Dukes Dominate Lehigh
The Madison battle station is approaching fully operational status!
The Dukes Death Star is nearly fully operational and it’s only Week 2! On a wet Saturday afternoon, the Dukes rode a relentless offense and some special teams magic to an enormous 55-17 rout of Patriot League foe Lehigh.
The Good
Fans! – for a second straight week, the fans made themselves a factor. While there weren’t many of them (I’m sorry but there’s no getting around the overall down attendance from previous years), they were into the game and it certainly seems like we’re all getting that feeling about this squad and starting to buckle up for the ride!
The Attack – So I was worried about the offense falling out of rhythm after former Offensive Coordinator and play caller Drew Mehringer followed old buddy Tom Hermann to Houston over the offseason. But in case you haven’t noticed, apparently this particular offense is plug n’ play. New OC has picked up right where the Dukes left off last year and for the second straight week, the Dukes just hung half-a-hundred on someone. Deane Cheatham is coming along on his way back from injury and could be a real difference-maker again for this team. Vad is Vad. Cardon Johnson impressed again, and Brandon Ravenel is providing the type of “slash” player that mixes up the attach just right. Pretty tough to complain about much when that’s the case. By the way, have you seen the Houston attack the first two weeks? Looks a heckuva lot like another Death-Star-in-the-Making at the next level.
Gage Steele – So good to have him leading an improving Defense and you always have to love when your linebackers are leading the team in tackles instead of the secondary.
Field Hockey – Oh, have we mentioned this is STILL our favorite non-football, non-hoops squad on campus. We may have lost our favorite coach, but many of the kids she brought in are still producing, in particular redshirt senior Taylor West (#TeamTaylor!) and junior Bailee Hubert. Plus the new coach is the old coach that won the title when we were in school and one of her stud assistants is all-around bad-ass and friend of JMUSB Karen Zarchin (wise move Coach Morgan!). And like the football team, they are rolling to start the year. We may even have to learn the new players like freshman sensation Miranda Rigg. And students – yeah you – Field Hockey still has the most underrated sneaky friends-of-the-program tailgate on campus. And it is just that, on campus. Get yourselves over there, it’s right by E-Hall.
@KlinesDairyBar is now following us (@JMUsportsblog) on Twitter. Pretty sure we should call it a day and retire as there’s really nowhere to go but down from here on out.
Just wanted to share this tweet from a Lehigh fan just before the game: “The @LehighFootball players have to be jacked up right now. Place is electric, FBS atmosphere. Will see how they control their emotions.” I’m leaving this in The Good because that makes us happy and points to the great job by our fans and the in-game production staff. Needless to say, it’s bittersweet because an FBS atmosphere deserves an FBS conference despite the well-written and thoughtful guest post last week.
The Bad
This isn’t really bad, just somewhere in between good and bad, more like confused. But we’re really not sure what to make of the Dukes’ onside kick up 30 in the third quarter. On one hand, we love it because it sends a clear message of “hammer down” no matter the situation and because there should be more onside kicks in any case (like we should be going on 4th even more). But on the other hand, it had at least enough whiff of unsporting that we’d of been complaining were we on the losing end. Tough one, so we’re gonna go with “it’s cool.”
The Ugly
The Breeze tweeting breathlessly about the UVA/Notre Dame game. It’s bad enough when stupid freshmen and overly sheltered Herbs from Brambleton and the West End and Cox just do what their daddies want and continue to follow other state schools, but really, we have much higher expectations from the paper of record at JMU. Remember, you write about James Madison, not THE University of Moral Victories and their tear-stained khakis and puke-stained boat shoes.
I blame the weather man for the poor turnout. They’ve been saying all week that there were suppose to be thunderstorms the whole day. People probably made plans on Saturday. It’ll probably be better this week
Nice recap. I think this week’s performance against Lehigh was more impressive across the board (Offense/Defense/Special Teams) than the week 1 performance. Both offense and defense were less vanilla and it looked good.
Offense — look like a freaking buzz-saw right now. Great job by the entire unit.
Defense — Another excellent job stuffing the run today. Even more impressive considering this same Lehigh team rushed for 250 against JMU last season. The DBs looked really sharp today and made some great plays on the ball. Way to dial up the pressure on the QB, it came in waves and a variety of packages.
Special Teams — not that I like settling for FGs, but it was nice to get Maglio some work in a game setting and he is looking really comfortable kicking the ball. My only complaint is that I would just assume the coaches let Tyler Gray kick the ball deep for the touchback and eliminate all returns.
As for the onsides kick — yeah it was a surprise for sure. But I look at it like this if the JMU coaches want to kick to about the goal line and let special teams cover, this move will help the coverage team a lot. Now every opponent has one more thing to prepare for b/c EW is willing to pull the trigger on the onsides kick at any time. If the coaches see the return team dropping early to setup the return and block JMU will try the onsides kick.
The crowd was smaller for sure, but as you mentioned the crowd that was there was into the game and making noise. I guess the weather can be blamed to some degree, but it is just that an excuse. Looking for a rowdy crowd next week to open the CAA schedule!!!!
GO DUKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The weather probably dampened the crowd turnout but I think the real factor is that most alumni and out of town fans don’t want to take a day or weekend to go to a blowout. The cost of hotel rooms, travel, etc. are hard to swallow if you aren’t playing an equal opponent. I love watching the Dukes win but honestly I’m not making a multiple hour commute unless they are playing an equal opponent. I know Lehigh played us close last year but let’s be real the Dukes were favored by 23 pts! With the exception of the SMU game I’d imagine most fans can’t wait until the season actually starts on October 24th.
There are many factors that could be considered in a lower turnout this past weekend. The most obvious one, which makes sense, was the weather forecast and conditions. The second factor is the competition that we are scheduling. Let’s face it, JMU should be beating these teams by a large margin based on the talent, budgets, and amenities that are available. The third factor, in which some people are and will remain in denial, is that we no longer belong in the CAA (FCS level). Peer institutions have left us for greener pastures and are willing to take risks; JMU not so much.
http://www.jmu2fbs.com
I feel like everyone’s bashing me now because of the post last week. I’m just saying that no one wants to sit in stormy weather
I had planned to attend but like someone else wrote, the weather forecast had a 100 percent chance od thunderstorms so I cancelled the hotel and decided not to go as it is too far to go to maybe sit in a weather delay, bad weather,etc. will be there on Oct. 3. Excited for how team is doing so far. Keep up good work with keeping us informed on the Dukes. It is hard to be a fan of anyone else here in Buckeye land so the blog is much appreciated.
I’ve decided that prior to the 3rd quarter food race we need to kidnap the lobster and steal the costume. Then at the start of the race, just take off for the finish line. All business…no acting. Would love to see how Aramark would respond. Who’s with me?
Andrew – just want you to know I don’t mean to jump on you at all. It was a thoughtful, well-considered guest post. I disagree with the premise entirely, but heck, Rob and I can’t even get on the same page about the topic and we’ve been doing this together for six years. Needless to say, reasonable people can disagree. But arguing about it isn’t solving any of my problems and we’ve got an historic season right in front of our faces that even I’m not about to miss or put down!
On attendance my comment wasn’t meant to be specifically about this game which everyone is correct was influenced by weather and a three-week run of uninteresting opponents to start the season. But there’s no getting around the continued and steady attendance decline since the opening of New Bridgeforth. All the caveats in the world don’t change that fact and it’s absolutely not hard to connect the dots the way Tim has above. That said, even the most frustrated Dukes fans, of which I am surely one, have to be encouraged by the “type” of crowd and atmosphere and energy that seems to be coalescing around this year’s team regardless of the turnstile numbers. I’ll take the amped up crowds we’ve seen these first two games over a naive, timid Parent’s Weekend sellout anytime.
Can’t wait for some P-Lot shenanigans this weekend!
JMUDRU – that is an exquisite idea that has Homecoming written all over it! Maybe to avoid the kidnapping charges, we could just give $20 to the guy in the suit to switch out.
To be completely honest, Todd, I wasn’t even thinking about you guys when I wrote that previous comment. It was other people with the passive aggressive, “Oh, well, it probably wasn’t the weather, it was these noncompetitive games, which we won’t have if we move up.” Since last week, I’ve been seeing an increasing number of those. Again, I wasn’t talking about you guys, you’re cool
@Andrew I don’t think anyone’s comments on the attendance are directed at you. It’s just one of the hot buttons that gets a lot of attention from folks.
Z’s back? No way!
Another season, another year of the pollsters showing no love to the Dukes. We started the season #12, dropped to #13 after blowing out Morehead (reasonable in my opinion), then climbed back to #12 with the Lehigh blowout. I’m optimistic that a big win against Albany could get us to #14 or so. Go Dukes!
You forgot to mention in the “Bad” or even “Ugly” the 72 yard TD to start “The High” off. That was u-l-g-e-y by the defense. There were also stretches where we couldn’t get pressure without blitzing; though as you said, there was pressure.
@Andrew; I think Rob is right; this is one of those subjects where intelligent people can disagree and a subject that gets a lot of attention. As I mentioned on your post, I agree with you (for a lot of the reasons you mentioned); but I see where the other side lay.
I should have said “I think Rob and Todd are right…” since they both brought up good points; just correcting the record.
Collegesportsmadness.com has JMU ranked #6.
http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/fcs-football/top-25-rankings