The Dukes Host Liberty
The win over the Hokies is history, the bye week has passed, and now it’s time for JMU to move on. The Dukes will host the Flames
from Liberty University for a Saturday night game in the half-new Bridgeforth Stadium. The Dukes are hoping to notch another win over an in-state opponent and Liberty is trying to get back on track after a disappointing loss to Robert Morris last Saturday.
What the Rankings Say
JMU (2-0) finds itself at #3 in both the TSN and Coaches polls, while Liberty (2-1) checks in at #22 and #21 respectively. Interestingly enough, the supposedly forthright Liberty athletic department chooses to refer to the game as a “match-up of top 15 FCS programs”. So, yeah, the Liberty folks might have jumped the gun and published that one a little early. Or maybe they just suck at math.
This Is Kind of a Big Deal
For Liberty that is. I don’t mean to downplay the importance of the game to JMU. It’s crucial that JMU get another W before CAA play begins. However, a Liberty upset would unquestionably be the biggest win in the Flame’s history. It’s their Super Bowl and they don’t even try to hide it. They have a countdown to the JMU clock on their website. They are running a special “Hike to Harrisonburg” campaign and encouraging fans to travel in caravans to the game. Am I the only one that envision this playing out in the form of some sort of Partridge Family bus filled with Flames fans? Not that intimidating.
Random Unrelated Facts Strung Together to Appear Like a Paragraph
The Flames are coached by a man named Rocco. Liberty has had four straight winning seasons. The school forbids immodest dress and alcohol. Liberty had the highest scoring offense in the FCS last year. The Flames have never beaten a team ranked in the top 10. The late Dr. Jerry Falwell founded Liberty in 1971. The Flames is an odd nickname for a school founded by a blatant homophobe. Liberty has won 84% of its home games under Rocco. Junior QB Mike Brown is the reigning Big South Offensive Player of the Year. Playing a team named Ball State made Liberty fans uncomfortable. Liberty is looking to win its third Big South conference championship in a row. The Big South contains many bad football teams.
So Does Liberty Have an Unfair Advantage?
Liberty prides itself on being the largest Christian university in the world. Naturally, that leads lots of people to ask if the Flames’ ties to the big guy upstairs will give them a leg up on the Dukes. No, they will not. Trust me. Yes, God loves football. We know this. He doesn’t choose sides though. I mean, if He did Nick Saban would never win a game. You know, since he’s pure evil and everything.
How Liberty Can Win
If Mike Brown does what Mike Brown does. Think of Liberty’s QB as the Flames version of former Dukes’ great Rodney Landers. He plays QB, but he could just as easily be Liberty’s top running back, or receiver, or corner. He has the potential to take over a football game.
How JMU Can Win
By putting the big win behind them and focusing on the Flames. JMU is clearly a better football team than Liberty. That is a fact. Last year, the Dukes struggled on the road against Liberty and still won by 2 TDs in a torrential downpour. JMU can’t take their foot off the gas and let this turn into a trap game though.
What We’d Like to See From the Dukes
Some sustained offensive scoring drives. The win over the Hokies was epic. JMU really only had two significant drives though. We’d really like to see Dudzik and the boys get in sync and develop a nice offensive rhythm. After buckling down and stopping Tech when it mattered, we’d also like to see the Defense dominate an FCS opponent.
JMUSB Beer of the Week
This weekend’s game has all the makings of a JMU – App State 2008 style tailgating extravaganza. Nice weather. A 6:00 kick-off. Toss in a tee-totaling opponent fanbase and things are bound to get weird. It definitely calls for a quality session beer. I think Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils fits the bill. It’s a terrific version of a Pilsen, which is the style of beer your standard macro-breweries claim to brew (but fail miserably). Plus it comes in cans, so you’ll attract less attention from Dr. Rose’s fun crushing tailgating gestapo.
JMUSB Prediction
JMU Dukes 34 – Liberty Flames 14. If this game was played last weekend, I’d be more concerned about it being a trap game. Fortunately, the Dukes had a bye and should be focused on the Flames. The Dukes are 7-1 under Matthews coming off bye-weeks. I think they’ll cruise and head into CAA play at 3-0.
Good article, great beer!!
Go Dukes!
Nicely done.
This is a huge game for us. I have to disagree that this is our Super Bowl. Rocco’s goal the entire year has been to win the Big South and secure the auto bid. This has not changed. Secondly, don’t flatter yourself about the countdown clock. Our Athletics department has been doing that for years. Looking foward to a good game.
The countdown clock resets every week and counts down to the next game. So yea, don’t feel special. You’re just another team on the schedule. Definitely not our superbowl. I’m sure that an ignorant Virginia Tech fan wrote the same type of article about you guys two weeks ago and felt really stupid after the game. I hope for your sake that you don’t feel the same. You’re a great football team and anyone who actually works in the football/sports world knows that we are too. It’s hilarious that you find pride in the beer you drink. It’s also hilarious that you use the term “homophobe.” I’m pretty sure that Dr. Falwell had no “fear” of homosexuals. Disaproving and fearing are completely different things. The term homophobe is absolutely rediculous. A phobia is a fear, not a disapproval. And i’m pretty sure flames is a reference to a consuming fire, not homosexuality, good try though! Thank You for giving Mike Brown the respect he deserves. May the best team win tomorrow. Go Flames!
This is just another game on your schedule? Hahaha, I love the hubris of you Liberty fans thinking that you actually have a top tier program. Your football team proved this was not just another game on their schedule by laying that egg up in Pittsburgh… but no, that loss had nothing to do with JMU being the next week’s opponent. Ya’ll have a decent program, crappy conference (also, you should be thanking the high heavens every night that the FCS gave the Big South an auto-bid for the 20 team playoff).
As far as Falwell goes, I don’t need to say anything because he said it all himself. Besides, the term ‘homophobic’ is usually used to refer to people who are openly outspoken against homosexuality and go to great lenghts to prevent gay rights. Falwell was the epitome of this. Just for the record though, many of the most outspoken critics of gays and gay rights end up being caught in compromising situations involving another male….
I’m not trying to belittle Liberty’s program by implying that this would be a huge win for it. I read this week that Rocco has even referred to it as a potential “signature win” since Liberty has never beaten a top 10 program. As far as the JMU vs Tech thing, ignorant Tech fans didn’t write that a JMU win in that game would me mean far more to the Dukes than it would to the Hokies. We wrote that and we stand by it.
As far as taking pride in the beer we drink. Yeah, guilty as charged. Glad that gave you a laugh.
I wonder if we will be able to grabe the Oskar Blues at Westover Market before we head down tomorrow. I’m looking forward to my first game of the year.
Woww…an article that makes fun of the fact that Liberty is a Christian school. Top marks on originality. Oh, and look it refers to a countdown clock that’s used every week and a promotion campaign for every away game (regardless of opponent) as validity for the “super bowl” argument. My hat goes off to you research team. Ohhh, and interspersing valid football facts with useless jargon for the sake of lessing their worth, I do enjoy my medicine crushed and mixed with sugar. Wait..theres more, lets starting out by saying the game is no big deal and then wrap up with saying the team should focus on the game. Oh sweet contradictions how you warm my laptop screen. If this blog is a accurate representation of the standpoint of your university, I’m pretty excited about our odds.
Is JMU a legitimate program, obviously. Is this a big game for Liberty in our aim to establish a top-tier program,see point 1. However, the reason the Big South received an auto-bid is because of they had little validity and were receiving increasing scrutiny to keep a program with success such as LU out of the playoffs and continue to let some random 4 or 5 loss team into the playoffs. It’ll be a good game, all respect to both teams. The problem with posting a so severely biased blog can come back to burn you in the end, never provide fuel to an already kindling fire. No pun intended. See you guys Saturday.
Ha, it’s called satire…
The definition – “A literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject”
Getting all worked up about up it just fuels the Liberty sterotypes…
Relax… Save it for Saturday
I apologize if my comment about “just another game on the schedule” came across as arrogant. JMU is a great football team and it would be a huge win for Liberty. I was referring to the fact that the reason it is on the countdown is because it’s a game on the schedule. All games on the schedule are on the countdown. Whether we beat you by 1 or 21, you will make excuses and still not give Liberty Football the respect it deserves. I fully understand satire and I also fully understand that their is a reply boxon this blog for a reason. We reply in order to create a rivalry. Our football coaches clearly desire to have one (a rivalry) or they wouldn’t have signed a four year contract. Perhaps JMU fans should respect liberty football as much as your coaches and players do. As for the Big South, you’re right, it’s weak. The Big South is only a temporary stepping stone for Liberty and so is the FCS. And we ARE thankful for the bid b/c we deserved to be in the tourney the last 2 years and didn’t get in. This year will be different. Both are great football teams, should be a great game. Best of Luck. Go Flames!
Tsk tsk tsk….shame on you guys! You know any mention of politics, religion, or macrobreweries is sure to set the comments board ablaze. No pun intended. Go Dukes.
Teams that are not favored have a way of surprising their opponents. So, I hope JMU doesn’t suffer from over confidence. Great post
I agree Joan B. A Liberty team that believes this could be a signature victory + a talented QB = a dangerous team. Funny how that same equation in the eyes of Liberty fans = disrespecting their team.
no rob that doesnt equal disrespecting our team.. i believe the part where the article is implying the game is way overhyped than it really is, and the disrespect to the our progam as a whole as well as what Liberty stands for.. one concession of a skilled player doesnt equal respect homie lets be serious
I love the blog, but find the political comments irritating. Enough with the sanctimony about “gay rights” and homophobia. Let’s play the game and kick Liberty’s butt.
Congrats to the JMU Sports Blog for making it to the “big time” of internet journalism, and by that I mean having everything you write overly scrutinized by keyboard donkeys who can’t wait to comment on some “inaccuracy” with the post. You are just like ESPN or Yahoo Sports now… “Everything you write is awful! You are such hacks!”. Its a good thing the JMU Sports Blog pays you so well, so you can at least laugh off the criticism with your fat wallets. Go Dukes and JMUSB!
cricket, cricket…Liberty fans, where you at now?