Dukes Take Down FBS SMU in Dallas!
Yeehaw! The Dukes went right into the heart of the Texas State Fair and took all of SMU’s newfound momentum under whiz-kid coach Chad Morris and dropped an absolute bomb on the whole dang place in a thrilling 48-45 victory. As much as these FBS games don’t really matter on paper to the Dukes’ playoff chances and ultimate goals, it’s hard not to think this is the signature win of the still-young Everett Withers era. There is so much to be excited about this game that there’s no way to get it all in one post and keep track of anything, but make sure you check out the highlights over at JMU Sports. (seriously, go to that link right now and enjoy every second, especially the end of that video!)
The Good
Where to even begin. Well let’s start with the end of that video package linked above where the players are singing the fight song postgame with exactly the same reckless abandon that we’re certain groups of Dukes fans gathered all over the country were. Pretty sure it’s getting misty here at JMUSB HQ.
The Defense! Vad and the Death Star Offense will get all the headlines, and for the most part deservedly so, but the defense really came to play last night. And don’t be fooled by the 45 points SMU put up. They put up 37 on TCU last week and their QB Matt Davis and WR Courtland Sutton are as good a players as the Dukes will see all year. We knew there were gonna be a ton of points in this one, but the defense made some key stops, especially when the momentum had swung to SMU after halftime, and the Defense made huge plays early to get JMU off to its customary fast start. The consistent pressure applied on the quarterback, and the five sacks that resulted, was particularly noticeable after that had been a real concern through the first three weeks. We had hoped that maybe the coaches had been holding something back against overmatched opponents, but the fury unleashed last night was thoroughly unexpected.
DE/LB Andrew Ankrah and DB Jordan Brown! We have to admit, these two redshirt sophomores were not the names we knew when the season started, but they are making plays all over the place. With guys like this developing so quickly, the ceiling for this defense is suddenly looking a whole lot higher this year.
The kicking game. One of the best compliments you can pay a kicking game is that you don’t notice them. And that’s exactly what’s going on with the Dukes. Ryan Maglio quietly knocked through two field goals and it seems the Dukes coaches understand what they have and don’t try to do much in this regard.
Ok, now onto the Death Star. And we’ll just let the numbers speak for themselves. Madison had a school-record 729 yards on 85 plays. Against an FBS team. And remember in our previews when we talked about how we thought Vad had likely been holding something back at the coaches’ behest in terms of his carries? Well, he carried the ball 20 times last night for a stunning school record 276 yards rushing. And when he wasn’t running it, he casually went 20-33 for 279 yards and 3 TD’s passing. When SMU scored to take the lead, the entire group I was watching with looked at each other, then at the clock which read 2:04, and then said, “they left too much time, we got this, Vad has this!” Seriously, that was the moment when I knew we’re on to something special this season. Because it was pure Rodney Landers ’08.
The Station is now fully operational, no doubt about it.
In four games this year, the Dukes yardage totals are 713, 618, 625, and 729. They are averaging over 50 points a game. Now read those two sentences again.
Our final “good” goes to JMU fans everywhere. First, in the stadium they were clearly audible on the broadcast and MUCH louder than the home crowd despite being outnumbered. Also seemed to be a great turnout from the Texas Dukes throughout the weekend’s events. And second, it was so great to see the nascent alumni watch parties that had really ebbed in the last couple of Mickey years seemingly headed back to full steam again last night. On that note, huge thank you to Old Town Draught House for hosting the first-ever NC Triad Dukes watch party. No that’s not a real thing yet, but it felt awful real to our small group and hopefully the Alumni Association will let us know what we have to do to be official. On the official front, great to see friends of JMUSB Sarah and Kara pulling off a solid event down the road in Raleigh too!
The Bad
That blown lead and the inability to ice the game. We’re putting this in the bad because it’s obvious, but those extra 22 scholarships for SMU also contribute greatly to this so we’ll wait to panic on this till we see it happen again. It’s also important to remember that you live by the offense, you die by the offense. We play fast and we run lots of plays, many of them passing plays. You can’t just flip a switch and turn into a smash mouth group for the last eight minutes. And as fans who screamed about Mickey trying to sit on three-point second quarter leads, we can’t turn around and complain about 50 points a game when it makes things difficult down the stretch. As TCU’s Gary Patterson said after their shootout with Texas Tech, when you play this way, these things are gonna happen (i.e. both teams are going to score early, often, and late). The same goes for the griping about the interceptions. Vad was responsible for 565 yards and four TD’s – you don’t get to complain about the bad parts. It also stands to reason that when you run 85-100 plays every game, some of them aren’t going to go well. The point is most of our FCS competition simply can’t keep up like SMU over an entire game.
The Ugly
Alger’s hat. Really puts a cap on what was quite the week on the Athletics front for JMU’s President.
Yeehaw!
I still don’t know what to make of this team 4 weeks in to the season. I feel like if we play that way against Villanova or even next week against Stony Brook we will lose.
It seemed like we had control over most of the game yet left a lot of points on the field. I liked going for it on fourth and short early in the game even though those three points would have made a big difference in the end-game. I liked seeing pressure on the QB, but the disturbing number of times the DBs lost a jump ball bodes ill in the future.
Maybe SMU really is a good team and I’m jumping at shadows (given the number of Freshmen playing on that team I don’t think I would want to play them in two years). Maybe that WR was the exception (though I do recall losing a lot of jump-balls last year also). Maybe defense isn’t intended to be the strength of this team. Like I said, I still don’t know what to make of this team and the season is at the 1/3 mark.
I went and read The Stable’s report on the game (I didn’t troll them, just curious to see what the other side said).
http://stablesports.com/2015/09/top-5-takeaways-fcs-school-spoils-smus-homecoming/
This was a great tweet:
Darren Rovell ? @darrenrovell
James Madison made $425K today for beating SMU. They were paid $400K when they beat Virginia Tech 5 years ago.
10:58 PM – 26 Sep 2015
268 268 Retweets 225 225 favorites
M@ – Sutton was getting national WR attention before this game, the fact that we kept him to 137 yards is pretty incredible. He’s probably the biggest WR we’ll see all year. After reading the stablesports article, they are attributing his low numbers to the QB just not finding him, but I think that’s selling our D short.
My favorite line from the article: One week after giving up 720 yards to TCU, they gave up 729 to James f’n Madison. Unacceptable.
One of Lee’s interceptions I’d put in the ugly category. Not the two that were deflected; the one that was just launched upward in the first half. Other than that; I think our D deserves a lot of credit. Great finish. Go Dukes.
Great Job all-around by the players and coaches prepping and executing in this game against SMU. Love the run and gun offense that gets our play makers in space with the ability to make plays.
Huge props to the defense. They played excellent for 3+ quarters then started to get gassed a little……but that’s what happens with 20 less scholarships. And this, that SMU offense is legit, they have scored well against both TCU & Baylor already this year.
@M —- if we play that way you actually think SB is gonna win this week….smh.
GO DUKES!!!!
ShadyP – It is entirely possible that I am a pessimist.
Granted SB did take down UNH pretty handily before losing to badly WM…
“The bad” should have included two of Vlad’s interceptions, especially the one to no one in particular. The tipped on down the stretch was unnecessary.
I think the Dukes played their hearts out. They did a great job and yes we can always find fault but let’s face it EW and his staff took it to the Mustangs. I for one have criticized our DB’s but as the announcers were saying we showed speed in closing in on them. I really think we can have something special going on here. Let’s go DUKES!!!
That game ranked up there with the 2008 App State game when Scottie and Rodney took over in the second half. When you run 85 – 100 plays a game odds are you are going to have a certain percentage that won’t work out. You just have to minimize that number. This spread offense, ( which is just a variation of the old single wing, I know I am dating myself.) puts players in one on one situations where they have an advantage. I don’t know how Deane C. got so wide open and how he outran that DB to the end zone, but the scheme gets him open. It was a great, great, win for the program. One note of caution: Don’t overlook Stony Brook. Just keep building the Death Star.
The Deathstar in that pic isn’t fully operational. Just sayin’
Dukie, Dukie, Dukie. Oh my young Paduan, so much to learn you have. If you’ll recall the Empire lured the rebels into bringing their entire fleet close to it as a trap by making it appear incapable of it’s full power. Pretty much like the Dukes did to the ponies on Saturday.
FCS Coaches poll was just released and the Dukes are #5 and received a first place vote! Now while this has no bearing on anything this early, still exciting. Good to see poor little Liberty drop so far after some of their fans were saying JMU was overrated and didn’t deserve to be ranked higher than them.
I have to agree with Tidewater… You run as many plays as we do and score as many points you are going to have a few turnovers. Somewhere communication is going to break down or someone is going to run the wrong route or Vad’s arm is going to get tired. The D is underrated. They have been there for the most part when we need them.
I just realized we have as much FBS wins as VT and ODU, and more than UVA. #GoDukes
I have always been a duke fan. They are an awesome team. Tidewater played well. But still Duke staff hit the mustangs in the games.
Was just looking at the FCS top-25. I’m historically the most realistic (“pessimistic”) commenter here, and I am totally convinced that this JMU team would absolutely light Coastal Carolina up. It doesn’t even matter where they play the game.