JMU Fan Confidence After Week 1
[polldaddy poll=8280544]Last week we kicked of our new fan confidence poll and asked readers if they thought JMU was playoff bound. A resounding 84% of poll respondents said “yes” the Dukes will make the playoffs. Now we’re one game into the season and the Dukes are coming off a pretty severe loss to Maryland. Maybe you think the loss foretells a season of disaster. Maybe you think the Dukes’ performance can be written off as an anomaly. Regardless, we ask again. Are the Dukes making the playoffs?
If you’re reading this before you vote, just note: Mickey Matthews’ first game was a 47-0 loss at Virginia Tech. He went on to go to the playoffs. So don’t base everything on one game.
No, not this year… against teams like W & M, Richmond, Villanova just in our conference, let alone all the other great conferences that have very good teams.
Huge game for Withers and the Dukes this week at Lehigh! The expectations could have been a bit unreasonable last week, especially those expecting the Dukes to win (but IMO they should had a better showing!). The Dukes have to show up and play lights out this week or Withers could lose the already shaky fan base he has been working so hard to energize during the off season. Let’s see some JUICE! Let’s go Dukes!
I think that we (fans) had bought into too much of the hype during the off season. I know I did, but after one game against a FBS opponent who is vastly improved since Dudzik and company last played them, I still have confidence to make the playoffs. That being said the Dukes have to have a strong game, and victory, over Lehigh this weekend. The rest of the CAA with the exception of Villanova did not fare too well last week either. Delaware just got flat hammered, Towson lost to CENTRAL CONNETICUTT STATE, Richmond beat Morehead State, big whup, William and Mary got beat by 25, and Maine last year’s CAA champ just snuck by Norfolk State, a MEAC member. Oh yes, and the Virginian Pilot’s love child, Old Dominion, won by 13 over a team that was 4 – 8 last season, in the MEAC, and as we all know ODU is with the big boys now.
One game does not make a season, especially playing out of your division. Again, the caveat here is the Lehigh game. I don’t think the Dukes will be taking this lightly and they have to come back with a convincing win.
Oh what a difference a week makes…
We should not all the jump the gun on the season tanking. Personally, I saw a lot of good things (to go a long with a ton of bad things.. hah) on Saturday that have me super-hyped for the season.
1) Although his accuracy sucks right now, watching the ball come out of Vad’s hands was nice to see. He has a cannon and puts some good spin on it; compared to UD’s transfer QB, Hurley, who I think has a pathetic looking ball. He doesn’t look stiff like Birdsong looked at times and his ball doesn’t wobble like Thorpe’s ducks he threw around. That deep ball he almost completed to a diving Tapley was beautiful.
2) Abdullah looks huge – not sure if you guys noticed but Abdullah has put on some mean muscle to that frame. The kid runs hard, harder than any JMU RB I’ve seen in a while and he has put on additional power behind those legs. Unlike Dequan last year, he still has that burst, if not more, to go along with his added size and willingness not to go down.
3) We can cover – I’m sure we have all seen the tweets and comments about our DB’s playing solid so I won’t go too far into this but Jimmy Moreland and Aaron Peak are going to be dudes, if not already. They don’t play scared, have a willingness to hit, and have good ball skills. Also, they have good size and bulk. Notice that, other than the one deep ball with the all out blitz, we pretty much ran toe-to-toe with their receiving core.
4) We can punt well – thumbs up Gunner Cane!
5) While everyone was talking about our DLine getting gashed; I personally thought they played okay considering the total overhaul with the defensive scheme. I thought the bigger problem was at the 4 LB spots. Mosley, Osuji, Gates and even Urqhart were fairly strong at times but the run fits with the linebackers need work. We had guys letting offensive linemen cross their face which is a big “no no” on defense but I would attribute that to them thinking more than reacting and flowing to the ball. Schematically, it is tough to have 210 pound LBs (Hawkins, Till… although Stallings is a bit bigger now) play in a 3-4 effectively but that should improve with recruiting down the road/growth. In addition, throw in the fact, Gage was out as well as neither Harold/Jacques have stood up since probably HS – it is a complete work in progress. Once they get the fits right, get more comfortable in the scheme and just run to the ball (aka versus Lehigh :P).. we are going to be scary because you don’t see that size and athleticism much in the FCS level. Personally, I think if we ran a similar 4-3 scheme that the front 7 were used to with the DBs playing like they did, I think it would’ve been a much closer ball game because CJ Brown couldn’t hit the wide side of a barn.
Just my 2 cents (feel free to go back and forth) – I like hearing other people’s opinions.
I think there should be a third option for those of us who are unsure, and think the UMD game gave us nothing to judge the team by. Sometimes FBS teams wreck FCS teams. As far as I’m concerned, the Lehigh game this weekend is the first valuable look at the Dukes we’ll get.
Yup … it seems that many of us drank the “juice” ( Kool Aid ), rather than observed any “juice” on the FB field. š
@JMUPinoy2K12 – I just want to point out that while the punts were tremendous; they also out-kicked our coverage and allowed for big returns. Granted I can see the cloud in any silver lining.
M@ – that’s fair. I was surprised how well Gunner Cane could punt the pig skin. Aaron Peak and Dejor Simmons got down there pretty quick… but…. well ya know..