.com
