What a disaster!\u00a0 The second half of yesterday’s game may end up going down as the heartstabbing moment that killed the Dukes season.\u00a0 Or hopefully it will go down as the day that forced the offensive coaching staff to take a good long look in the mirror and play to the kids’ strengths the rest of the way, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.<\/p>\n
The coaching and playcalling are so bad and are likely to be covered a lot of other places so I’ll start by quickly running down the other atrocities from yesterday.<\/p>\n
Injuries: <\/strong>Ronnell Brown, the biggest, strongest, most respected player the Dukes have on D, was forced to join Monroe, Veney, Emmons, and Dixon Wright\u00a0on the sidelines early in the second half yesterday with what looked like a serious injury.\u00a0 All of them were expected to contribute\u00a0heavily this\u00a0season and even a program as\u00a0deep as\u00a0JMU has a breaking\u00a0point.\u00a0 As mad as I may be about how badly\u00a0the Dukes\u00a0were outcoached yesterday, this situation is killing the team and that kind of talent can overcome a lot of mental shortcomings from the headset crew.\u00a0 Vidal Nelson, the do-everything, hard-hitting senior safety, also was injured, but incredibly returned despite a possible separated shoulder and turned in, along with DJ Bryant, a herculean effort to try and keep the Dukes in it.\u00a0 Unfortunately, when the offense is not only not producing for the Dukes, but conversely is also handing points to the opposition, there’s only so much the D can do.<\/p>\n Officiating: <\/strong>Look, it’s extremely important to note, lest we sound like BlueHens, that this game was not lost by bad calls.\u00a0 It was lost by Durden and co. with the responsibility for building and executing an offense, but the officiating in the CAA this year has been an outright disaster.\u00a0 I have to confess my worst fear is that Mickey’s antics through the years have honestly turned them against the Dukes (and also that Mickey’s flipping out isn’t exactly the best signal to his own players about panic in a tough part of the season), but really it’s just incompetence at the FCS level.\u00a0 The extremely late late-hit call that kept the UNH drive alive to give them the icing-the-game 28-14 margin was terrible.\u00a0 It was an incredibly athletic play by the Dukes, but the refs saw guys flying out of bounds and crashing through the sidelines and just assumed, wrongly, that the hit was out of bounds.\u00a0 Happened right in front of us and it was a disaster.<\/p>\n Then a few plays later, a UNH lineman (#74) threw a punch at a Dukes player.\u00a0 A big ole’ haymaker that the entire stadium saw.\u00a0 Well, everyone except ANY of the jackasses in the striped shirts.\u00a0 Would have taken the Wildcats out of field goal range and likely have prevented the final touchdown.\u00a0 This one was just horrendous and my guess is the player will be suspended by the league.<\/p>\n OK, back to the Offense\/Coaching: <\/strong>Look, the offense looked alright in the first half, producing huge runs by Scott Noble and Drew Dudzik to set up the TD’s, but they also failed to capitalize on a huge punt return despite the fact MM finally went for it.\u00a0 We could argue about Drew but I thought he was going downfield late out of desparation and lack of a better option when the interceptions occured.\u00a0 It was just glaringly obvious that UNH’s coaches adjusted to everything the Dukes were doing at halftime, while the JMU staff adjusted to jackshit.\u00a0 That actually applies to both offense and defense, but the offense is the real issue.\u00a0 Again, my biggest fear here is we have nothing left to turn to.\u00a0 We’ve bet the house on the switch to The Pistol (about three years too late to be innovative) and we literally only have the 10 or so base plays for that offense to run.\u00a0 I’m just not sure we have anywhere else to go.<\/p>\n Last word: <\/strong>Well, it may turn out that the last season pre-New Bridgeforth will be remembered mostly for the VT game, but we as fans also need to adjust our expectations.\u00a0 Just making the playoffs would be an ENORMOUS accomplishment for this team given their retarded offense and injuries all over the place.\u00a0 I just hope they turn it around NOW, as opposed to waiting for a huge slide like last year.\u00a0 Obviously, @ Villanova is a tough place to start, but even a loss isn’t a death knell if they start playing better.\u00a0 So if you aren’t making the bus trip next weekend, join us at Bailey’s around 3 to cheer on the Dukes and don’t give up before you attend the UMass game on the 30th and help turn this thing around!!<\/p>\n