Editor’s note: This is part seven of a 13-part series previewing each of Western Kentucky’s opponents for the 2021 football season. Part seven features a look at Old Dominion. Part eight will preview FIU.

When Western Kentucky faces its first Conference USA East Division opponent this fall, it won’t have anything to go off of from last year to try to help it.

The Hilltoppers open up divisional play Oct. 16 at S.B. Ballard Stadium in Norfolk, Va., against an Old Dominion team that opted not to play last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think there’s a number of different things I’ve been able to learn about the guys,” ODU head coach Ricky Rahne said in July at the C-USA virtual media days. “The one thing that stands out above and beyond everything is you find out who loves the game of football and who loves the process of the game of football, because our process has been a little bit longer than most.

“I’ve said it a bunch of times, but we’ve been using a quote by Abraham Lincoln – ‘If you give me six hours to chop down a tree, I’ll spend the first four sharpening the axe.’ Well, we’ve had a long four hours of sharpening that axe before we get to swing it, so you find out real quick who loves the game and who just loves the hype of game day.”

The two programs were scheduled to meet last season on Halloween at Houchens-Smith Stadium on what would have been WKU’s homecoming, but the Monarchs announced in early August they would not be playing football in the fall of 2020. After several schedule changes, the Hilltoppers instead ended up eventually traveling to Provo, Utah, to face a ranked BYU team that day.

But for ODU, that means it hasn’t taken the field for an actual game since Nov. 30, 2019, when it fell to Charlotte to end a 1-11 season in which it lost its last 11 games. The Monarchs finished last in C-USA in scoring offense at 16.3 points per game and ninth in scoring defense, allowing 29.8 points per game.

And for Rahne, the opt out meant a wait to coach his first game with the program after being named head coach Dec. 11, 2019, after working at Penn State from 2014-19, with 2018-19 as the team’s offensive coordinator. The Monarchs will get their first taste of game action this fall Sept. 3 at Wake Forest, and will also host Hampton, travel to Liberty, host Buffalo, and travel to UTEP and Marshall before the Oct. 16 meeting with WKU.

“You get to know them on a pretty personal level without the games getting in the way and you get to really dive into these guys and see how they handle adversity and you give them different opportunities to lead and see how they’ll grab it and how they lead – everyone doesn’t lead the same way,” Rahne said.

ODU returns Stone Smart and Hayden Wolff at quarterback, and also brought in Central Florida transfer Darriel D.J. Mack. Smart, a 6-foot-4, 232-pound senior, threw for 1,006 yards and a touchdown on 101 of 177 passing with six interceptions in 10 games in 2019, while Wolff threw for 737 yards and two touchdowns on 75 of 129 passing with three interceptions as a freshman in 2019. Mack, a Norfolk native, threw for 838 yards and seven touchdowns with two interceptions in 19 games over two seasons at UCF, including three starts. He was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2018 AAC Championship Game.

“I think we’re blessed with three quarterbacks that have played meaningful reps in college football games. We might, in terms of that, have more experience than most teams in the conference – three guys that have really played,” Rahne said. “ … Those guys are going to continue to go all the way through camp and see who’s going to battle for the starting job, and hopefully two weeks before our first game we’ll have a starter picked out, and then I’ll tell all of you about two minutes before the game, that way you guys can keep writing this story over and over again and you guys can spend a little more time with your families because you can just recycle this story over.”

The Monarchs have added nine transfers who played at other FBS schools in 2020, with six coming from Power Five programs. That list of transfers includes cornerback Roger Cray, who transferred from WKU where he played significant minutes, including in nine games with eight starts last season. The Power Five transfers include receiver Trey Blount from Georgia, defensive end Deeve Harris from Minnesota, offensive lineman Tyran Hunt from Maryland, receiver Ali Jennings III from West Virginia, offensive lineman Gerrik Vollmer from Virginia and tight end Zack Kuntz from Penn State.

WKU leads the all-time series 5-1 and is 3-0 in Norfolk, including a 20-3 victory over the Monarchs during the 2019 season. The Hilltoppers’ only loss to ODU came in 2018, 37-34.

Kickoff for the Oct. 16 game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT.{&end}