BUIES CREEK, NC. - Campbell's football team (1-1) dropped its home opener to Old Dominion (1-1) on Saturday, Sept. 11, at Baker-Lane Stadium in front of a crowd of 5,462. The Camels were limited to 190 yards, while allowing 463.

ODU started the scoring with a Thomas DeMarco 22-yard touchdown pass to Marquel Thomas to finish off a 12 play 76-yard drive to open the game. The Jarod Brown kick was good to give the Monarchs a 7-0 lead with 10:51 remaining in the first quarter. The touchdown was ODU's ninth opening drive score in 13 career games.

The Monarchs continued their offensive attack and scored on their second possession of the game on a DeMarco 10-yard toss to Reid Evans with 5:32 left in the first quarter. The extra point was missed to keep the margin at 13-0.

DeMarco connected again with Evans for a score on the first play of the second quarter, this time from eight-yards out, to increase the margin to 20-0 after the made Brown extra point.

The Camels broke through for a score and grinded down the second quarter clock with 14-play 80-yard drive that covered 7:40 of clock time. The drive was completed on redshirt senior Daniel Polk's six-yard jaunt. The extra point from redshirt junior Adam Willets made the score 20-7 with 1:13 remaining in the half.

CU cut the deficit to 10 at the break on Willets' 46-yard field goal. The field goal finished off a four play 27-yard drive for Campbell that was aided by two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on ODU that negated a potential Polk interception. The field goal was the second longest of Willets' career. The entire drive was set up off an interception from sophomore Paul Pizzuti.

ODU added a touchdown to the lead to start the second half as DeMarco connected with Thomas for the second time, this one from eight-yards out, to increase the margin to 27-10 after the Brown extra point. The touchdown pass was the fourth of the game for DeMarco.

The Camels answered the ensuing drive with Willets' second field goal of the game. The field goal came from 38-yard out and drew Campbell to within two touchdowns at 27-13 late in the third quarter with 2:37 remaining.

The Monarchs were on the march again the following drive, aided by a 47-yard reception from Mario Crawford on the drive, and scored on DeMarco's one-yard rush. The Brown extra point again put the Camels behind by three touchdowns with 00:42 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The Monarchs added a sixth touchdown on Colby Goodwyn's one-yard run. The Brown extra point increased the margin to 41-13 with 12:48 remaining in the game.

ODU finished the scoring with a late 19-yard Brown field goal to make the final score 44-13.

DeMarco accounted for five touchdowns with four passing scores for ODU. He was 26-for-33 for 273 yards. CU's offensive effort was led by Polk who ran for 38 yards and passed for 68. Redshirt junior Milton Brown led the defensive team with a career-tying 13 stops for Campbell.

The Camels continue the long homestand with a 1 p.m. Pioneer Football League game against Davidson on Sept. 18.

Notes: The loss drops Campbell to 1-2 all-time against schools from the state of Virginia and makes the Camels 2-9 at home since the program was restarted...the 44 points allowed are the most for the program since the team allowed 49 to Drake on Nov. 7, 2009.

Coach Steele Quotes

What threw off the run game today?

"I don't know that it was anything that ODU did in particular; we have to improve on the executing with the football. The strongest part of our offense is our offensive line and our run game. We knew we had some issues passing at the beginning of the year and it's something that we have to continue working on. We were trying to run our normal offense with our triple option and it just wasn't working for us today. They are a good football team and they came to play today. We played these same kids last year, but are stronger than last year. They are a very good football team. They have a lot of speed and are very well coached. Our margin for error was very small today and we just need to take this and learn from it."

Did it surprise you that they had all the screen passes and short passes today?

"That wasn't surprising as much as their defense blitzed more this year than last year. It meant that we couldn't hold the football as long or throw the ball down the field effectively. We tried to throw them off by using shorter passes and getting the ball out of our Daniel's (Polk) hands quickly, but it definitely affected our game. Our personality isn't to throw every down like they do. We don't have many hot routes so when a team sends that much at us it can really throw us off."

How did it feel to go into halftime only down ten but then not perform in the second half?

"We played well in spots, we had a turnover and it was a big momentum boost. We will find some good things from this game, but we will also find some things that we need to improve on."

What do you think of DeMarco's play today?

"He's a great football player and a great athlete. He is very effective and we knew he could give us fits today.

We didn't tackle very well. They are good football team, but everybody is a good football team if you don't rap up and tackle them. We will be doing many tackling in the open field drills this week."

On the loss

"We're going hurt for 24 hours today and then get ready to start conference play next week against Davidson. Davidson is an in-state rivalry and we want to get off to a good start in conference play next week."