This is the Depth Dossier: the Old Dominion Monarchs, Week 8.

Old Dominion walked out of Ruston with a shutout loss, a third-string quarterback, and negative rushing yardage, and that combination tells you just how ugly this one was. Louisiana Tech won it 26 to nothing.

With starting quarterback Quinn Henicle and backup Ryan Huff both ruled out, third-stringer Jaxon Potter made his first career start. He took six sacks behind a line that couldn't open a single running lane all day. Old Dominion finished with 22 carries for minus 13 yards. Potter actually threw the ball down the field well, averaging over 11 yards per attempt, but by the time you factor in the sacks and an interception, the numbers settled at 4.5 yards an attempt.

Linebacker Ja'Mez Drummer had a career-high 15 tackles, and the defense actually held up well, limiting Louisiana Tech to just 3 points per scoring chance. But Louisiana Tech held the ball for 39 minutes and 19 seconds, and that wore Old Dominion down. The only time the offense got inside Louisiana Tech's 30-yard line all game, it ended in a missed 40-yard field goal.

Take away the sacks, and the running game still only managed 16 carries for 24 yards, barely a yard and a half a carry, with more than half those carries stuffed at or behind the line. Louisiana Tech hadn't put up a negative rushing total against an opponent since 2014, and it happened against an Old Dominion line making its first start with a new left tackle. Defensive end Jadon Mayfield had two of the six sacks, with four other Louisiana Tech defenders splitting the rest.

Field position made things even harder. Old Dominion's average starting spot was its own 18 and a half yard line, the worst of any team in the country this week. The lone real scoring threat came on a 10-play drive in the third quarter that stalled at the Louisiana Tech 22, setting up that missed 40-yard field goal. Two more drives that crossed midfield later died on fourth down, while trailing by 23 and then 26 points, which says more about desperation than aggression.

Give credit to the defense for keeping this from spiraling further. Louisiana Tech scored only 9 points across six second-half possessions. Defensive lineman Koa Naotala had two sacks and seven tackles for loss on his own. But Louisiana Tech's quarterback went 28 of 34 passing, and all that time of possession eventually caught up with Old Dominion.

A couple other notes worth mentioning. Louisiana Tech's first field goal was actually wiped out by a holding penalty before they made one from 49 yards. And this was Old Dominion's first shutout loss since a 2022 game against Marshall.

Now, the quarterback situation is the whole story going forward. With both Henicle and Huff out, Potter is the only healthy quarterback who has taken a snap this season. His 154-yard, one-interception day under constant pressure doesn't change that math, because there's no proven alternative behind him. Head coach Ricky Rahne put it simply: "Old Dominion nation deserves more than this."

Up front, the new left tackle's first career start came with six sacks allowed behind him, though the coaching staff hasn't pinned the blame on any one player, since the whole line struggled to create movement in the run game. Whether that tackle keeps the job is still an open question.

On defense, Drummer's 15 tackles and linebacker Jackson Forrest's career-high 11 tackles were the clearest bright spots, with the linebacker corps carrying a unit that spent 39 minutes on the field. Naotala's pass rush adds to a defensive line that's generating pressure even when the scoreboard doesn't show it.

So the question heading into next week is simple. Can either quarterback get healthy, and can that offensive line give whoever starts enough time to actually function? Nothing else on this depth chart matters until that gets answered.

This was the depth dossier. For everything college football, be it depth charts, data or dossiers, head over to C F B Depth dot com. We will be back next week. This was an AI-generated podcast from content developed by real human beings passionate about college football.