Dukes Sneak by Towson
Yes, most of these thoughts on Saturday’s big victory over the defending CAA champion Towson Tigers are lifted from our commenters, but they nailed it. Just because the game was ugly and looked eerily like many painfully frustrating games from the last two seasons for huge stretches, do not sleep on how important this win was. Towson returned nearly all of their dominant squad from last year and results around the CAA have begun to show three teams potentially separating themselves. With Richmond surprising Villanova and Maine destroying UD, those tough teams have all shown a bit of inconsistency that has, for the moment, allowed for the possibility that JMU, ODU, and Towson may be a notch above the rest.
These thoughts on Saturday’s big victory over the defending CAA champion Towson Tigers are simply lifted from our commenters, but they nailed it!
From 2004 Duke:
-Let this be a big fat “I told you so” from the “pass more” crowd. Myself being a charter member. (JMUSB: Rob’s also in this crowd and felt the same way)
-We have 3 solid RB’s on our roster. I do not understand why we only played the one who isn’t 100% healthy. (JMUSB: Rob was yelling about this by the 3rd quarter. Did Jordan Anderson kill MM”s chihuahua? What about our “prepared starter” Brodie?)
– If we play D like that the rest of the year, we are going deep in the playoffs. (JMUSB: Simply stunning performance. Finally saw the D-Line performance we’ve been hoping for. That said, both Robertson and Williams were nicked up in this game and they are the irreplaceable heart of this unit. Need them healthy. Also not sure why it took Towson 3 and 1/2 quarters to figure out short passing is the way to go)
-This is the first time in my life I have benefited from horrible officiating. (JMUSB: Yep. That said, there were some egregious misses both ways – late hit anyone?)
– I’d like to extend a special “thank you” to the parents weekend crowd for breaking from tradition and not sucking. (JMUSB: Just great news. We were certainly worried about the crowd given this was essentially the first real game of the season, but they brought it)
From SunChase
I’m with you 2004. Scott is a special back, but I don’t know why we didn’t give some touches to the other guys in the backfield if for no other reason that to try to spark the offense. Hell of a win though and an absolutely outstanding defensive effort and game-winning drive by Thorpe and the offense. (JMUSB: I was killing JT for one of the worst passing days of his career, but he showed up big-time when the Dukes needed it most)
Also three cheers to NBC Sports for a great broadcast. (JMUSB: No way to overstate how thrilled we were with this production. It’s a thrill to see the CAA and JMU getting the first class treatment it deserves. Great comments about “CAA as SEC of FCS and a noticeable lack of disrespectful gaffes only added to the phyical production quality! NBCSN really seems to understand what’s important here. As you might imagine, we watch a ton of college football, and this treatment is an order of magnitude better than what CBSCollege does for the Patriot and CUSA, FX for the Big 12, and certainly blows away the old Raycom/Jefferson Pilot budget ACC coverage. Would love to see the same crew for the ODU game.
photo courtesy of www.epicsnapshots.com
NBCsports giving us HD. Loved it. Oh, and great scramble by JT to finish off the drive.
Great column. Regarding the TV, I was a little worried when they referred once to us once as the “Duke Dogs”, but overall I thought the broadcast was outstanding. The higher stadium angles make help the broadcast to look like a big time game with the higher camera angles. Also, there were several nice cutaways of campus scenes, etc. The game wasn’t pretty but it was competitive to the end which hopefully kept the TV audience interested. Loved the SEC comparisions. Great win Dukes!!!
You’re right about the crowd being the best family weekend crowd in my four years of being a duke. Gotta love it when a “Go!…Dukes!” cheer last all the way through the TV timeout after the third quarter (even when the video prompt is lame). Maybe one day the band will even stop playing while we are on offense! Baby steps. Baby steps.
My favorite part of the coverage were the assertions that Cameron Starke and David Skahn are NFL prospects. Can they just pass go and proceed directly to Redskins Park this week? Also, there should have been some interior footage of D hall for some of the campus camera shots.
“Also not sure why it took Towson 3 and 1/2 quarters to figure out short passing is the way to go”
They obviously didn’t read the scouting report I posted last week. Thank God.
Watched the game with some LSU fans. They said “Your boy’s have no chance. Toe-son was able to put of 20+on us and that ain’t easy.”
It was nice to give them a F-U as we watched the Dukes win and the Gators kick LSU in the teeth.
You lost me on the following comment: “Let this be a big fat “I told you so” from the ‘pass more’ crowd.” I’m hoping that was just a typo.
We had 119 yards of passing offense on 19 attempts. How is this passing more? We were averaging about 25 passes per game going into the Towson game. We had no passing touchdowns and the game was won on a rushing TD.
Sounds like it was a big fat “told you so” TO the pass more crowd. Again, I’m hoping that was a typo. Otherwise, I have no clue what you’re talking about.