Nov 7 / Rob

Dukes vs Ticks Postmortem

It's still just a pig.

Ugh. There is nothing else you can say. The Dukes wasted another strong performance by the Defense and fell 13-10 in overtime to Richmond. I’d love to sit here and tell you that JMU just got unlucky or that it was a game that saw the Dukes take a huge step forward. It wasn’t though. We can try to dress this one up all we want, but it won’t make a difference. It was bad. The offense wasted another gutsy effort from the banged up Defense and an outstanding game by Jamal Sullivan. Completely wasted them.

I continue to be amazed that the Defense can rise to the occasion and keep JMU in games week in and week out. It would be an accomplishment with a full complement of starters. Doing it with a bunch of back-ups and players playing out of position is just awesome. Throw in the pressure of knowing that the offense is virtually incapable of scoring more than 14 points and it’s barely short of miraculous. Yesterday, DJ Bryant, Stephon Robertson, Vidal Nelson, Taveion Cuffee, and the boys on D played awesome, forced turnovers, and did everything possible to put the offense in a position to win. It’s really just pathetic that the offense couldn’t come through.

Jamal Sullivan had a heck of a game. That’s about the only positive I can come up with for the offense. It’s gotten to the point, where I just feel bad for Drew Dudzik. I’ve been a big fan of the kid’s since I first saw him take the field a few seasons ago in relief of Rodney. I still am a fan of his. The poor guy just looked absolutely lost yesterday though. To say he wasn’t very effective would be putting it mildly. And the penalties. Oh, the untimely penalties. Those didn’t help much. Nor did the typically terrible play-calling. Going straight backwards in overtime? Is it worse that it happened, or that we all knew it would?

Maybe we should do another Fan Confidence Poll. I was shocked even 1.92% of you said you had full confidence in the program heading into this week. I’d be blown away if anyone had even moderate confidence after yesterday. If you actually do have a lot of confidence in this program now, then please explain why in the comments. Please! I won’t argue with you or attempt to change your opinion. I just want someone to cheer me up and tell me what the Kool Aid tastes like.

Seriously, there’s nothing to say at this point. The offense is just flat out broken and the coaches can’t seem to do anything to fix it (or give us the appearance they’re even trying to fix it.) The Dukes will look to close the season with two wins and salvage another meaningless 6-5 season over the next two weeks. #1 William & Mary comes to town next Saturday. I’m sure there will be PLENTY of good seats available. Todd and I will still be there cheering on the boys with some family and friends. Hopefully we’re not the only ones.

11 Comments

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  1. 2004 Duke / Nov 8 2010

    I made the mistake of watching Arkansas light up the Gamechickens after watching the JMU embarassment. Three words for JMU’s coaching staff-

    VERTICAL PASSING GAME.

  2. 2004 Duke / Nov 8 2010

    If you don’t stretch the field, defenses will just load up the box. Good luck blocking their 10 with your 6 out of the shotgun/pistol. Even better when you handoff running towards the sideline rather than towards the endzone.

    Giving them a 4 man advantage and attacking the thickest part of defense is a great plan. Let’s just spot them 10 points, too.

  3. Landeta / Nov 8 2010

    It’s good to see 04 Duke finally read my post from last week. They just aren’t good right now. I hold out hope that they can put a few wins together to end the season on a positive note.

    Side note: they didn’t let people back into the game after the half time. Many fans got trapped outside of the stadium. U of R needs to do something about that. Seriously are people that desperate to go watch a battle of 4 – 4 teams that they are passing tickets at half time and U of R needed to implement serious crowd control measures. I understand it’s the first year with the stadium on campus but loosen up folks.

    Great support for the Dukes though probably 40% JMU fans at the game.

  4. Rob / Nov 8 2010

    Sheesh. I was clearly having a bad day yesterday when I posted this. I’m depressing myself by reading it. My bad.

    For the record, there is nothing meaningless about beating William & Mary. Ever. And finishing 6-5 would be awesome. I’ll still be there on Saturday and hope the stadium is packed with fans eager to see Dudzik and the other seniors close out their home careers with a big win!

  5. Swayze / Nov 8 2010

    Any idea if Thorpe is going to get a medical red shirt for this year?

  6. Rob / Nov 8 2010

    Haven’t heard if they’re even asking for a red shirt for Thorpe. He already had a red shirt year, so getting another one would require the NCAA granting him a 6th year of eligibility. It’s not unprecedented, but I have no idea how likely it is. It will be interesting to see what happens, especially since one of the big QB recruits from Texas, Henry Hunter, was dismissed from the team today. If anyone knows why, please fill us in.

  7. 2004 Duke / Nov 9 2010

    Generally being dismissed from the team is a result of either being 1) arrested, 2)Flunking out of your classes, or 3)Skipping/missing/oversleeping workouts.

    If he’s a Freshman, I’m going to go with #3.

  8. 2004 Duke / Nov 9 2010

    Does anyone else find it sadly hilarious that on jmusports.com there is an ad that says “Vote Mickey Matthews 2010 coach of the year”?

  9. Matt / Nov 9 2010

    You could have written the same summary for any game we played this year after Tech. “Gutsy performance by the D goes to waste.” And nearly went to waste against friggin Towson.

    At this point, I’m not sure if it’s more unbelievable that this team beat Tech, or that they actually scored 21 points at one point this season.

  10. Rob / Nov 9 2010

    According to Mike Barber of the DNR, Hunter was dismissed due to “attitude problems”. That’s too bad. He was highly recruited and it would be nice to have some depth at QB.

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