JMU Travels to New Hampshire in Huge CAA Showdown!
How’s your faith?! Well for you cynics out there, I’ve only got one thing to say. In the immortal words of Bad Ass Billy Gunn, “Suck It!” (Is the first paragraph too early for me to point out the oft-overlooked fact that Ravishing Rick Rude had a brief career renaissance thanks to his “bodyguard” stint for Shawn Michaels during the first incarnation of DX? Didn’t think so.)
The Dukes head to Durham, New Hampshire with their backs against the wall and a potential playoff berth hanging in the balance against the Wildcats this Saturday at noon. You can only catch the game online through UNH’s website as a $9.95 pay per view so the old-school wrastlin’ tie-in just seemed like a natural fit.
The Good
After losing three offensive linemen and DaeQuan Scott to injury in last week’s irritating loss, the Dukes got some good news this week as OG Matt Kraut and Scott have both returned to practice. Also, rFr Matt Cunningham, who’s now projected as the starter at LT, was pushing for playing time even before the injuries according to coaches so it’s possible after a week of practice to gel a little more, the dropoff on the OLine may not be nearly as severe as well feared after that hideous second half against ODU. On D, DE and JMUSB favorite DJ Bryant has had a somewhat shameful Twitter performance this week, but does seem to be progressing in the training room and there seems to be a decent chance he’ll be back as well to rush the passser.
Weather in Durham is projected to be crisp, but sunny. Also, this will be JMU’s first trip to UNH since they installed FieldTurf in ’07. These two facts should shield JMU from the speed-crushing (and soul) conditions the Dukes have often encountered during November trips to New England.
UNH has scored a ton of points this season (see The Bad), but their defense is butt-trifling. Yes, butt-trifling. They haven’t stopped anyone all year and have especially struggled the last three weeks against grind-it-out type opponents WM, URI, and UMass, even costing their offense precious time of possession and keeping the overall scores down. They only lost one of those three (WM), but needless to say, JMU’s offensive style lends itself to just the type of style that cramps the Wildcats’ style.
The Bad
UNH can really score. Especially through the air on the arm of QB Kevin Decker. This has been true for years and we should expect nothing different this year. JMU’s defense has “struggled” against the pass. That said, last week’s performance was deceptive in that despite all of our frustrations, the Dukes did seem to make strides in this department and our guess is ODU had slightly better athletes than UNH. We’ll see this week.
The Ugly
This game really may be the difference in making the playoffs or not. Mickey said this week he thought 2 out of 3 to get to 7-4, 5-3 CAA would get it done in his opinion, and it’s very tough to disagree. But losing this one would make it very difficult for the Dukes to finish higher than 5th in the CAA (Maine, Towson, ODU, UNH) and that would be a dicey proposition. As we said last Sunday, let’s all just let this thing play out before yellin’ and screamin’ but this one is HUGE.
Another ugly thing is UNH’s kicking game! Kicker’s missed a few clutch kicks and just from looking at the drive charts, it looks like the ‘Cats coaches don’t have much faith outside of 30 yards on FG’s. This may be the first time all year the Dukes enter a game on at least an even playing field in this department and this could be huge.
Gotta love Virginia!
JMUSB Beer of the Week
Desparate times call for desparate measures. This week calls for somethin’ a lil’ more serious. We’re going with Wasmund’s Single Malt Whisky from Virginia’s own Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, VA. You can get a sweet tour of this hidden gem most Saturday’s and this is exactly the kind of winter warmer you need to hunker down with in your shed so you don’t have to explain to the spouse, kids, and pets why you’re intently and maniacally yelling at your laptop. Tastes great with a cigar too.
Prediction
Predicting late-season CAA football is like starting a land war in Asia. You just shouldn’t do it. But I’m tired of losing of our own contest and despite ALL the naysayers, Dukes take this one 27-21 as the offense controls the ball and the clock and limits UNH’s opportunities on offense.
1. “The Good” was way too long.
2. “The Bad” was way too short.
The Positive: Excellent pick for “beer of the week”. It’s about time we grew some chest hair around here.
The Negative: We just don’t have that JMU swagger anymore. We just woke up on sunday morning and realized the girl in bed with us is from Radford…. not JMU.
…and that’s the bottom line, because 2004 Duke said so.
Rob and Todd, let me start out by saying that I am a big fan of JMUSB and when I get to work at 5:30am on Fridays it feels like eternity before the preview is posted. Anyway, for as pessimistic as I am (I am a Redskins fan) One thing I am able to be optimistic about is JMU football. We are at the point in the season where things can look up and we can go 8-3, but then again, we could also go 6-5. This team has playoff talent, especially due to big wins over ranked teams (Was at Liberty and W&M, almost had a nervous breakdown at LU). I am an optimist like yourself. If JMU can keep it together and fight as desperately as they should be for a playoff berth this year, I will be VERY excited for the next couple years. Our team has great, young talent and even though I believe that a National Championship is not likely this year, I believe it is extremely possible in the next couple years. This program is far from average and I hate to see JMU fans be so pessimistic and talk like it is. And hey, I know some of it comes from the heartbreaking loss at ODU (where we beat ourselves, not the other way around), but you gotta have faith. I think we need to try that Wasmund’s to help improve our spirits!
The field goal deficiency would have been Nice to know before my prediction haha. A good run game against their butttrifling defense should help keep their points down. Really a case of best defense is a good offense, I hope.
I was as disappointed as anyone after last week’s loss, but I appreciate Todd’s optimism here and think he makes some strong points. JMU can definitely win this weekend. New Hampshire is good, but they are far from unbeatable.
2004 Duke, I respect your opinion and I’m curious as to why you think JMU doesn’t have that swagger anymore. The offense was beat up and didn’t look great in the 2nd half last week. Some folks are acting like the team is in the middle of a 20 game losing slump though.
Yeah come on people let’s be real for a minute…our 3 losses this year have been to UNC (did we really expect back to back ACC wins?), Maine in OVERTIME (who is 5-0 in the CAA), and ODU (a solid team and a game we let get away). We lost the last two games by a combined total of FOUR points. When 4 points is the only thing keeping you from being 7-1…is there really so much reason to be down on our team? I realize that W’s and L’s are all that matters in the end…but we have a good football team…and i refuse to give up on this season. We’re still in a position to control our own destiny. Go Dukes!
…Even though it hurts I will be rooting for the Ticks this weekend as well…
Drew, are you ready to be down on this team now? Missing the playoffs 3 years in a row is tough…especially when you spend all that money on new facilities.
Talk to me in two weeks and I’ll let you know…all is not lost but I’m definitely not as optimistic as I was before noon on saturday. I agree completely with your last comment…we need to keep up the hype behind jmu football if we intend to fill the seats and missing the playoffs again will be a very bad thing.
I think UMass will beat us. With all the resources at our disposal, we shouldn’t miss the playoffs three consecutive years. And it shouldn’t be acceptable to our fans.
well on the bright side, the whiskey was solid.
Wish I saw this earlier… Copper Fox (Copper Kettle) has been a staple at our Godwin tailgate for years…