The Shadow
FOREST, Va. – The Old Dominion Athletic Conference released its 2025 football pre-season poll Wednesday, voted on by the leagues head coaches, with Roanoke College placing sixth in the nine-team league. Defending champion Randolph-Macon College earned eight of the nine first-pace votes to rank atop the ODAC, followed by Washington & Lee, Shenandoah, Bridgewater and Hampden-Sydney. Three teams (Roanoke, Averett and Guilford) came within one point of each other for sixth through eighth place and Gallaudet ranked ninth.
The Maroons open the season at home on Saturday, Sept. 6 against the Virginia University of Lynchburg. The program is joining the Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) ranks in 2025 after competing last fall as a club sport. This is the first season of varsity football since 1942, when it was forced to disband the program because of the constraints of World War II.
The ODAC’s football membership stands at nine members entering the 2025 slate. Ferrum College departed the league following the 2024-25 academic year, reducing the conference’s gridiron number to seven programs. Gallaudet University and RC quickly bring the league’s change to a net plus-one with the Bison joining the conference as an associate member and the Maroons kicking off their first varsity season following a very successful club campaign during its return to football in 2024.
