JMU Welcomes William & Mary to Bridgeforth

The William & Mary Tribe makes the trip to Harrisonburg this weekend to face our beloved JMU Dukes. JMU currently is ranked 5th in the FCS Coaches Poll and 4th in the Sports Network Top 25. William & Mary is unranked and hoping to pull off the upset and carry some momentum into the heart of the CAA schedule.

Viewing Options: Televised via Comcast SportsNet or streamed for free on Madizone

Weather Forecast: Sunny, high of 61 degrees, and 0% chance of rain (perfect).

The Charm of “The College”

We might as well get this out of the way. W&M has a well-deserved reputation for academic excellence. And we all know that the W&M community doesn’t exactly view JMU as a peer institution. We say they study too much and never have fun. They say we party too much and don’t buckle down and hit the books enough. Then we both agree with each other, they head to the library, we hit the bars, and life goes on. So the schools are different. Be that as it may, I’ve always really enjoyed games against W&M and interacting with Tribe fans. And I highly recommend taking a road trip to see the Dukes play at W&M some time. It’s like a trip back in time. And not because it’s located right in the heart of colonial Williamsburg though. But because the entire gameday experience is a living tribute to a simpler time time when stadium seats were miles from the field, good lights were non-existent, and restrooms with working plumbing were a luxury.

The Basics

The Tribe lost 4 straight games out of the gate this year, but didn’t play poorly in all of them. They could have (and probably should have) defeated Maryland in the season opener. And they hung in there against Towson, a team that gave JMU all it could handle last week. But they also got their doors blown off by Delaware and lost to Lafayette at home. They come into this game riding a 2 game winning streak though after beating Georgia State and Penn.

Much like they did last year, W&M’s poor to mediocre play has a lot do with its instability at QB. It’s a cliche to say “if you have two quarterbacks, you have none”. Well the Tribe has 3 QBs. And due to various injuries and inconsistent play, not one of them has firmly grabbed the starting role. The end result is that the Tribe offense is the 2nd worst passing in the CAA and 3rd worst overall. However, Brent Caprio got his second start of the year at QB week agains Penn and performed quite well, throwing for 220 yards and 2 TDs. Head Coach Jimmy Laycock still won’t declare him the starter, but expect him to get the nod on Saturday. Sophomore running back  Keith McBride should help take the pressure off whoever plays QB. He’s averaging over 5 yards a carry this year.

The Tribe is much better on the defensive side of the ball as they’ve showed in every game except the loss against Delaware. JMU should win this one, but it’s no sure thing and W&M is definitely capable of coming into Bridgeforth and stealing one. Especially since JMU has been getting a little banged up and guys like Stephon Robertson, Titus Till, Brian Barlow, and Dae’Quan Scott could be out or less than 100%.

JMUSB Beer of the Week

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA is our JMUSB BOTW. Even non-beer geeks are familiar with Sam Calgione’s genius now and the amazing beers he and the Dogfish crew are making. 60 Minute is less extreme than many of Dogfish’s beers, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good. It’s pretty great actually. Plenty of hop aroma and bitterness, but with enough malt so that it’s not overwhelming or piney.

Prediction

This has all the makings of a trap game for JMU, but I don’t think it’s going to be one. Matthews seems to have this team focused and I think the Dukes are ready to build on last weekend’s exciting victory over Towson. William & Mary might be ready to distance themselves from some of the weaker CAA teams. Look for JMU to have more success running the ball than last week, which should open up the passing game a bit. Dukes 28 – Griffins 10.