{"id":8021,"date":"2015-09-27T21:57:56","date_gmt":"2015-09-28T01:57:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8021"},"modified":"2015-09-28T10:29:57","modified_gmt":"2015-09-28T14:29:57","slug":"dukes-take-down-fbs-smu-in-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8021","title":{"rendered":"Dukes Take Down FBS SMU in Dallas!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yeehaw! The Dukes went right into the heart of the Texas State Fair and took all of SMU’s newfound momentum under whiz-kid coach Chad Morris and dropped an absolute bomb on the whole dang place in a thrilling 48-45 victory. As much as these FBS games don’t really matter on paper to the Dukes’ playoff chances and ultimate goals, it’s hard not to think this is the signature win of the still-young Everett Withers era. There is so much to be excited about this game that there’s no way to get it all in one post and keep track of anything, but make sure you check out the highlights over at JMU Sports.<\/a>\u00a0(seriously, go to that link right now and enjoy every second, especially the end of that video!)<\/p>\n

The Good<\/b><\/p>\n

Where to even begin. Well let’s start with the end of that video package linked above where the players are singing the fight song postgame with exactly the same reckless abandon that we’re certain groups of Dukes fans gathered all over the country were. Pretty sure it’s getting misty here at JMUSB HQ.<\/p>\n

The Defense! Vad and the Death Star Offense will get all the headlines, and for the most part deservedly so, but the defense really came to play last night. And don’t be fooled by the 45 points SMU put up. They put up 37 on TCU last week and their QB Matt Davis and WR Courtland Sutton are as good a players as the Dukes will see all year. We knew there were gonna be a ton of points in this one, but the defense made some key stops, especially when the momentum had swung to SMU after halftime, and the Defense made huge plays early to get JMU off to its customary fast start. The consistent pressure applied on the quarterback, and the five sacks that resulted, was particularly noticeable after that had been a real concern through the first three weeks. We had hoped that maybe the coaches had been holding something back against overmatched opponents, but the fury unleashed last night was thoroughly unexpected.<\/p>\n

DE\/LB Andrew Ankrah and DB Jordan Brown! We have to admit, these two redshirt sophomores were not the names we knew when the season started, but they are making plays all over the place. With guys like this developing so quickly, the ceiling for this defense is suddenly looking a whole lot higher this year.<\/p>\n

The kicking game. One of the best compliments you can pay a kicking game is that you don’t notice them. And that’s exactly what’s going on with the Dukes. Ryan Maglio quietly knocked through two field goals and it seems the Dukes coaches understand what they have and don’t try to do much in this regard.<\/p>\n

Ok, now onto the Death Star. And we’ll just let the numbers speak for themselves. Madison had a school-record 729 yards on 85 plays. Against an FBS team. And remember in our previews when we talked about how we thought Vad had likely been holding something back at the coaches’ behest in terms of his carries? Well, he carried the ball 20 times last night for a stunning school record 276 yards rushing. And when he wasn’t running it, he casually went 20-33 for 279 yards and 3 TD’s passing. When SMU scored to take the lead, the entire group I was watching with looked at each other, then at the clock which read 2:04, and then said, “they left too much time, we got this, Vad has this!” Seriously, that was the moment when I knew we’re on to something special this season. Because it was pure Rodney Landers ’08.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Station is now fully operational, no doubt about it.<\/p><\/div>\n

In four games this year, the Dukes yardage totals are 713, 618, 625, and 729. They are averaging over 50 points a game. Now read those two sentences again.<\/p>\n

Our final “good” goes to JMU fans everywhere. First, in the stadium they were clearly audible on the broadcast and MUCH louder than the home crowd despite being outnumbered. Also seemed to be a great turnout from the Texas Dukes throughout the weekend’s events. And second, it was so great to see the nascent alumni watch parties that had really ebbed in the last couple of Mickey years seemingly headed back to full steam again last night. On that note, huge thank you to Old Town Draught House for hosting the first-ever NC Triad Dukes watch party. No that’s not a real thing yet, but it felt awful real to our small group and hopefully the Alumni Association will let us know what we have to do to be official. On the official front, great to see friends of JMUSB Sarah and Kara pulling off a solid event down the road in Raleigh too!<\/p>\n

The Bad<\/strong><\/p>\n

That blown lead and the inability to ice the game. We’re putting this in the bad because it’s obvious, but those extra 22 scholarships for SMU also contribute greatly to this so we’ll wait to panic on this till we see it happen again. It’s also important to remember that you live by the offense, you die by the offense. We play fast and we run lots of plays, many of them passing plays. You can’t just flip a switch and turn into a smash mouth group for the last eight minutes. And as fans who screamed about Mickey trying to sit on three-point second quarter leads, we can’t turn around and complain about 50 points a game when it makes things difficult down the stretch. As TCU’s Gary Patterson said after their shootout with Texas Tech, when you play this way, these things are gonna happen (i.e. both teams are going to score early, often, and late). The same goes for the griping about the interceptions. Vad was responsible for 565 yards and four TD’s – you don’t get to complain about the bad parts. It also stands to reason that when you run 85-100 plays every game, some of them aren’t going to go well. The point is most of our FCS competition simply can’t keep up like SMU over an entire game.<\/p>\n

The Ugly<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alger’s hat. Really puts a cap on what was quite the week on the Athletics front for JMU’s President.<\/p>\n

\"Yeehaw!\"<\/a>

Yeehaw!<\/p><\/div>\n