Sep 11 / Todd

OK, Now You Can Freak Out

Well, hope you all can enjoy this cool little package Rob put together about the opening of the incredible new stadium, because you certainly won’t find anything else to enjoy in this column.

14-9 over CCSU.  That’s a directional school from a state that doesn’t seem big enough to have directional schools.  Last week we happily and earnestly presented the case for the half-full glass after a disappointing result against UNC, but  this time I just can’t hold to the company line and it’s now time for full-blown panic!

Was there good news?  A little.  The D as usual had very little to hang their head about and that absolutely bizarre display of FCS officiating that handed them an Al Michaels special TD after the game was meaningless.  But the other two phases?!  Dreck.

Specials are giving the Dukes nothing.  More hideous kicking and no spark in the return game.

And the offense.  Well, it’s almost unspeakable.  And the amazing thing is I can’t pin any of it on the QB.  The O-Line is clearly a work in progress, especially in the run game, but a 7-3 game is not the time to be putting in that work.  (yes, I’m going full cliche in crushing the playcalling next).  MM – wtf?!  You’re killing JT because you refuse to let him throw in any non-obvious passing situation and then ask the impossible on 3rd and long.  Every time, over and over, without fail.  You do know the forward pass has been legalized in the Commonwealth, right?!

There may be a few who say the kids lost focus in the new stadium, the Dukes got a few bad breaks, this UNC/CCSU duo looks awfully similar to the Duke/Bloomsburg start to what turned out to be a fanstastic ’08 season, but they’d be full of shit.  We’re not giving up by any means, but I hope this season doesn’t come down to simply praying for a win at ODU.  Bridgeforth was an amazing salve for retinas burned by atrocious football for one night, but if the Dukes are 1-3 when they next play there again, it will be painful, but it won’t be unexpected.

21 Comments

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  1. 2004 Duke / Sep 12 2011

    Observations:
    1. Our DL is really undersized and is going to get run over in conference play.
    2. JT could not hit the broadside of a barn.
    3. MM believes the forward pass is a sin.
    4. We completely lack team speed, esp. compared to past years.
    5. The 2011 Dukes just aren’t very physical

    I’ll give the DB’s credit for bringing the wood twice on saturday. When you rely on the smallest guys on the field to bring your hit-stick, you’ce got serious problems.

  2. Dukie95 / Sep 12 2011

    Officially worried about Liberty and ODU, two road games against opponents hungry for statement wins against us, above all others.

  3. Dukie95 / Sep 12 2011

    Well, at least we had 5 turnovers and still won…that doesn’t happen every day.

  4. Ikenberry203 / Sep 12 2011

    Bloomsburg was the first game of ’06 which was followed by the tough loss at App and a beat down of Northeastern. ’08 was Duke followed by the beatdown of NC Central at home.

  5. tedward / Sep 12 2011

    I think I’m the only person who doesn’t want them to pass. For one, they can’t. So, why do it? The one game where we looked good last year was W&M. I’m all for the speed run game. Why pass?

  6. Rob / Sep 12 2011

    I’m sort of with Tedward on this one. I’m fine if they use a run heavy attack. I am just concerned about the sequence of play-calling, because to me it looked like every time the O started to get into a rhythm, Mickey called some random deep ball or odd version of the option that completely killed the momentum.

    Also, much like in year’s past this looks to be a “bend but don’t break” sort of defense. That is always nerve-racking, but it’s worked in the past. The lack of a pass rush is terrifying though. Last year the team struggled to get any sacks and it looks like the same old story this year. They’ve got to pressure the QB more.

  7. Dukie95 / Sep 12 2011

    Their QB was actually relatively mobile. We did have him on the run a few times but was tough to get a handle on…

    I know…it’s bad when you can make the CCSU QB look like Chris Whitney.

  8. Rob / Sep 12 2011

    Haha. I thought CCSU was better than expected. Like you said, JMU had 5 TOs and still won. They were a few mistakes from this being a comfortable margin. Win this weekend and I’ll be feeling much better.

    One thing that is going to take me a while to get over however, is the new Duke Dog costume. WTF is up with that? If anyone has a picture, please send it to us at jmusportsblog@gmail.com

  9. circus / Sep 12 2011

    On the plus side, JMU shows its technology expertise with “Live” Stats still showing 9:48, JMU 7 CCSU 3 long after the game was over. Nice.

    Whats next, purple powerpoint backgrounds for Madizone?

  10. 2004 Duke / Sep 12 2011

    Amen to that. Someone in the Athletics dept. needs to be fired.

  11. 2004 Duke / Sep 12 2011

    (that was in reference to the new Duke Dog)

  12. '04 Duke / Sep 12 2011

    Thanks for not pumping purple sunshine up our asses. The stadium was awesome, but too bad we don’t have an offense to match.

    We have to learn to show a passing threat or we’re going to get crushed in the CAA. Obviously this is a run first team with a QB that can’t throw and a head coach that is very conservative. But playing footbally like we’re in the 1930’s isn’t going to cut it in 2011. Our offense is extremely predictable, boring, and any other adjective you want to use to describe it.

  13. hanky / Sep 12 2011

    Cant hang any of it on the qb? Sorry. He was bad. Deep ball != jump ball. Lead them out put the ball where it belongs… and 2 deep cover is never where it belongs. Everything he did well throwing deep against UNC was completely reversed here. I still have hope for the guy but I found his game to be quite poor. Also, what happened to middle routes and the tight ends?

  14. Todd / Sep 12 2011

    Ikenberry is a great name and thanks for the correction on the Bloomsburg. Huge botch on my part, but why is it games like Bloomsburg, CCSU, and Coastal burn me up so much more than others. Classic MM.

    Hanky – Not saying JT doens’t have a ways to go, but the coaches don’t seem to be giving him opportunities to be successful. As to what happened to the middle routes and Barlow, that’s a great question.

    Scariest thing of all is the injuries on the interior of the DL. O’Neill and Emmons out could be disastrous. “Might” get away with it a little against LU (not saying JMU will win, just that the DL may not be exposed yet), but Grimes may light may look like Adrian Peterson the next week for W&M. Dukes are getting great efforts from Snow and Bryant but they’re just not big enough to handle things by themselves.

  15. Ikenberry203 / Sep 12 2011

    Thanks for the Ikenberry love, spent one of the best years of my life in that dorm. I agree on the “small school” games. I’m hoping that we just came out overconfident/flat and were a little overwhelmed by the new stadium. Regardless, I think that the Liberty game will be far more indicative of this year’s team than either UNC or CCSU. I’m withholding my judgement of this year’s squad until next Saturday.

  16. Matt / Sep 12 2011

    A few observations:

    1) We spent a crapload of money on a video board that shows nothing but advertisements and canned rah-rah stuff. Is it an NCAA rule that you can’t show replays? I sooo wanted to see that “helmet to helmet” personal foul replay. Nope.

    2) The Hell’s Bells thing is already old.

    3) Tedward is wrong, wrong, wrong (I mean that in the most endearing way possible). That run-all-the-time stuff won’t work against CAA competition. We surprised W&M with it, but if we can’t manufacture some sort of passing threat, we’re toast in conference play. I will also point out that the only score we had for 3.5 quarters was off a play action bootleg. If we’re going to run all the time, scrap the spread crap and let’s run the triple the option like Navy and Ga Tech.

    4) What the hell is the deal with the short-shorts and cowboy boots fashion motif that seems to be the craze on campus now? In select instances, it looks very nice. But in most cases that I saw – not so much.

  17. Rob / Sep 12 2011

    To be fair, Tedward said “speed run game” not “spread run game”. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but he might have been advocating for a Navy or GA Tech style triple option like you suggested. I’d be all for that if it would give the Dukes a better chance to win. Until they do that however, they need to establish the passing game.

    I’d love to see a replay of that helmet to helmet hit also. To me it looked like Robertson just made a text book hit and led with his shoulder and the QB ducked down to brace himself. It didn’t at all look like an intentional helmet to helmet to me.

  18. LD / Sep 13 2011

    Didn’t make the game and couldn’t connect to the madizone to watch. What a debacle! First game in new stadium and they didn’t have the bandwidth to broadcast. Piss poor.

  19. Pat / Sep 13 2011

    Thorpe looked awful. His throws are inaccurate at best and as soon as there is any pressure on him his eyes no longer look down field.

  20. Jason K. / Sep 15 2011

    Maybe it was because I was so busy sharing complaints with my brother about the play calling and passing attempts, but it wasn’t until around the mid of the 4th quarter until I realized we had chewed up over 300 yards on the ground. The ground game may be okay against an over matched d-line but I am not sure about the CAA teams. Barlow needs to be involved in any passing game as does Long (dude can fly). Maybe we see Cosh in there at some point this week. I still like Thorpe though and he probably just needs to have a few more attempts to get into a rhythm. I agree with those who have said that neither the UNC or CCSU games are probably indicative of this year’s Dukes. Liberty will probably be the bellweather for the season, good bad or ugly.

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