{"id":3329,"date":"2011-12-03T21:00:02","date_gmt":"2011-12-04T02:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3329"},"modified":"2011-12-03T21:00:02","modified_gmt":"2011-12-04T02:00:02","slug":"postgame-reaction-on-the-jmu-loss-to-ndsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3329","title":{"rendered":"Postgame Reaction on the JMU Loss to NDSU"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Dukes lost to the North Dakota State Bison today by the score of 26-14<\/a>. We’ll take a day or two to let this sink in, and then we’ll post some serious thoughts about the game and the 2011 season. For now though, we just wanted to get a quick post up with some gut reactions to the loss.<\/p>\n

In the preview, I said that JMU had to control the line of scrimmage and take care of the ball to win. Well, they didn’t control the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball unfortunately. NDSU’s defense shut the Dukes rushing attack down, limiting them to just 76 yards on the ground. That’s over 150 yards fewer than the Dukes’ per game average. JMU had some success throwing the ball, but without a strong rushing attack, they never really got clicking on offense. On defense, the Dukes made the supposedly efficient NDSU QB look pretty average to be honest. Running back DJ McNorton looked anything but average though. He torched the JMU defense for 154 yards, including a dagger of a 60 yard TD run to ice the game. That was pretty much the story. The Bison were a better team today. It might not be easy to admit it, but it’s true.<\/p>\n

I’m not really sure what else to say. A few weeks ago, I thought the Dukes were dead in the water and headed for a 5-6 season. Instead they went on a run, finally made it back to the playoffs, won a playoff game, and then lost to the #2 overall seed on the road. I’m definitely not satisfied with a second round playoff defeat. I have much higher expectations for the JMU program. Realistically speaking though, it was a nice accomplishment and something that made me proud as a fan. I’ve been saying all year that this was a down year for the CAA. Today’s results proved that unfortunately, with ODU, UNH, and Towson also losing. So the Dukes were a 5th place team in a good, but not great, conference this year. They won a playoff game, but lost in the second round to a better team. Again, I’m definitely not satisfied, but I can live with that.<\/p>\n