(Far)go Dukes!

Headline courtesy of one T$ Jones of the RIC.  What a weekend for JMU sports!  Although the headline is clearly the Football team’s hardnosed performance on the road in front of that fearsome EKU crowd, the hoops team also ground out two wins with what appeared to be, wait for it, tough defense, in the legendary Palestra over underrated opponents Rider and Penn.  Sadly, the soccer Dukes’ outstanding season came to an end in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tourney in a loss at UConn, but that only wraps up one of the most outstanding seasons in program history and with only four major contributors leaving, this squad is starting to look like a team that rebuilds instead of reloading.

The Good

Hoops – Defense appeared to show up and Humpty Hitchens has (much to our amazement) clearly stepped up to become the leader on this team in Devon Moore’s absence.  The cajones it took to miss a clutch shot and turn right around and drill the next one on Friday night have got to inspire confidence from his teammates and his coaches.  In what is shaping up to be a crazy year in the CAA with no clear-cut favorite, don’t be surprised if all of the JMU cynics and skeptics are the ones eating a little humble pie come late February/early March (assuming Semenov’s back doesn’t reveal him to be an 83 year old resident of Del Boca Vista posing as a college athlete).

The Decision – On 4th and 1 from the EKU 43 with about 2 minutes to go in an odd game largely dictated by gale-force winds and a blind back judge, Mickey surprisingly sent in the punt team.  Apparently EKU had the wrong personnel on the field and called timeout.  HUGE mistake.  Mickey said after the game he was “outvoted” during the timeout by assistants and players and the Dukes went for it.  Justin Thorpe said he told Mickey “just give the ball to Dae’Quan and we got this!”  Before the play, our friend UncleRon leaned over and said “Let the record reflect that the bar (Bailey’s) is entirely in favor of this call and I don’t want to hear a bunch of crap later.”  A few seconds later, Dae’Quan was hit at or behind the line, but kept his legs moving and ground out the most important half yard in a couple of seasons for JMU.  There are a lot of other things to look at from this game, but to me this IS the JMU football team I know.  This, more than anything, says “the swagger is back, the belief is back.”  Yes, it likely means we can look for more Les Miles-lite bravado and wackiness out of MM the rest of the way, but I’ll take it!

Oh the excitement of North Dakota!

Survive and Advance – Is there room to pick nits?  Sure.  Would we have liked to see them put away an inferior opponent with a bit more ease? You bet.  But this is tournament play.  All credit to EKU for playing a tough game defensively and figuring out that short passing is the key to moving the ball on the Dukes.  And everyone back on our side who thinks a close first-round game means the Dukes are doomed later, you’re just wrong.  They are still playing and that’s all that matters.  They may even be getting healthier unlike a lot of teams (including NDSU).  I’m kind of tired of making ’04 comparisons, and they’re not really fair to the current group, but I seem to remember sitting in Summer’s watching the most ghettofabulous old-school satellite feed of the first-round nailbiter against Patriot League Lehigh in the first round back then and thinking, man this might be impossible when we have to play a SoCon team next week.  The Dukes overcame a 10-point second half deficit on the road in the playoffs, despite being robbed of three points, so find yourself some room on the bandwagon.

Turnovers – A key going in was turnovers.  The Dukes commited none (though they did turn it over on downs once) and forced a huge one to stop EKU from scoring after their long punt return early.

Effort – All you needed to watch was Jakarie Jackson and Taveion Cuffee running down EKU players who had busted out on the punt return and the long run respectively to know we couldn’t ask for anything more from the Dukes.  These were enormous plays.

Thorpe passing – Some may disagree, but I thought JT looked solid.  He made some huge 3rd down throws in the second half and went 1 for 2 on deep passes into the hurricane.  Really looking up in the passing game actually.

The Bad

Short passing – Still killing the D.  North Dakota St. runs a west-coast offense.  Needless to say, we better figure this out.

Thorpe running the option – I don’t know what it is, but the timing and decision-making just aren’t clicking.  He’s pitching too early and getting his backs killed or when he keeps it he’s cutting up field too late.  He’ll never be Jamel Holloway, but hopefully the more rust he shakes off, the better the timing will ge

The Ugly

The FG call.  I have no idea what to say, and I’d like to think the ref standing under the goal post would get it right.  But really, I’ve watched it about a zillion times and a) I just can’t see how it was no good, and b) it really doesn’t appear the ref was looking up anyhow.  The other ref even started to raise his hands good.  HUGE props to the Dukes for overcoming this.

The crowd – Attendance was announced at under 2400.  Enough said.  For you Major League fans out there, Bourne better bring a huge fricking anaconda with him for good luck when he opens his locker these next few weeks.  Of course, just assuming EKU lost their shirt, their AD probably has even more to worry about.

Bridgeforth

One last note of awesomeness.  This week’s game will be shown live on the jumbotron at Bridgeforth.  $20 for club level food and bev pass.  We’ll be back at Bailey’s but that’s pretty great for students and Valley residents.