WVU Wrapup
Well, the epic tailgate has come and gone, the coolers are stowed away for a few weeks, and the Dukes are off to Rhode Island next week before their bye. So what did we learn in a lopsided, but by no means embarrassing, loss to 8th ranked West Virginia?
The Good
Resiliency – The Dukes struggled throughout the first half, mainly because three future NFL studs in QB Geno Smith, and WR’s Austin and Bailey, were simply flawless. But I was very impressed with the Dukes effort after halftime. They clearly decided at halftime they were through being pushed around and the coaches seemed to make adjustments in order to be productive. The Dukes made a huge play on defense with the safety and the offense managed a number of sustained drives (though more to come on the end of these drives later). The 2nd half effort made me feel a lot better about the mental makeup of this team going forward. Time of possession advantage and 300 total yards against a National Title contender are nothing to be ashamed of.
Defense – Again, they got blitzed a bit early on and could easily have packed it in at 21-0, but they competed hard. Jakarie Jackson back from injury with 14 tackles and Stephon Robertson was everywhere. The line got decent pressure on Geno Smith (although he was just too good and often found a way out). Lot of open guys before and after catches, but that’s where the real talent gap was and our guys did a decent job making tackles when they were there to be made.
WVU – They’re really, really good. So long as their big three stay healthy and their O-Line continues to improve, they are a legit threat in the Big 12 and the national picture this year. I wish JMU had played a bit better too, but let’s not get carried away with the negative. Remember that the Dukes were blown out worse against WVU in ’04.
The Bad
Red-zone offense – This was actually horrid, but not worthy of “ugly” today. The Dukes were inside the five twice in the third quarter and turned it over both times. It may only have been cosmetic, but we’d all feel better about 42-24, than 42-12, wouldn’t we? Just hope the players and coaches know that would’ve been more reflective of their play than the actual score and don’t get down.
Injuries – Daniel Brown and Titus Till both suffered what appeared to be serious injuries. Brown’s looked season-ending, Till’s looked like it’ll be a while. Jordan Stanton also left with a concussion we think. All that said, if Till and Stanton make it back in a few weeks, I don’t think you could say the injuries suffered today were really the result of playing a bigger, stronger FBS team and not just the breaks of the season. Not losing anyone on the O-Line is great too.
The Ugly
WR’s jumping offsides. Just inexcusable. Watch the ball, you can’t hear the count anyhow. I guess some of this can be chalked up to nerves in that type of game and environment, but our other position groups didn’t seem to have these issues.
Just an injury update for those that are curious:
Daniel Brown is out for the year with a torn ACL.
Jordan Stanton suffered a concussion, I believe a mild one. I think Mickey will hold him out next week just to make sure he’s ready to go for Towson. Three weeks should be plenty of healing time to clear this up.
Titus Till (ankle) is the interesting one. Mickey’s exact words at the presser were “I think it’s pretty bad” and “I don’t think he’ll be back for a while.” Could be any length of time. Gotta think he’ll be back by November 17 though.
Well, glad the early season circus is finally over and we can get serious about football season. I’m really worried about the injury to Titus Till- he is a very physical presence on defense. Hope everyone heals up quick since we have two bye weeks (zing.)
I got to watch the W&M/Towson game and do some CAA recon work. First, W&M should have won the game. They blew it. Both teams look solid, but I actually think W&M is a better team than Towson this year. They ran the ball at will against Towson’s defense.
W&M has a decent QB, and a very strong running game. They are pretty good all-around. Their defense is solid and plays very disciplined, but there wasn’t anyone who really jumped out. They have a TE who’s pretty good. If JMU plays smart and we don’t turn it over or try to run the ball on 3rd & 10, we should beat the Tribe.
Towson also has some pretty good athletes. Most of their success came from either good playcalling or their OL mashing W&M’s front 4. I think they have more speed than W&M, especially on defense. The biggest matchup problem for us with Towson is their playcalling. They are literally all over the field. Bubble screens, vertical passing game, and a decent running game. Given our propensity to give away 10 yard out routs and short passes over the middle, I expect Towson to be about 28-45 passing for about 328 yards against us. The good news is that our 4-2-5 defense will negate their O-line and they shouldn’t be able to run the ball. I also think our offense is more athletic than their defense, and should put up some points. It’s going to be a tough game, but we should beat them by at least 10.
Oh… one more comment-
Kudos to NBCSports Network. For anyone who doesn’t already know, they are covering the televised CAA games this year. The broadcast quality is excellent, and a massive leap up from the bush-league comcast/FSN coverage we’ve had to suffer through in years past, including commentators who can string together coherent sentances (This Bud’s for you, John Ritchie).
Dukes should be proud of their effort. They played hard against a bigger program and hung in there pretty good. I hate to see the season ending injuries, and will be in the stands at JMU in a couple of weeks for parents weekend. Go Dukes.
Can we please add to the ugly the SCARY and RUDE wvu fans?! In particular the one crazy b**** that slapped my sunglasses off my face and into the next row of seats. Now I understand the warnings I received prior to the game from people who have previously had batteries thrown at them, gotten punched in the face, and peed on by wvu fans.
It just makes me even prouder to be a Dukes fan. I appreciate our stellar fan reputation and would never want to besmirch our great university by acting a fool like that while wearing my JMU jersey.
Oh also, thank you so much Rob and Todd for organizing an EXCELLENT bus ride to the game! I had a great time even though my awesome koozy went missing.