Dukes Start Slow, but Blow Out Villanova

Well, after all the panic following last week’s tough OT loss to Maine, a 7-6 halftime deficit to severely undermanned Villanova was not sitting well with the patrons yesterday.  Thankfully, as they usually do, the offense found its rythm in the second half, the D produced a turnover or two, and the Dukes steamrolled the Wildcats on the strength of 28 unanswered points to close out the game.  Full game story from JMU Sports.  Here’s a quick rundown of the best and worst from Saturday:

The Good

Parent’s Weekend Crowd – No they weren’t the loudest or most intimidating, but then again, the Dukes offense didn’t give them much reason to get in the game for a long time.  And more than that, the stadium was packed and the crowd stuck around throughout the game.  For all the whining we all do about Parent’s Weekend, hard to argue with a full stadium midway through the fourth.  And even better, for all the bitching I do about folks not standing up or asking for people to sit down, the old folks behind us actually said, “Where were you boys, we needed you,” in reference to the Maine game the minute we walked in.   Amazing how much leeway in the rowdy-slightly boozy-fan behavior a little friendly networking can buy you.

C-4 Tailgating.  Hillside Lot was a ton of fun.  Nice to see at least a dozen RV’s lining up across the way at the old baseball stadium and tailgating on the grass along the railroad tracks is actually a nice setup (plus you have Mr. Chips easy access if you forgot anything – like Solo cups).

Streamers – Ok, they may have contributed to the missed extra point in the first half by Cam Starke by blowing right into him, but they were outstanding for the first time in new BFS.  It was a sea of purple and gold and with the wind swirling, they stuck around and added to a festive second half atmosphere.

Brian Barlow – Seriously, how the hell do we not throw to this guy more?!

The Bad

I "think" this passing play actually happened at some point.

First-down play calling.  Look, I have a laughing, grudging, Les Miles-esque respect for the fact Mickey Matthews basically gives all the people in the #passmore crowd a big fat middle finger game after game and year after year.  I also think this team is the FCS version of Oregon – basically an all running team with better athletes than almost anyone who just takes a while, usually a half, to rev up their game and find their groove both on the field and in the playcalling department.  The cumulative effect of wearing down another team is why this team sometimes hits the supercharge button late (see UR, Nova).  But it’s just an incredible disservice being done to our QB’s this year, especially the extremely promising Jace Edwards, to never give them a chance to throw in a non-throwing, low-pressure, first down situation.  In case you didn’t notice, the only time the Dukes threw on first down in the first two and a half quarters was the long pass interference to Barlow.  It’s also killing our own running game in that you never force the defense out of their stack-the-box mentality.

Nova’s indecision on moving up.  Their hedging last year on their Big East invite opened the door for Pitt and WVU to bigfoot them and shut it down.  Now you have to wonder if they’re screwing Jay Wright and the basketball program by messing around and missing a huge opportunity.  Needless to say, I hope and expect better if and when JMU ever gets a similar chance.

The Ugly

It’s now officially ODUh week! All ugliness is now welcome and encouraged.  Come on JMU, let it fly and get ready to invade Nawf*ck!  Even better, we get to make a full fortnight out of it and mock them if they struggle at Nova next week.  They got a gutwrenching reminder from Towson of just how tough life in the CAA can be this weekend, and hopefully the Dukes can hand them the type of soul-crushing defeat from which the playoff committee will never let them recover.