Morehead St. Game Preview

At long last, it’s time to cut the ribbon, sort of, on 1/2 Bridgeforth.  The Dukes take on the Morehead St. Eagles at 6 p.m. Valley time on Saturday night to kickoff the 2010 season.

Morehead St. Basics: Located in Morehead, Kentucky, near the foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest, this public school of around 9000 students, the Eagles are careful to stress that Morehead is the premeire university in “East Kentucky”, so as not to be confused with their “more famous” neighbor, “Eastern Kentucky”.  MSU plays in the Ohio Valley Conference for most sports, but participates in the Pioneer League for football.  Thankfully for the purposes of JMU’s home opener, the Pioneer is the nation’s only non-scholarship, football only conference in the Football Championship Subdivision.  Only part of the preceding mouthful that’s relevant here is “non-scholarship.”  Dukes better win this one handily if 2010 is to go the way we all hope!

Questions: Health of the O-Line? Will Thorpe play? Any chance the Dukes will be able to tackle Ryan Williams next week?

BOTW and other tailgate items: Beer of the Week is going to be a recurring item in the gameday columns this year.  Rob’s suggestions for this “summertime” game are Bell’s Oberon and Abita Satsuma Wit if you can still scrounge behind the ridiculously early pumpkin, punkin, and Festbiers already crowding your local market out of the lighter suds we all enjoy in the heat.  Given that Jim Cantore is currently camped in front of my in-laws beach house (never a good sign), I also think you can’t go wrong with a 40 of Hurricane.  Topical and old-school JMU style!  Drink down to the label and see if you won anything!

JMUSB Attendance: Todd’s a sure thing this week and will be joined by frequent commenter, occassional contributor Uncle Ron (aka Dric).  We’re happy to report we appear headed for a prime P-Lot spot (Showker) courtesy of friend of the blog Field Hockey’s Coach Lucas.   Rob’s a gametime decision based on the status of the 2-year old, but in either case, we’ll be sporting JMUSB’s very own Old Guys Leave t-shirts so stop by and say hi.

Around the CAA:  Villanova plays Temple at the Linc on Friday at 5 – Winnable FBS game was a sign of things to come last year for the ‘Cats.  Can they repeat?

Final Score (Thur): Albany 3, Maine 0 – NOT a good sign for the BlackBears and a bad loss for the Conference to the frequently bubblicious Great Danes.

Final Score (Thur): Buffalo 31, RhodeI 0 – NOT a good sign for the Rams but an FBS loss is never that bad.

Final Score (Thur): Delaware 31, West Chester 0 – exactly what the Dukes need to do. 

Final Score (Thur): Indiana 48, Towson 17 – respectable points from the Tigers against the Big Ten Hoosiers

Saturday: Cent. Conn. St. vs. UNH (nothing to see here); Richmond at UVa (can the Ticks follow the Tribe by knocking off their former coach?)

Game of the Week: William & Mary at UMass – Tribe should roll but no time for working out any kinks as they are on the road in-conference.

Score Prediction (Todd): Dukes 37, Eagles 10

Other gameday JMU Sports Events: Field Hockey in action against #13 Louisville at noon and Men’s Soccer hosts Rider at 1:30.  Go Dukes!