NORFOLK — Old Dominion’s defense has not been a sweeping sword for the past two weeks, leaving mass casualties in its wake.

Rather, opponents have suffered death by a thousand cuts. The Monarchs, individually and collectively, have been holding the sharp-edged paper.

Including Thursday’s 33-0 demolition of Troy, ODU has held its two most recent foes to all of six points.

The resurgence followed a three-game span in which the Monarchs (7-3, 4-2 Sun Belt Conference) went 1-2 and gave up a combined 132 points.

Against Troy, ODU registered a program-record nine sacks, allowed a program-low 138 total yards and pitched its first shutout since 2017.

The difference, sixth-year coach Ricky Rahne said, hasn’t been entirely schematic. Sound individual play, regardless of the called package, has

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