Guest Post: Norfolk’n Chance

Jared won last week’s prediction contest and earned the right to guest post. Here he briefly looks back on the season opening loss and then looks ahead to Saturday.

First and foremost, I regret that I won the prediction contest for week 1 against NC State since I took the pack over our beloved Dukes, but hey, here we are. Thank you to the guys behind the blog to allow me to hopefully entertain you, JMU Nation.

Growing up I always loved ESPN Gameday on Saturday mornings, wishing I could one day be an anchor. To be on set with Coach Corso, Herbie and other members over the years giving the details on what to watch for, who to watch for and of course, Coach’s head gear selection would have been a dream of mine. Since ESPN has blessed our campus over the past few years, I still, every now and then wonder what would it be like? To sit down on the set and turn around to see a roaring fan base behind the set, screaming their lungs out, streamers flying (even if they did get onto the cable system for the fly over camera…dukes) and some of the cleverest signs (although provocative occasionally) that young adults have to offer. Well here’s my chance…except I’m on my couch with a beer in hand winging it.

Week 1 for the Dukes wasn’t the greatest, but it certainly wasn’t the worse. Going into this season, the biggest question I had was simply “What’s our QB situation going to be like?” Would we go with Ben? Would we go with Cole? Or maybe there’s a reason we have new number 18 Jerseys at the bookstore (here’s looking at you Hunter). After watching the performance of the offense, I’m definitely feeling more comfortable with being able to march the ball down the field at any given time regardless who is under center, especially with all the weapons that we have at any given respective position. Yes, we did have a few errors that hurt us, but hey, it was the first game, Mike’s got it handled. Defensively, to hold a very talented NC State team, with an NFL prospect at QB to only 24 points and cause a force fumble tells me that this is going to be a ball hungry D that will punch our ticket back to Frisco. Special teams wise, kudos to Ethan with the 2 FG and 1 extra point and Harry with a 41-yard-long punt on the day.

So what to look for this upcoming week?

As a quick recap: Norfolk State is coming into week 2 with a 1 game win streak over Division II in state foe Virginia State (an actual state) 34-13. After looking at the stats, Norfolk State had a pass completion of 17 for 31 only amounting 214 yards, rushing for a 147 yards for a grand total of 361 yards…against a division II school. They did however manage to force 3 turnovers and hold Virginia State to 267 Yards. Comparing these numbers to JMU who went 29 for 43 in pass completions for 202 yards (okay so they had more) and rushed for 163 yards for a combined total of 365 yards of offense against a school projected to finish near the top in the ACC.

Houston and company will travel to Norfolk State to quickly end both a losing streak for the Dukes and a winning streak for the Spartans (No, Norfolk isn’t Sparta and Gerard Butler isn’t kicking Duke Dog down a well). I predict a big day for both offense and gates locked in enemy territory by the defense. There is Norfolk’n chance for the Spartans, Dukes win big 65-6.