JMUSB Game #9 Preview: Madison @ William & Mary

Don’t worry, a little light reading won’t turn you into one of these guys.

Ah, one of our favorite games of the year as the Dukes travel to the wee lil’ ‘burg to take on the Griffins, er, featherless Tribe. Thankfully, in recent years JMU has owned a substantial advantage in this series and we don’t expect anything different this year no matter who’s in at QB1.

The Basics

#9 James Madison Dukes (7-1, 4-1 CAA) at #16 William & Mary Tribe (5-2, 3-1 in CAA), 4:00 p.m. at Zable Stadium in Williamsburg, Virginia (always makes me laugh to think of lights at Zable and remembering the ’04 temporaries courtesy of ESPN). So if you thought Towson (State), Elon (Fightin’ Christians) and Fuckmond fans were way too touchy and generally douchey, wait till you see Tribe fans…they’re the exact opposite and we’re always happy to interact with the few that leave the library (which, by the way, is not pejorative in any way to a W&M kid). Except for my kid brother, he drinks wine coolers.

Coverage: NBC Sports Network! Thankfully, this one’s on national t.v. so even you folks that are forced to stay near the house for the Super Bowl of Parenting – trick or treating – should be mostly able to tune in and root fer Dukes.

Weather: Warm and wet. Hi, near 70, overcast with rain showers at times. (written Wednesday night so subject to change)

Line: Tribe by 5.5, up from 4.5 at open.

William & Mary Strengths

Strength actually. The Featherless Griffins have been stout on the ground, feature two strong backs much like JMU in stud Mikal Abdul-Saboor and developing beast Kendell Anderson. Cluley has been managing games well around the RB’s, but our guess is Madison will do everything it can to take the game away from the RB’s and put it in his hands. As usual, the Tribe is strong up front on Defense, though All-American LB Luke Rhodes is out injured. Senior Zach Fetters has been filling in admirably, though he’ll really be tested against the Dukes tomorrow.

What We’re Looking for from the Dukes

Big plays on Defense and Special Teams – We seriously cannot stress enough how excited we are for NT Simeyon Robinson to rejoin JMU’s D-Line rotation. If there’s one thing we’ve learned the last two years, it’s that while JMU’s back end on D may not always know what they’re doing, they are absolutely athletic and talented enough to make big plays when the other team makes mistakes. But without consistently stopping the run and forcing other teams into bad down and distance situations, not to mention not being able to pressure opposing QB’s when they do, the Dukes just haven’t had the opportunities to take advantage of many mistakes. Anything at all, but especially getting back the biggest DLineman we have, should help in this regard. It will also be interesting to see who JMU turns to in the absence of Charles Tutt and John Miller in the return game this week. It may be Cardon to be safe, but it also seems likely one of the other burners will get a shot and we’re looking forward to seeing a different look.

We don’t even need to mention the offense, because we’re pretty sure you won’t notice much difference from the group that just put up 49 on the new conference leaders.

Tailgating Notes

“The College” is generally pro-tailgating and it’s Halloween. If you can make it, we highly recommend this one. The ’04 semi is still one of the all-time great tailgates from an energy standpoint.

Beer of The Week

Before last week, it was brought to our attention that our picks had been hop-heavy (or maybe exclusively IPA’s). So we switched it up and went with Port City Derecho Common. Sorry, but we ain’t making that mistake again. This week’s selection is Lonerider Brewing’s Hoppy Ki Yay IPA. It’s a super-tasty, easy-drinking 6.6% and we feel like the legendary John MacLean’s quote, used on the can, is the best way to describe what Bryan Schor is going to be like for the rest of the CAA and FCS fields who at the moment are thinking they’re getting some downgraded version of the Dukes. “Just a fly in the ointment, the monkey in the wrench, the pain in the ass…” Also, remember you get an extra hour of sleep with the time change after the game. I just crossed life’s ultimate threshold when I began to think of that as an extra hour of sleep instead of an extra hour of partying. Now get off my lawn.

Prediction

Dukes 41, Tribe 34 – The offense barely misses a beat and while the defense doesn’t look completely fixed, they produce a few big plays this week to make the difference. And welcome back Simeyon Robinson!