Quick Thoughts on JMU over CCSU

JMU got the 2013 season started with a 38-14 win over Central Connecticut State last night. It’s tough to learn that much from these early season match-ups with teams from weaker conferences. The important thing is obviously that JMU got the win. Well, that and the fact that the game was proof positive that football is finally back. Now there is one game in the books and a 1 in the W column. Overall, we saw some things we liked. We also saw a few things that the Dukes probably need to work on.

Positives

There were signs of life from the new JMU offense. It was far from a well oiled machine, but considering it was the first game in a brand new system, we were pretty encouraged. Just the simple fact that they came out throwing the ball was great. Ten different players caught at least one pass. And they went no-huddle and pressed the pace for large stretches. There were a few moments with everyone looking to the coaches on the sideline for directions that gave us flash-backs to last year. For the most part though, we liked the faster tempo and the effective mix of the run and the pass.

Coach Matthews said he wanted the Dukes to run 80 offensive plays a game this season. They played at about that pace in the first half, running 39 plays. The second half was mostly short fields and playing out the string in garbage time, so they never hit 80. On several of the night’s scoring drives however, the Dukes showed they could push the tempo and move the ball. Birdsong was a little bit inconsistent, but he made some nice throws, spread the ball around, and ran well. I thought it was an impressive game from a guy who had an abbreviated pre-season to get ready.

Dae’Quan Scott had nearly 200 all purpose yards and took a punt back to the house. He brought the crowd to its feet with a number of big plays. I was actually encouraged by some of his shorter runs though, where he went north-south and grounded out 4 or 5 yards. In the past, it’s seemed like he’s been solely focused on springing himself for a big run every time. As we saw last night, he can reverse fields and turn a loss into a loss into a 50 yard gain. That’s not going to happen every time though, so I was pleased to see him take what the D gave him in spots. He’s a dangerous weapon poised for a big year.

To nobody’s surprise, Stephon Robertson and Dean Marlowe had strong games. Robertson once again was all over the field. He tied for the team lead in tackles with redshirt-freshman linebacker Gage Steele. Steele was also stellar. The defensive backs did a nice job making some open field tackles and the entire team’s speed was evident by the way they completely prevented CCSU runners from getting to the edge.

Things to Work On

I’m sure there are plenty of arm-chair quarterbacks with a laundry list of things the Dukes did poorly last night. Because there always are. There were definitely some mistakes, but most of them didn’t concern me much. It was the season opener. A game that was scheduled primarily to shake the dust off and get a win before the Dukes get everything in order. As expected, the offense was a bit inconsistent. There were times when the receivers couldn’t create space and Birdsong immediately tucked and ran. That’s not going to cut it against the top CAA teams. And JMU has to learn how to hold onto the ball. A fumble killed a potential scoring drive that could have put the game away early. You just can’t give the ball away in the red zone like that.

There were a few things on defense that were slightly more concerning. It was week one and they were working some players into new spots. And the team’s best d-lineman, Tyler Snow, was out with an injury. The utter lack of a pass rush was discouraging though. JMU had superior athletes at pretty much every position. Yet they couldn’t seem to put a hit on the Blue Devils QB. And the lack of a pass rush combined with the soft-zone, just don’t let the receivers get behind you defense, meant CCSU could pass effectively at times. Better teams, like Villanova or Richmond, will eat that up. Hopefully things will improve when Snow returns. If they can’t pressure the QB with the down-lineman however, then Mickey and the coaches absolutely need to dial up some blitzes.

Odds and Ends

Maybe I was just happy to be back in the stadium, but I thought the entire gameday operation was top notch. The MRD debut of Start Wearing Purple sounded terrific. Hats off to the band. Now we just need the crowd to elevate its SWP game to the same level. And the running of the freshmen is a great new tradition. It could be greatly improved if something was chasing them however. Finally, while much of the post-game online chatter focused on bitching about students leaving early, I thought the student section was stellar. It was packed at kick-off and loud when the game was in question. They left a blowout early on the first Saturday night of the year. Who cares? We had a 3 year old in tow and a 100+ mile drive home, so we hit the road early too. If it happens during a close game,  we can discuss it. Not worth worrying about last night though.

Final Assessment

Overall, the offense showed that it has some potential. It’s not going to be confused for one of Chip Kelly’s Oregon teams, but it should be much more dynamic and fast-paced than anything we’ve seen in the ‘burg in years. The defense had some new faces, but looked a lot like the unit we saw last year. It was dominant on some drives, but on others the lack of pass rush made it appear quite vulnerable. Thankfully, the Dukes have 3 more chances to iron some things out before the CAA bullets start flying.

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