JMU Offense Comes to Life in 38-3 Win Over Rhode Island

JMU won its program record, 21st straight football game on Saturday by defeating Rhode Island 38-3. It was a tale of two halves as they say. The Rams are much improved compared to the team that lost to JMU by 77 points last year. They’re still markedly less talented than the Dukes. Rhode Island made up for the talent deficit with effort and determination in the opening 30 minutes. In the end though, the Rams’ efforts seemed to do nothing other than wake a sleeping giant, as the JMU offense came to life. Schor and the boys scored 31 points to propel the team to an easy win. Here’s the story of the game in four tweets.

This start is underwhelming to the point of being unsettling.

— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) November 4, 2017

We tweeted this midway through the first quarter. The wheels were far from coming off, but JMU looked uncharacteristically flat coming out of the locker room. Rhode Island on the other hand, was pumped up and playing with a ton of intensity. We’ve talked for weeks about how this is a defensive team. How the Dukes aren’t scoring TDs in bunches like last year, but instead shutting down teams and eventually pulling away. That made perfect sense against teams with strong defenses of their own, like Villanova and Delaware. We expected something different and the offense to take charge against a relatively weak Rhody D though.

The first two drives (and again, it was only two drives) JMU managed just one first down. They went 6 plays for 22 yards in their opening drive and 3 plays for 1 yard in their second. Rhode Island on the other hand, was able to get a little momentum. They ran 8 plays for only 32 yards to start, but then had consecutive drives in which they were able to move the ball a bit, marching all the way down to attempt a FG. They missed thankfully. Again, the game wasn’t hanging in the balance, but it was certainly a bit of a wake up call.

Anyone else feel like Schor is about to put this team on his back?

— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) November 4, 2017

This was sent just as JMU got the ball after Rhode Island’s missed field goal attempt. The offense had done nothing to that point and needed a big spark. It wasn’t really a make or break moment, but it was potentially a turning point. The point in a game where a top team digs deep and just imposes its will on its opponent. OK, we realize that sounds dramatic, but trust us. The Dukes really needed someone to make a play or rally the troops. Schor did both. He got the unit moving then rushed for a key first down on his own, just before hitting David Eldridge in the endzone for 6. It gave JMU the lead it never relinquished. And it was a sneak peak of what was to come.

It’s either 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th down, with some number of yards to go, with more than 0 seconds left. Great broadcast.

— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) November 4, 2017

It’s a bad look to take cheap shots at a broadcast. This wasn’t a cheap shot though. The game broadcast was complete amateur hour. The sound was terrible, muffled most of the time, and completely absent at others. Oddly enough, the only time it was easy to hear the announcers was when they left their microphones on and spoke through entire commercial breaks. And there were no graphics showing the time, down/distance, etc. To top it all off, fans had to pay $9.95 for it. Don’t ever complain about Madizone again. Just don’t.

Only good tweet we had all day. ? https://t.co/LM1LMUzRnU

— JMU Sports Blog (@JMUsportsblog) November 4, 2017

Is this cheating since we’re technically including two tweets in one? We don’t care. The point is that many fans (like yours truly) get overly emotional and make things seem worse than they are in the heat of the moment. That was certainly the case with us Saturday. Despite our concerns and frustrations though, we still thought that the Dukes early struggles would end up being nothing more than a wake up call. That’s exactly what they turned out to be.

JMU looked like, well JMU, after the break. The defense made the plays it had to in the first half, but absolutely terrorized the Rams in the final 30 minutes. Rhode Island was held to 29 yards rushing. They completed only 10 of 22 passes for 114 yards. Basically, the Dukes just dominated them. It’s a frighteningly good squad.

On offense, Bryan Schor had one of the most efficient performances of his career. He completed 14 of 17 passes for 4 TDs. After David Eldridge caught a TD in the second quarter, Ish Hyman, Terrane Alls, and Jonathan Kloosterman hit paydirt in the second half. Not to be outdone, Taylor Woods and Percy Agyei-Obese gave the Rams nightmares. The duo ran for 170 yards, highlighted by Percy’s 40 yard scamper. Basically, the Dukes did exactly what we all wanted them to do against the Rams. They beat them up and finally lit up the scoreboard again.