The JMU Dukes Take On the Maine Black Bears
The Dukes make take their longest road trip of the season up Orono, Maine to play the Maine Black Bears on Saturday. It will be the second collegiate start for true freshman QB Michael Birdsong, who’s coming off a win in his debut. Birdsong played decently in the victory over Georgia State, but JMU fans are anxious to see him elevate his play and breathe some life into the offense.
Basics: JMU (6-2, 4-1) ranked 10th vs Maine (3-5, 2-3) unranked. Kickoff at 3:30 PM.
Weather: High of 48, partly sunny, and a 20% chance of rain.
Broadcast: Televised on Comcast SportsNet, Audio available via Madizone and the JMU/nTelos Radio Network
Venue: Maine’s Henry Alfond Stadium, a 10,000 seat venue that opened in 1998 after the previous stadium was condemned. Seriously. It might just be a couple of bleachers hastily thrown up on either side of the field, but it can be a very tough place to play because of its exposure to the elements. Fortunately the weather isn’t expected to be too bad and Maine has struggled at home all season. They’re 0-3 in Orono this season.
No Pushover
Despite its losing record, Maine is no slouch. They soundly beat both Delaware and William & Mary on the road and only lost to first place New Hampshire by a TD. The Black Bears have the second best scoring defense in the CAA (JMU is tops) and are ranked 3rd against the pass. They don’t have the most dynamic offense, but their strong defense has kept them in most CAA contests. The lone exception to that was the loss to Villanova, in which the Cats ran all over them to secure a convincing 35-14 win.
Black Bears to Watch
The Main offense might not light up the scoreboard, but they’ve got a number of playmakers to be aware of. Sophomore running back Rickey Stevens is the workhorse of the rushing attack, with 95 carries for 513 yards. (He also went to Chili Gates High School which is an awesome name for a high school. ) Joining Stevens in the back field is the very capable David Hood. Hood missed 2 games due to injury but averages over 5 yards a carry and rushed for over 100 yards in the win over Delaware. Mauri McDonald is the leading receiver with 49 catches, but Derric Johnson and Damarr Aultman might be regarded as greater deep threats.
On the defensive side of the ball, senior linebacker Donte Dennis could be described as Maine’s Stephon Robertson. He leads the team with 72 tackles. And freshman Michael Kozalawski is a defensive lineman that can get into the backfield and cause havoc. He’s ranked in the CAA’s top ten for both sacks and tackles for loss.
Set Up to be the Most Mickey Matthews-est Game Ever
As mentioned above Maine has the second best scoring defense in the CAA. Statistically, they have the most efficient defense in the CAA against the pass. And that’s even after facing the high-powered New Hampshire attack. The Black Bears are relatively week defending the run though. So take that along with Mickey’s comments that JMU threw too much against Georgia State, plus the fact that it’s going to be Birdsong’s second ever start, and I think we all see where this one could be headed. I’ve got no problem with a rush heavy attack, but please spread the carries around some. There’s no need to get Dae’Quan Scott too beat up when JMU has a number of talented guys to share the wealth.
Did You Know?
JMU is ranked second to last in the CAA in Red Zone Defense. Opponents have scored on 85% of their trips to the Dukes red zone. Main conversely has only allowed its opponents to score a league best 65% of the time in the red zone.
Random “Fact” About Maine From Wikipedia That I Know Is Insignificant Yet I Still Find Necessary to Dispute
Apparently Maine has an official fight song and a more popular unofficial fight song, “Stein Song”. An unofficial fight song that holds the distinction of being the only college fight song to ever reach number one on the pop charts. Of course it topped the charts so long ago that I even I can call people who recognize the song “old” without a trace of irony. And according to College Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthology, by Studwell and Schueneman (a book I’m confident none of you or anyone else on Earth ever read) “Stein Song” is one of the very best fight songs of all time. Well no. It is not. Nobody thinks that. And until the start printing the lyrics upside down on t-shirts for freshman, then I don’t want to hear any more about it.
Keys to the Game for JMU
The defense needs to get its mojo (it’s an old person word for swag) back. We all know the Dukes defense is talented and it’s time they step up and play tough. The last two weeks they’ve had too many mental breakdowns that the other teams took advantage of. JMU and Maine nearly always play tight games and this will probably be no different. With a freshman QB making his first road start, a strong defensive showing could go along way to helping JMU leave with a win. On offense, they need to spread the ball around. Dae’Quan Scott has been great the past 2 games, but he can only do so much. They don’t need to air it out to win, but getting Brodie, Simmons, and Anderson some carries could help keep Maine on its toes. And it could create some space for guys like Brian Barlow and Deandre Smith to pick up chunks of yards receiving.
Beer of the Week
This one actually comes courtesy of Todd who nominated Founders Backwoods Bastard for BOTW. As you might have gathered, Todd and I both huge fans of everything Founders makes. And since November 1 is the official 2012 release date for Backwoods Bastard, this seemed like an appropriate choice. Now that there’s a little chill in the air, this bourbon barrel aged Scotch Ale should hit the spot.
Perspective
Football, and this blog, are just for fun. Obviously there are a lot more important things in life. And the awful destruction caused by Sandy has made us more aware of that. If you have the means, please consider donating to the Red Cross to support the relief efforts.
JMUSB Prediction
The defense steps up, Michael Birdsong takes a step forward, and the Dukes return home with a win. 27-17 JMU.
photo courtesy of epicsnapshots.com
Maine is always better than their record shows. If they were in any other conference, they’d be a perennial contender for an automatic playoff bid. I would call this a trap game, but since it is Birdsong’s second ever start, I think our guard will be sufficiently up.
Also, their stadium isn’t that crappy. It is small, but its kind of nice. URI, New Hampshire and Richmond are all far worse.
Rob and I have talked for a while about making this trip, but it probably just isn’t going to happen.
Just a heads up, since we haven’t heard anything from the Duke Club about anything official for a viewing party, I’ll be heading to Dogwood Tavern in Falls Church (where the bus trip was based) to watch this one. I’m just too old for a place non-ironically called A-Town. If we can get a little crew of Dukes fans, pretty sure Dogwood will give us audio for the game since there’s no local conflicting games in the 3:30 time slot.
Lastly, a big dose of good luck goes out to JMU Field Hockey as they start play in the CAA tourney today as the 3 seed!
Yeah, like Todd said, he and I have talked about taking a trip up for a JMU road game in New England for years. From the sound of it 2004 Duke, we might be better off planning a trip to visit Maine than either of the other schools you mentioned. I’m just glad the weather is supposed to be nice. Without the endzones enclosed, it seems like the wind could cause serious issues on a bad day.
If I was going to any CAA game outside of Virginia, it would definitely be to Orono, Maine. It is really nice up there (as long as you aren’t actually playing in the game…then it’s cold and it sucks).
Per my comment in my prediction – have to disagree with you guys about their song. Lyrics JMU folks can relate to. Gotta respect literally cheering about “happy hours” after every TD.
Go Dukes
I’m backing up 25 cent on this one. Sweet fight song.
You guys are bringing us around on the Maine fight song.
Did some calculating guys and it looks like this outcome is possible (albeit unlikely) in the CAA this year:
richmond 7-4
delaware 7-4
towson 7-4
new hamp 8-3
JMU 8-3
Villanova 7-4
ODU 9-2
That replay on Birdsong’s injury was pretty sick. Looks like it was completely rolled/twisted and prob broken. I cringed watching the replay.
Now that was the kind of dominant performance I had been waiting to see for weeks. Keep up that level of intensity every week. Way GO!!!!.
Go DUKES!!!
Although we must admit that Maine was pretty horrible (and it always helps when the other team’s QB throws aimless deep passes over the middle), my hat is off to the defense for returning with a vengeance. Where did that pass rush come from??? Welcome back, guys!
I’m still not sold on the offense.
1. It’s easy to score when you get the ball on the 50 yard line every time.
2. The playcalling was horrible (again). We are rolling along ona drive, and then for no reason whatsoever we run (repeatedly) a reverse that gets stuffed for a 10 yard loss. It makes me sick.
3. I about had an aneurism when I saw Thorpe come in the game. I thought Birdsong was playing fine, and I was really enjoying the passing attack. It was almost like I was watching a legit offense. When Thorpe missed Barlow WIDE OPEN in the endzone, I thought “Yep…that is why he souldn’t be playing. Move him to RB or something”.
4. I’m just going to go ahead and say it…. DQS is the most overrated player in college football. Sorry. I notices all his big runs were when nobody touches him. If someone gets close enough to look at him funny, he goes down. I thought the other RB’s played just as well as DQS, if not better.
5. the best drive of the season was the one we put together with about 4 mins left in the game. If anyone else noticed…. we lined up in the one-back/I-From (with Anderson or Latney in the backfield, I think) and ran it right up the middle. UNLIKE this idiot pistol garbage, we were getting 5 yards a pop EASILY.
…and I really, really hope Birdsong is ok.