Fan Confidence Poll Week 3
[polldaddy poll=8295641]The Dukes evened their record at 1-1 with a nice win on the road against Lehigh. After the Maryland loss, there was a bit of a dip in fan confidence. Will Saturday’s exciting win be enough to see it trend back up? Vote in the poll and share your thoughts.
Which team are we voting on? The 1st half team that couldn’t catch a ball, throw the ball or tackle the guy with the ball. Or the second half team that seemed to run right through the exhausted Leigh def.
Hopefully, the 2nd half team shows up more often and hopefully opposing defenses get as gassed as Leigh did.
This will be a rebuilding year. Next year should prove interesting. Vad will have more confidence and a smoother understanding of offense.
We are awesome and will definately make the playoffs. Vad Lee is a dual threat QB and our front 7 are the cream of the CAA.
thought there would be a stronger push back on the yes. I’ve been a consistent yes so far. Maybe the needle moves up more after we slaughter Stfu.
We won, but what I saw on the field did nothing to change my opinion. Too much of the “win just because we were bigger and outlasted the opponent” from the MM era, which we have learned doesn’t work against the better CAA teams. We also had a complete inability to effectively throw the ball. If we make noise once CAA play starts then I’ll change my tune, until then I’m in the “no” camp.
Yeah that first half did nothing to ensure confidence in this season. Hopefully Vad was just nervous, although I expected a FBS starting QB to be able to get the ball near his WR’s and he struggled with that. Although, it doesn’t help when you finally do hit the WR’s and they drop the easy TD’s.
I imagine the team and Withers will both settle down by about mid-october. Lots of new faces and he needs to install his program. I was not very comfortable with Vad from the start, because anyone who accepted a scholarship from Paul Johnson when “the option is not really his thing” has some kind of issue. On the flipside, he’s more athletic than almost everyone, so if Withers just makes him run the ball anyway….despite it “not being his thing”…. the team should do well. Armanti Edwards was an awful QB, but won 3 national championships because he was just more athletic than everyone else, and that’s just how it works at the FCS level. Additionally, Withers is a very experienced coach and knows there are a lot of significant growing pains that need to be ironed out, so IDK why he didn’t just keep his mouth shut during the preseason. A simple “Well, we need to install the new system and we’ve got a lot of new guys, but we will do the best we can and work hard” would have been fine…or at least honest.
The team lacks identity right now. Are we a passing team? Are we a smashmouth team? An option team? A strong defensive team? Ironically, this was the same situation that got MM fired. In his case, he was trying to be a “Big Defense” team, but without any actual pass coverage or pass rush. The 2014 team right now looks just sort of average at everything. I know it is only Withers 3rd game, but the team needs something to hang its hat on. It sounded like he was going to go with “big-D” too based on his preseason remarks about the front 7, but it is abundantly clear that ain’t happening.
That is why I’m not jumping on the kool-aid wagon and jocking this year’s team. I don’t hate my alma mater. I’m analyzing them.
North Dakota State, the current kings of FCS, are a great example of “having an identity”. They are going to run the ball between the tackles. If you can stop them, you win. They are betting you can’t (are usually correct).
GT is going to run the triple option. If they run it well, they win. If you can stop it, they lose.
ODU- you shut down the passing game, you win. You play 10-15 yards off the ball, they win.
What is our identity? Serious question….. what is “JMU Duke Football”?
@2004Duke I think it’s a good question, but one that we’ll need to wait to get an answer to. Based on what we’ve heard, Withers wants JMU’s identity to be that of an up-tempo, hybrid attack. He’s doing it this year with a lot of players who were recruited to play in a different system though, so there are still some rough edges to smooth out. In a few weeks we might get a better idea, but I think we’ll really start to see it take shape next season once everyone knows the system.
Defensively, I think the goal is to play aggressive and keep the other team from getting into a rhythm. That sounds great, but I’d be content just to see some better tackling at this point.