Guest Post: Weber is a State?

Hart won last week’s prediction contest. Here’s a fun little piece to get y’all fired up a bit before Friday’s game. 

Somehow I won last week’s prediction contest and now I’ve been tasked with writing a guest post as is tradition with the JMU Sports Blog.  It is my first time winning despite several years of predictions and I sense that I might be on a Redneck roll.  I’m tempted to start playing lottery scratch off tickets so I can win $100 and buy two 12-packs and a tank of gas with it.  Then I could be caller number five on a radio station and win a 4 day/3 night beach vacation.  Maybe not.  I’ll just chalk it up to being lucky.

Well, there is only one thing to write about this week and that would be the FCS playoff game against Weber State.  If you are anything like me, you didn’t know jack squat about Weber State until they became the next team in between the Dukes and another FCS title.  My first thought was to contact their administration and inform them that Weber is not a state and suggest that the name get corrected if they want to be taken seriously as an institution of higher learning.  Since I didn’t know anything about Weber State I’ve put in 72 solid hours of research to find out a bunch of facts that mean very little to anyone except the diehards in JMU nation.

1. Weber State has an All-American TE by the name of Andrew Vollert.  At 6’5” he reminds me of JMU’s Mike Caussin who excelled as a receiving TE in a lanky body.   Vollert leads Weber State with 56 catches and had 62 last year.  This guy has me worried a little bit because LB’s are too slow to cover him and CB’s will be tied up with WR coverage on the outside.  JMU safeties Greene and Brown will need to have senior savvy games discerning between run support and play action passing to the TE.  Even with good coverage they may struggle to defend passes with his significant height advantage.  Check out his highlight videos.  He is legit.
2. Weber State has many old players on their roster.  And when I say old, I mean old.  From a quick scan of the roster I’ve found the following:    3 – 26 year old men, 2 – 25 year old men, and 7 – 24 year old men.  Less than 50% of these are seniors so they will be an even older team next year.   All of this just feels weird to me.  For many snaps Friday night, JMU will have a couple of teenagers blocking a 26 year old Defensive Tackle that just happens to be Dale Murphy’s son.  Yep, the Dale Murphy of 80’s Atlanta Braves fame.  Maybe Weber State will recruit this guy below to add experience to their roster.  It looks like he can easily smoke a pack of Marlboro’s at halftime and still make 12 tackles in the 2nd half.
3. Even though JMU football has never played Weber State, this is a revenge game.   The Wildcats beat Louis Rowe’s basketball team last month 73-65 in the Bahamas.  If the hoops team can’t beat them, then the football team needs to pick up the slack and show them how it is done.  JMU cannot, will not, must not lose to Weber State twice in a month.

I asked my wife if she would like to have any input on the guest post and her response was profound…

“The Dukes better win!”  – Mrs. Hart

Lastly, I’d like to thank Rob & Todd for creating and maintaining the JMU Sports Blog over the years as it is a great read for sports junkies like me.  These dudes always bring their “A” game with a great mix of insight, statistics, humor, and JMU fandom.  Keep up the good work!

Beer of the week – Full Nelson IPA – Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton.  It is delicious.