Gameday Open Thread: JMU vs. Villanova
Big game. Really big game. The Dukes face off against a talented Villanova Wildcats squad at 1:00. Nova easily has the best defense of any team JMU has played. A win will keep Coach Houston and the boys in line for a top 4 playoff seed and outright CAA title. It’s probably the FCS game of the day. It’s not televised for some reason however. Shell out the $9.95 to stream it via Nova or listen via Madizone. Enjoy the game and consider this your official open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game chatter.
Go Dukes!
Keep Rootin!
Watch the game @:
http://www.collegesportslive.com
The streaming is actually very high quality, definitely worth the money.
Stupid white “M” helmets, aka the “Dithers Hats” from the college gameday disaster (the most cursed day in JMU history)…
…we’re gonna lose.
Stop trying for field goals. Go for it on 4th if you are past midfield.
Two big penalties on the Dukes on big plays. Him comes the “we gotta keep it close” calls from CAA refs
Just as I say that the refs miss the entire OL for Nova’s punt team being illegally downfield on that crap fake punt.
Why was a FR QB in the game?
Does anyone know why Johnson is in and not Etheridge or Mitch? The freshman looks…well, like a freshman.
CAA Championship on the line.
Put in a Freshman QB.
Throws pick.
Seriously coach….wtf?
Dam son. All these receivers and no one to throw them the ball.
What happened to Schor?
Schor is on the sidelines with his arm in a sling. Mitch got hurt during the bye week (and wasn’t very good to begin with).
Coaches need to find someone to simplify things for Johnson in the second half. As well as the D has played, we can’t count on a 2nd half shutout.
so…. where is Hunter?
Holding a clipboard. Coaches getting very conservative. Defense can’t keep this up.
Inside the 3 with a FR QB#4 in the game….the entire earth knows the run is coming…. and you line up in the shotgun.
…gonna puke.
That freshman QB is a waste of space.
At least the damn kicker finally made one
C’mon D! and we’re gonna have to throw the ball when we get it.
omg watching this kid throw the rock hurts my eyes.
A win in this game would be an absolute miracle. A long tme since we’ve seen this kind of offensive ineptitude.
Is Cardon Johnson in the doghouse? Only 8 carries last week and minimal action today
Coach Houston must have sacrificed a chicken or something at halftime. I’ve never seen a team get as lucky as we have in this second half. Unbelievable.
Defense was incredible today. Stepped up big time on a day they needed to. Also, as shaky as Cole was, I feel better about JMU’s future with him, than I would Nova’s future with their QB.
Unbelievable performance by the Defense. They had to step up with Schor out and they did, let’s just pray Schor can return for playoffs or we are in deep trouble.
Mea Culpa to Coach Bob “Crotch” Trott and the defense. They’ve sucked in some prior games and really showed up and win this game.
Still want to know why Hunter didn’t play.
#CAA4LYFE CHAMPS
@2004Duke guessing they think Schor is hurt bad enough that he might be out for the season and they think Johnson has more upside as a future starter. Hunter’s ceiling might be as a backup in their eyes.
Also, reports are that Schor broke his collarbone.
Sounds like Mitch got hurt doing something stupid and non football related and at the wrong time for him. Could have been his opportunity
Was at the game and I never would have thought we would have won with our defense.
No way we win in the playoffs without schor. The play he got hurt on was that long run he had in the start of the second quarter.
Handed it off on third and immediately went to the sideline grabbing at his collar.
Does anyone know anything about schor?!?!?!?! I need a damn Xanax
I’m not trying to tear the kid down… but he plays like a FR and he’s clearly not ready. He may grow up to be the 2nd best QB in JMU history. If the coaching staff is competing for a national championship, they would be better off either playing Etheridge or even moving Schiele back to QB. At least they can throw a forward pass without a full MLB wind-up.
If they are pulling stakes on a National Championship run at 9-1 and “building for the future”…we need to fire them all.
Wow the negativity on this towards the coaching staff and the young qb is ridiculous. Be bummed about Schor for certain, it’s a massive loss and it will be very difficult to win a national championship without him, but don’t say a single negative thing about those who stepped up big and did what they needed to win.
Sure, Cole made some big mistakes and didn’t show a lot of promise immediately, but he is a redshirt freshman. The coaching staff clearly thinks he has what it takes to lead this team in the future more than anyone else we have, and if Schor is truly out and we need to rely on someone, why not let him start now? Hopefully he can grow against Elon and see what he can do in the playoffs. We have a fantastic offensive line, amazing running backs, and the strongest receiving group I’ve seen at JMU. And after this game, a defense I believe in again.
Maybe Cole getting some real action against the 11th ranked team in the country helps to get him used to game speed and the team rallies around him after they come away with a win in a game he played the majority of. I think it’s an extremely tough situation and our odds of a national title have gone down significantly, but this is the first team and coaching staff I’ve seen in a loooong time that I have faith to make the right moves to give us the best shot.
Whining about coaching or helmet colors or a young qb won’t win national championships either. Doing what JMU did today, winning in the face of adversity will. I’m very excited for this team, staff, and the future of JMU football. Forgive the soapboxing, but this negativity is just undeserved by what I saw today.
Go duuukes!
I agree getting put in there vs top flight defense is not the best barometer. getting a start vs elon at home let him get some confidence… who knows? GO DUKES!
And I didn’t make it clear enough in that rant – that defense! How impressive they have been, both in the 2nd half of Richmond and today. Defense definitely won the game today, stepping up huge when our leader went down. They know they’ll need to keep that up to give us a shot at the title, but I just wanted to further express how impressed I was with the defense today. You call it luck, I think the defense stepped up big time and made some great plays.
Thank you T2008. Read my mind.
I think reality is in between 2004 and 2008’s takes.
Th o line looked bad today for the first time all year. We had tons of negative plays in the first half even with Schor.
The defense looked good but this offense got shut out by Richmond so not world beaters at all.
Just think without Schor it’s gonna be real tough to go far at all.
I have now seen three qbs go down late in the season when we have been a top 5 team.
Bad luck.
Haha yea KB, can’t help but feel a bit cursed with Landers, Vad Lee, and now Schor – all such promising teams losing such a vital player late in the season (or playoffs for Landers). And I do think it’s tough now, but I just feel a bit more confidence in this team and staff than I have in the past. One thing we can all agree on is we hope we can put something together this year, one way or another! Go duukes.
I was busy today but tried to keep up with the constant refreshing of the play by play via JMUSports. Johnson came in and had to play his first game against a top 10 defense, and in a game that had the CAA championship on the line, on the road where JMU hasn’t won since 2008. Let us not forget that Vad Lee’s first few games weren’t good at all and Schor’s first games were just okay. If he is out for the season, at least we have Elon and hopefully an extra week to prepare for that first playoff game.
Cole Johnson is NOT a redshirt freshman. He is a true freshman. They were going going to redshirt him, which means he has had very little preparation. I expect the staff will coach him up and prepare him. He seems to have the skills – he just needs some work.
Great point Jackson hall, I did say that incorrectly. I was thinking in my head they removed the redshirt, but didn’t word that right. But yes, exactly, we have some practice time and a game against Elon to get some experience for him. More reason for confidence. Thanks for that correction.
Right, true freshman which means less than six months ago he still slept in his bedroom with his trophies from little league and had mom and dad setting curfew. Point being he is barely an adult. A lot of growing up goes on in that first college year both on the field and off. Being honest here but even at our level of football it isn’t often a true freshman is the type of talent who can contribute at the QB position much. I’ll make absolutely no judgement on his play this year, set my expectations low, and hope he and the coaching staff can figure out how to present something effective. Realistically we have a tremendous run game and if he can get a little confidence and comfort working first team for a couple weeks it isn’t preposterous to think he can demonstrate enough of a passing threat to prevent 8/9 man boxes. We won’t see a defence like Nova’s for a month. Hopefully by then Schor is back.
Yall need to relax haha… Cole Johnson earned the right to be out there by tearing up our first team defense as the scout QB. He’s a true freshman and the most upside Ive seen since Mickey laid his eyes on Justin Thorpe.
I have full confidence Donnie and Co. will put an offense around Cole that will him make him succeed. You cant forget he still has arguably the best OL blocking for him, an all world backfield to hand it off too and stupid good WRs. These coaches also arent stubborn… theyve seen it all. Hell, Coach Houston made it to the national championship at LR with a 3rd string QB…. trust that necessary adjustments will be made.
The offense will always have one goal in mind : get our athletes in space. Dont be surprised if we see more 1H of the season offensive style with a focus on pounding the rock, Kloosterman in the middle and quick hitches/bubble screens to our WRs so they can be an athlete and get YAC.
Have faith… Go Dukes!!!
Was not home today, so I had to listen to the JMU radio broadcast on-demand tonight.
After the past several years, the only thing I’ve been able to trust about the defense is that they will put pressure on the JMU offense to be nearly flawless.
The early schedule really made it hard to gauge our defense and then there was the Three Mile Island meltdown @ UNH that almost derailed the season. Not a great performance at Richmond, but enough to win.
Today, I tip my hat to Coach Trott and the defense. They won the game with some huge plays – 4th down stops, 4 INTs – and just kept on coming. Big-time performance when the team needed it most.
Would be nice to be able to finish an incredibly promising season with our quarterback intact — Superman in ’08, The Impaler in ’15, and now ‘Schor thing’ in ’16. Deja vu all over again…
Buckle ’em up and go give the Phoenix plenty of reasons to regenerate.
anybody hear anything about schor thing?
I hear you John! Been refreshing the blog all day seeking an update. Although I know it is unlikely, hoping against hope that Schor can come back after Elon and the next week’s bye. The not knowing for sure is agonizing.
Regardless of what happens, proud of my Dukes and the courage they continue to exhibit on a weekly basis. The future is exceedingly bright!