CCSU @ JMU: JMUSB Game 1 Preview

GAMETIME BABY! Seriously, just take a moment, step outside your place of residence, and scream your damned lungs out. Our long national nightmare is over and it’s JMU football season again.  Needless to say, not only are we excited for the season, filled with nervous anticipation about the results, and really looking forward to tomorrow’s drive down, tailgate, and bookstore raid, but we also love this time here at JMUSB because over the last four years, some of our favorite posts are doing the game previews.  We’ve got some special treats being arranged for later in the season, but we should all catch our breath and remember this is Central. Connecticut. State. University.  We’re still unsure how there’s a need for a directional school in a state roughly the size of Rockingham County, but we digress.  While Mickey may love some gimmes, the Dukes have a quite the snoozalicious home September setup.  Just hope they’re ready when they make that trip to the world’s armpit, also known as Newark, Delaware come the end of the month!

The Basics

14-9. That’s a scary scoreline because it’s the teensy, weensy, crummy margin the Dukes beat CCSU by a couple years ago in the season opener and it should serve as a sobering reminder to those of your predicting a JMU romp this weekend.  Nevermind that JMU had 28 turnovers, the CCSU touchdown was scored on the last play of regulation, or that this years’ BlueDevils team likely doesn’t have a 34-year old seemingly indestructible fire-hydrant looking guy playing QB and generally being tough to bring down, the Dukes better not get ahead of themselves, especially while breaking in a new offensive system.

On that system, it’s interesting, though in no way surprising to note that new OC Mike O’Cain has said a couple times this week that although the Dukes want to run their O at a faster tempo and up their number of plays per game to an unfathomable 80, he still said they want to run more than throw.  Some things may never change, but we’re cool with it if it means less standing around in the pistol looking at the sidelines and still barely getting the play off.

On offense, the CCSU mainly will look to run the ball with preseason all-NEC selection RB Rob Holloman.  Likely to see at least two QB’s in this game and they’re not all that good.  Defense was bad last year.  Really bad.  Like 38+ points per game bad.  But hey, they only lost two kids so they’re experienced.  Sounds like a JMU Men’s hoops preview during the Dean Keener era. If the Dukes can’t handle they bidness in this one…well, let’s not think about that just yet.

What We’re Most Looking Forward To

The new offense.  Winning. How the secondary is holding up though we may not learn much this week.  Winning.  The enthusiasm for the season that comes with winning.  Watching Robertson, a healthy Till, and hopefully a healthy Tyler Snow start wrecking havoc at all three levels of the defense!  Dae’Quan Scott in the slot.  Streamers! Winning. The freshmen wideouts. Please, please, please let us see a healthy Cam Starke. Winning. TAILGATING! (We’ll be starting up in D2 this week but will only have the JMUSB banner flying for a little while this week – hoping to catch up with Coach Lucas – and then rolling through Godwin to see Dukie95 with a sidetrip to the bookstore and finishing up in PLot – or at the moon bounce, have to see how Rob’s youngest is doing).

START WEARING PURPLE!

We’re looking forward to this so much that it gets it’s own section.  Along with a few of the hardcores from the message boards, we’ve been advocating this for years now.  Chad Reep and the pep band’s rendition has grown and grown this grassroots tradition from  it’s little start in the WNIT run for Kenny Brooks’ team a couple years back to it’s pregame Indiana in Dayton glory during the big dance last year (so thankful I was there for that!).  And now word is the full 450+ (thanks Zac) member MRD’s will be busting this insane, nonsensical, nobody-over-40-has-ever heard-of-it, wonderful, amazing song out in what has to be the world’s largest-ever rendition of a Gogol Bordello song.  Get in the stadium early enough not to miss this!

Beer of the Week

It’s back and better than ever!  We’ve been busy tasting all offseason to bring you more consistently thoughtful selections all season long. Unless of course things start going wrong again this season and we start wandering Hanson Field looking for those wonderful southern gentlemen from Massanutten that so generously served us some of their very own white lightnin’ before and after the ODU game last year, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to this again.  The misery that is, we’ll gladly sample the good stuff again! But this game is taking place in August, and it’s going to be muggy and generally still summer this week, plus we’re staunchly anti-Pumpkinites.  So an are-you-kidding-me summer beer to start the season.  In this case the collaboration between Stone and Rip Current known as R&R Coconut IPA.  Hold on, I know what you’re thinking.  Coconut sounds ridiculous, but after tasting this smooth and incredibly easy-drinking 7.7%er, you’ll actually be thinking “I wish their was a little more cocunut.” OK, maybe that’s just me, but the rest of you will be thinking, “Wow, that’s a fineassed IPA that doesn’t scream fruity coconut after all!”

Official JMUSB Prediction

Don’t take the Devils lightly, but despite all the caveats, this JMU team is reported to be more on the same page in camp than any in recent years.  Time to live up to our considerable talent.

Dukes 31, CCSU 9