Game Preview: JMU v. St. Francis (PA)

Here. We. Go!

The chance to welcome the Everett Withers era to Bridgeforth Stadium has finally arrived. And just as importantly, tailgate season in the ‘Burg is finally upon us! This week the Dukes welcome back the St. Francis Red Flash from some tiny hill town in PA. It’s almost unfathomable that JMU is hosting this team again, but we’ll put as much of that on Mickey’s preference for late 80’s John Thompson style creampuff scheduling as we will on everyone’s favorite punching bag AD Jeff Bourne. And that’s not necessarily a knock on St. Francis’ program or a guarantee the Dukes will cruise tomorrow, it just baffles mind that we can’t find a cupcake with some type of local interest to come to BFS year after year after year. Were VMI, Norfolk St., Hampton, Georgetown, Campbell, NC A&T, and Western Carolina somehow all busy with better plans these weekends?

Anyhow, onto the game.

The Facts

Match-up: JMU Dukes (1-1, 0-0 CAA) vs. St. Francis (PA) Red Flash (1-1, 0-0 NEC)

Kickoff: 4:00 PM – you know where

Weather: High of 72 with 50% of showers (but not T’Storms it doesn’t look like)

Broadcast: Streamed (for free thanks to the Alumni Association) via Madizone. Of course, it’s in beautiful HD right in front of you at BFS.

The Basics

Wait, who are we kidding? The Red Flash are a program on the rise. Or so we’ve heard. In that noted power conference the NEC! They started the season getting blown out by solid FCS program Fordham before getting a win at home over something called Clarion last week. This is the first of back-to-back FCS guarantee games (they travel to Youngstown next week) for St. Francis and with a veteran QB (same kid that played last time) and quite a bit of knowledge of the Dukes and BFS, they likely won’t be intimidated. But this is the lone game on JMU’s schedule that on paper is an absolute mismatch in JMU’s favor. Simply bigger, stronger, faster players and more schollies make this more a question of can JMU simply live up to the expectation than anything else. Of course, that’s what we’ve said in past years – do Bloomsburg or CCSU ring a bell? – and this year the lightly regarded Dukes are only 16.5 point faves.

St. Francis is called the Red Flash.  Yes, that’s Flash, not Flashes.  They are from what appears to be a beautiful town on top of a mountain called Loretto, PA.  That town is likely just a small outpost where people talk about how you shoulda seen it when the mine was working.  St. Francis is one of the smallest schools in Division 1 athletics and someday they’ll probably make a great story for March Madness.  But limited scholarship FCS participation in the NEC is a tough way to go.

How St. Francis Can Win?

Play the game of their lives and have the Dukes completely shit the bed. And they’d still probably need some lucky breaks to go their way at that. In all seriousness, the gameplan for anyone as shown through two weeks needs to be get out to a big lead on JMU and force Lee to “throw.”

How JMU Can Win?

Whatever happened during that lightning delay in Bethlehem last week (maybe there is something to that Bethlehem too), rediscover it and just ride the positive vibes. Do not make mistakes. Really it should be that simple. Without bad turnovers, penalties, and general missed assignments, the Dukes should roll. One thing we’d really like to see is somehow getting Daniel Brown more involved this week (or really any target other than Tapley for that matter). One thing we have to see this week is some semblance of run-stuffing ability and pass rush from the front seven.

Beer of the Week

This one was carried with special care halfway across the country by a friend of JMUSB especially for the home opener (huge thanks to the Bowens of Dickerson, Md). Even with showers, this may be the only semi-summerish game at home this season so we’ve got to have a big, beautiful IPA and this is a doozy. Mind’s EyePA from Petoskey Brewing in Petoskey, Michigan. Tall boy cans (the best) filled with some Pure Michigan goodness.

Freshman Pro Tip of the Week

At the tailgates, if any asks you “Who ya rooting for?” or “Do you root?” or any similar slurred variation of those questions, the answer is always – this is important, ALWAYS – “Rootin’ fer Dukes, bud!”

Prediction

We’d love for Withers to be able to name the score, but we haven’t seen anything so far to think that’s a possibility in Year 1. That said, we think the Dukes continue building momentum after last week’s exciting comeback and assert control early. Mistakes seem inevitable, but the spread seems about right in this one. Dukes 33, STFU 17