Playoff Gameday Open Thread: JMU vs. Liberty
Today is the day. At 4:00 Bridgeforth Stadium in lovely Harrisonburg, Virginia the mighty JMU Dukes take on the Liberty Flames in round 1 of the 2014 FCS Playoffs. If you’re lucky enough to be dressed in black for the Blackout and headed to the ‘burg, be loud and be proud. If you’re watching from home or with friends on ESPN3, enjoy the game. Consider this your open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game chatter. Go Dukes! Beat Liberty!
Hey who’s starting at their QB ?
The Freshman or the wounded. Senior?
I’m wearing very dark Purple!!
Go DUUUUUKES!
Let’s get to Villanova and best their asses too!
Anyone have parking advice?
if you don’t have a pass, you can park at Convo
I parked in the Geace Street parking garage. There’s a lot of spaces there
Hope we don’t see a relapse of stupid penalties today.
Huuuuuge
Is the game on TV in Hampton Roads?
That targeting call was absolute horseshit.
Why aren’t the fans throwing trash onto the field?
Dukes have caught a few tough breaks (and made bad drops) so far. Need to a big play on D to turn the momentum around after the failed 4th down conversion.
Total momentum loss by not kicking field goal. Should have worn purple helmets.
Latney….aka the Minivan!! Go Dukes!
Interesting that Withers in pregame said they wanted to shut down run. They’ve done that but have given up huge pass plays and 150 yards through the air already.
There we go Latney! JMU needed that it a big way.
Team is playing pissed off now. Love it.
Would’ve have been nice to get some points on that last drive, but the team looked great in the 2nd quarter. JMU gets the ball to start the 3rd quarter.
Did they serve hot cocoa and marshmallows at halftime thinking this was offer? Wake the f up!
How on earth was JMU not ready for a fake when Liberty lined up for a 56 yard attempt? That was obvious.
Please raise your hand if you thought liberty was actually going to attempt a 56 yd field goal….
Come on, man.
My 11 year old son was saying “watch the fake.”
And now they nail a 56 yarder. Still thought it was obvious they were gonna fake it considering they were down 11 at the time.
JMU needs to get it together and right the ship. Quickly.
Does anyone know if Latney is injured or if he just sucks tonight?
That was the biggest head up ass quarter I’ve seen from JMU since the beginning of the season. Bad time for a meltdown.
Defense just looks tired now. Time of possession difference ridiculous.
This is the not the JMU team we’ve seen the second half of the season.
Offense jas let Team down today. Passing game just never got going today for JMU. Receivers couldn’t get separation.
I have a room full of JMU fans literally laughing at our defense. It’s that bad.
Not that it matters, but a forward fumble into the endzone is a touchback, not a touchdown. Just saying.
That’s the crap I’m talking about. Our guys just blanketed. Hard to complete passes that tight consistently. Lee has had time.
Where was the targeting call on liberty when latney got ko’d?
I can’t believe this is the best officiating crew they could find for a playoff game.
I spent 10 weeks saying we weren’t going to make the playoffs because of a shitty defense. Defense wins championships.
These kids need to go learn how to cover, hit and tackle and try again next year.
The game was definitely not called both ways. Lots of interference and targeting on the other team. Those officials sucked.
Its water under the bridge but I said after that playoff selection show that JMU got jacked. Richmond got off easy.
I’m sick that our tax money is spent giving scholarships to freaking receivers who cannot run pass routes, they are the worst, have been for a loooong time If they were men or even boys they should give the money back. They run around like children at recess on a play ground , totally disorganized , that last drive should open a lot of eyes. If they are covered on their first break they give up . I saw it in person at Richmond and now here, I hope they are proud of their effort. They need to study ODU , and that is real hard to swallow . Some on the defense aren’t far behind them, this was Liberty for gods sake, Liberty, embarrassing as hell. One thing is for sure, not that it would matter, the FCS has shown they are the one and only good ole boy organization, Richmond get’s mighty Morgan State 1st round …….really ?????? Bunch of pimps. . JMU has got to move up to get out of this BS.
This one is on the coaches, not the players. Liberty made second half adjustments, we didn’t. I think the pressure got to the young coaching staff, especially the offensive staff. 2nd half playing call was awful. Hope they learn from this experience.
Really disappointing second half to say the least. Hats off to Liberty’s players and coaches for making the necessary adjustments. Lee did what he could, but JMU’s receivers couldn’t seem to get separation from the defenders. Just incredibly disappointing that JMU couldn’t adjust on D and take away the middle of the field in LU’s passing game.
Very frustrating, but a good season nonetheless. Go Dukes!
Yes it’s frustrating. Yes that hit on Latney on the last drive should have been flagged. But I’m all about long term. The players that Withers recruited have made an impact in one year. Vad Lee has one more year. Most of the readers on this blog did not believe a playoff game was in the cards for JMU this year. Normally, I’m a huge cynic in life, but I think the atmosphere around the program is exciting. Withers is the type of coach that players get excited about playing for.
Makes you wish we had kicked the field goal in first half.
I thought about that as we were driving down at the end.
Good perspective Drake. JMU was picked to finish 8th in the CAA and after the loss to Delaware, 81% of voters in our poll thought JMU would miss the playoffs. This team didn’t get it done today, but exceeded most people’s expectations for the season.
Not kicking field Goal in first half.
Not getting SOMETHING out of last drive in first half
Not recognizing fake FG. Apparently only people that weren’t expecting it played or coached for JMU.
Not recovering ball when we stripped it in 2nd half
Allowing 17 play 11 minute drive.
Holding call on last drive.
The above is what cost is the game.
Having said all that
Going from 2-3 to 9-3 and making playoffs
Instilling new mind set in program
Laying foundation for the move to FBS. Yes we will get there.
Attracting better recruits.
Is the program in better shape than a year ago? Definitely
Beating Richmond and William and Mary
I’d say it was a pretty good year
I’m disappointed but not infuriated. Tough way to close it out, but it was a good season. And all the stat referencing and screaming at the tv doesn’t change the fact that control is an illusion. JMU football was entertaining the last several weeks and now it’s time for entertainment elsewhere.
Sitting ( and standing ) there in the less-than-ideal conditions, you could just feel the game slipping away. The fake field goal was the low point for me. The poor officiating and the unimaginative play-calling resulted in a whole 1/2 with NO POINTS.
Exciting season … can’t wait for the next one!
An all around poor showing for JMU Football tonight – Fans, Players and Coaches
Fans need to be called out – 1) asked for a better game day experience – got it, 2) asked for better coaching – got it, 3) asked for a winner – got it, 4) asked the administration to bid more on home playoff games – got it. The result – 13,000 (probably 2000 from Liberty) show up for a home playoff game. Neither the local population, alums, nor students cared enough to come to the game. Let’s not make excuses about Thanksgiving weekend. Interest in JMU football is modest at best. Could the energy from a packed house have put JMU over the top? I guess we will never know.
On the field, we lost the game in the second half because Liberty wanted to win more. Plain and simple. This wasn’t a complex shoot out. In the second half, they were more physical than JMU on both the offensive and defensive line. It came down to one on one battles, and the team with the better athletes didn’t deliver.
Never suspected we’d make playoffs so excited about improvement made by new staff but not adjusting in 2nd Half or having more imaginative play-calling was unexcuseable. Withers needs to show a little more humility in postgame. You’re not Bill Belichick. Once you win consistently you can act like an arse with one word responses about why you didn’t kick FG in 1st Quarter.
@Steve – Could not agree with you more. Really disappointed in the turnout for the game. Yesterday, the day after Thanksgiving, I watched two 5-win teams in UVA and VT play in front of a packed house at Lane Stadium for the opportunity to play in a bowl game. Tonight the stadium was empty and lifeless for a 9-win team in the playoffs. JMU did a terrible job marketing this game. They should have done an all out blitz on TV, radio, print; call alumni; go door-to-door; give out free tickets; do whatever it takes to pack the stadium. And for the fans and alumni who could have made the game but decided not to go, shame on you. This is the reason Madison is a second rate athletic program. There’s no demand for the product or enthusiasm from fans. We need to stop worrying about going to FBS and start worrying about filling the stadium for the first home playoff game in 6 years.
And for everyone who thought we took a some sort of step forward tonight, you’re all absolutely delusional. The coaching, game management and play calling were all laughable. Making a 24-team playoff is not progress, especially for a school with FBS aspirations. How is this a “new era” if we can’t even fill the stadium with fans, run a competent offense or beat a team that we clearly should have beat? We need to stop being content with this “also-ran” status. The fact is is that we have an enormous amount of talent and should have made a very deep run in the playoffs. Instead we’re held back by an arrogant head-coach who makes bone-headed decisions and absolutely failed to coach his team properly. Tonight’s loss was an embarrassment on multiple levels and fans should be angry. If you want to think that beating Elon, Lehigh and St. Francis is progress, be my guest. But if we have any desire to make the next step, this team and our fans need to wake the hell up.
TSDukes09 – sorry but can’t agree with your perspective about the team.
Expectations are a funny thing. Most of us who watched the past few years of JMU football, especially last, would reasonably acknowledge that with the turnover in coaching staff that there was a good chance that we were “resetting” the program and we have to wait and see what was going to happen. Then after then less than underwhelming start, it appeared that it was a more “rebuilding” year. However as we moved through the season and started to build wins, and confidence, lo and behold, the fans expectations started to change. We won some very close games and our defense was not probably as stellar as our past expectations had been built on. However, our offense surpassed our expectations also, so it goes both ways that whole expectation thing. Liberty was actually a pretty good team – they did just bean Coastal Carolina who was as high as #2. Big South or not, the CAA isn’t necessarily the juggernaut it was so lets not pretend that Liberty couldn’t be good just by association of being in Big South and that we are superior because we are in CAA. We had a great run going in, and in the end, I do think that it got a little too much for the coaching staff as well as they had a great game plan against us in the 2nd half. I do agree with the overall sentiment about the fans though – Thanksgiving weekend or not. I brought my 10 and 8 yr old and my brother brought his 4 year old in the cold from NoVA so I don’t have too much sympathy for those alum or students who “couldn’t” make it. Liberty fans showed up and made noise and that was embarrassing considering this was the first home playoff game since expanded BFS. The marketing was fine from JMU – I am not sure what else you have to do to get students to come back early. It’s been 10 years since the Nat. Championship so some of the fanbase we built up from that is probably a little eroded but if we can continue to build on this season (as frustrating as it was to end like this) I think we can build it back up. BTW – everyone in my section was screaming watch out for the fake FG too but the kicker did put one through from similar distance later so maybe Withers really thought he could make it.
After taking 24 hours to get over my disappointment/depression…I can say with confidence that I am proud of our team and the fight they showed as the season went forward.
Last night sucked. Plain and simple. We can’t take anything away from Liberty. Yes, there was some bad officiating but this is always the case. Yes, we can talk about going for it Vs. Kicking it for weeks to come but hindsight is always 20/20 and you can’t fault a coach for trusting that his usually high powered offense can back him up.
The turning point in that game was the fake FG. Momentum (which is critical) completely shifted from that moment on and it seemed like everything (fumbles, calls/no calls, etc) went Liberty’s way. This was the one thing that I have a “coaching issue” with. The Liberty kicker obviously had a cannon for a leg and had made some long kicks this season. How does that not get looked at in films? If we knew this kid could legitimately make a FG from 60 yards with relative ease, why put a guy back in the end-zone? And why sell-out on a possible block when 3 points is the only bad thing that can happen if you play it safe. Would love to know the thought process here.
It pisses me off to no-end to hear someone trash this football team after a year with an exciting coaching change, consistent progress on the field, and a renewed buzz around the program that unfortunately might take a little while to transfer to the students and “fringe fans.” Go Dukes. Bleed Purple.