Homecoming Preview: JMU v. Georgia St.
Now this is a traditional HC opponent! Used to be teams at high school and college at every level went out and scrounged the bottom of the barrel to find an opponent for Homecoming that was certain to provide the nostalgic fans (and potential donors) with the type of feel-good outcome they expected. But life in the CAA has gotten tough during the last decade and the Dukes have occasionally been forced to entertain a less-than-ideal high quality HC opponent. Thankfully, things are back to normal this year as Georgia St.’s only season in the CAA is shaping up to be one long string of ass-kickings (except for URI who they beat worse than JMU did of course).
The Giant Elephant in the Room
The truth of the matter is if this game is anything less than a very comfortable Dukes win, it will be both disastrous and shocking. But all of us have one enormous thing to be excited about even if it’s a laugher: the starting debut of the Ginger Giant! True freshman QB Michael Birdsong replaces Justin Thorpe and hopes are inappropriately high among the faithful after he provided a huge spark and nearly fueled a miraculous comeback late against Richmond last week. For the record, JT has been dealing with a seriously injured finger on his throwing hand and issued a solid apology for his sideline reaction after being pulled last week and we hope fans will respect that, wish him well, and pull for him in whatever capacity he can contribute to the team going forward this season. One thing’s for sure, with his athletic ability and experience, he hasn’t seen the last of the field for this team and while we’re excited about the potential of the Giant, at this point it’s just potential and JMU will need Thorpe in some capacity during the stretch run and hopefully the playoffs.
The Basics
Look, usually we try to give you a detailed breakdown on the opponent, but Georgia St. really is that bad. We’re talking St. Francis bad. After launching their football program and ambitiously playing home games at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, the Panthers have pretty much done the exact opposite of fellow newbie ODU. Other than the fact they’re also going FBS next year when they’ll join the SunBelt (really this will give them better chances for victories than this one time through the CAA), they’ve done none of the promising and begrudgingly admitted positive things the Monarchs have. They have an ancient coach in Bill Curry. Yes, that Bill Curry. Apparently he must still be good at fundraising because he’s lost whatever recruiting touch he had and they’ve literally resorted to dumping cash from the ceiling of the stadium to try to draw fans to watch this putrid outfit. So all that said, we’ll leave the Phil Steele FCS Preview in the basement bathroom and just tell you there is absolutely no excuse for less than a butt-whippin’, inspired performance from the Dukes. Oddly, the other GSU does have a decent secondary so it will be interesting to see how the GingaNinja throws this week.
Beer Beverage of the Week
With the combo of HC and the approaching Frankenstorm, we’ll go against our usual tendency and actually go with something that could be considered “seasonal.” No, it’s not any crappy, overhyped pumpkin beer. But rather we’re going with Albemarle Ciderworks’ Royal Pippin. Damn right cider’s a thing now, and Virginia happens to be one of the country’s best cider regions. Royal Pippin is made entirely with Virginia’s own Albemarle Pippin apples. It’s not sweet and is almost more champagne-like than any crummy Hornsby’s you may be familiar with. Given the champagne comparison, it will hold up to whatever your Homecoming tailgate foods of choice happen to be.
Prediction
Ginger Giant is a tad shaky as the nerves and pressure of expectancy catch up a bit, but the Dukes defense turns in a big bounce-back performance after being embarrassed last week. Dukes 34, Georgia St. 7.
p.s. If you haven’t already, read our Open Letter below and share with any current students you may know. Thanks everyone for the comments lately!
This speaks only to the Beverage of the week – check out Bold Rock Hard Cider out of Nelson County as well, good Virginia brewed stuff!
Otherwise – let’s go Ginger Giant/Ginja Ninja and the DUKES!! I expect we lay the hammer down on GSt.!!
Good job tempering expectations for Birdsong and we will need Thorpe again. I am excited to see what Birdsong can do in a starting role although I don’t think it’s a test in which we can read too much into how he would do against a tougher opponent.
Given that it’s homecoming (lots of tailgating), a probable blow out, and the chance of rain, the stands will likely empty early for sure. Just a typical Saturday in the burg.
Go Dukes!!!
I’ve had enough of the Pumpkin beer bashing!!! I’m never reading this blog again! Kidding of course. I think Virginia use to be on of the largest apple producers in the country. I’ll have to try some of that cider next time I’m up in VA. As for Horsby’s or Woodchuck, that’s the Zima of Cider. It doesn’t count.
Looking for Birdsong to go 25-36 for 368 yrs and 3 TD’s. Should open the door for 20 rushing attempts by the RB platoon for +100 yards.
If that happens, I will start talking about a national championship.
…but it probably won’t. Best likely scenario: 200 yds rush, 150 yds pass. Doesn’t mean much to run for 200 on a pop-warner team.
Oh.. and “pumpkin beer” needs to go on thingswhitepeoplelike.com, along with sea salt and picking your own apples.
Good recruiter, really questionable play caller. That’s life under the Mick.
Seeing our players celebrate and jump around on the last few plays actually pissed me off. There is NOTHING for them to celebrate.
I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I was actually pulling for Ga. State to score on that last drive just to make a point to our team.
That was awful. Can we all just say that JT needed a couple of weeks to heal his finger and he’s back in action? Orf.
No. Thorpe needs needs to heal his finger and keep his a** on the bench. Yesterday’s pitiful showing had nothing to do with Birdsong, and everything to do with a team that was just totally sleepwalking and doesn’t have a single player I would classify as “tough/hardnosed/a fighter/etc.”
Yeah, Birdsong was not the problem yesterday. I think he played just as well as you can reasonably expect someone to in their first start. Yeah, he missed some passes, but who doesn’t? Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Peyton Manning have bad days, too. Doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to start anymore. As for the interception, that was not Birdsong’s fault at all. He threw a VERY catchable ball and the receiver made a poor play on it and unfortunately it popped up into the air instead of falling down. I think anyone who’s ready to re-bench Birdsong and go back to Thorpe are the definition of fair weather fans. They loved Birdsong last week but are ready to throw him under the bus this week. Give the guy a shot in the next few weeks and he’ll be the “4th quarter vs. Richmond” Birdsong again.
Nothing to be happy about in the Ga State game. One of the bright spots, the kicking game, even went to crap (0-3 FG). I thought for sure we would see the Off game plan opened up a bit… but WRONG! If the Dukes play the way they have played the past three week (W&M, UR, GaState), they will not win ANY of the last three games (Maine, Vill, ODU) regardless of who plays QB. There needs to be some serious soul searching among players and coaches the next couple of days to determine how they want to finish this year! Right now, I am thinking our 6-2 record is way better than what I see happening on the field.
This team needs to WAKE-UP and play hard all the time. They acted like the game was over and let GSU back in the game. As for Birdsong not an awful game to get the butterflies out for his first start at JMU and he missed a few passes, but his WRs let him down on a few too. The thing I liked most was how he puts his head down and runs over DBs. He is not looking for the sideline when he scrambles/runs. The running game looked a little better with some respect for the passing game.
The culprit yesterday was offensive game planning and not playing every down/series on defense.
I agree with 2004 Duke keep JT on the bench, the curtain has dropped on his time at QB, nothing to be gained by going back plus that is awful for a team to have a coach playing QB roulette.