GAMEDAY! Open Thread & Links for Your Pleasure
We are going to try something new (new to us) and have an open thread for today’s game. Please use the comments for this post to add your thoughts before, during, and after today’s JMU vs ODU match-up.
Quick Note: Rob and I will be rolling around a bit seeing some old friends early in the day tomorrow, but we’ll have the brand new “Start Wearing Purple JMUSB” banner hanging from a tent in Hanson Field by around 4:30 so feel free to stop by, say hi, and mock ODU fans who may be in the vicinity! It’s possible we may also have a Duke Dog flag rigged up on a fishing pole (we learned something from WVU!) flying from the tent, but we’re not sure we have enough duct tape. Follow us @jmusportsblog for updates as we get settled in, but don’t forget to savor the day and not spend the whole thing buried in your phone. (wait, that was a self-reminder).
Without further ado, here are some links to get your morning off to a purplish start!
Scotty! We could use one of these tonight! Come on Ryan Smith.
Lastly (this one’s for Pitz and Dirty), a quick question: You Rootin’ Fer Dukes?!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UStuRYHKFmY
One more link for you. Go Dukes!!! Fuck ODU.
Hey what time does all the stuff start
I heard the game ball was flying in and some tributes to our VETS!
Any ideas how early to be in the gates??
Lets GET WORK DONE DUKES!!!! Wish I could be there in the ‘Burg but watching it on NBC Network! J-M-U DUUUUUUUUKKKEESS!!
We can’t lose tonight… We got Merica on our side. Just ask Mickey’s pants.
Special teams needs to tighten up…..but keeping Heinicke contained so far.
WARNING: ODU is going to sucker everyone in on that quick kick they keep running and they are going to throw it on 4th down before the game is over.
PS- Justin Thorpe makes me want to gouge out my eyeballs.
Hey MM, I think they have seen the same three plays you keep calling. Time to turn the page in the play book and try something else.
class of 78, living in va.beach, it’s embarassing, 2 straight years and no one on JMU wants to hit Hiennike, you’ve lost me MM. Special teams are a joke, offenise is a joke, ODU will put up 50 if they want. And you want some support????
Can we officially start the fire MM petition? 4th and short and you run the option to the short side of the field?????
Should have kicked the FG to at least given us a shot.
I am not donating another dime to JMU, or even buying a ticket to anything, until Mickey EARNS my support back. Tonight was beyond pathetic. This one might take literally years to get over.
I have to be honest and say that it’s really hard to watch and enjoy JMU football right now and it has been since Landers left. It’s time for a regime change. These kids are too talented to be coached so poorly. Like so many losses before I feel like the better team lost because the opponents coach blew Mickey out of the water. A sweep on 4th and inches??? Seriously? Was that a joke? Why did we stop blitzing in the second half when it was so effective in the first? Why do we play not to lose? Where is the killer mentality? We don’t go for the throat, we get complacent with a lead and lay down. The Dukes need better leadership. I’m tired of talking about what could or should have been for these kids. We could be a top notch program but with MM on the sidelines I feel like these types of games are all too regular. Just look back on this season and seasons before. Same song, different verse and nobody likes the song to begin with.
The goodwill from a championship in 2004 is officially over, that was 8 years ago now…ancient history.
That second half tonight was beyond pathetic. I want some serious changes with regard to this coaching staff and philosophy.
1. Fire Jeff Durden as OC.
2. Find someone, anyone to be OC who has a clue how to run a ‘real’ offense. Enough of this mickey mouse bullshit. Either run a spread and sling it around or play smash mouth football. The current offense is a joke!!!
3. MM must stay as far as possible away from the offense.
4. Whoever is in charge of special teams fire their ass too. Our kick coverage the last few years has been awful. We should have just been doing on-sides kicks all night b/c ODU started at the 50 all-night long.
5. Recruit QBs to play QB. We are now 5 years into a complete freaking idiot playing QB. He checks into plays to run right into the defense. For a freakish athlete he takes sacks all the time. Runs out of bounds every chance he gets…ran out tonight when he could have scored. Will not throw the freaking ball when we are clawing to stay in the game late. Thorpe does everything that you do not want your QB to do, but yet he still starts. He should be notified tonight that even though he got a 6th year of eligibility his scholarship will NOT be renewed for 2013 at JMU.
6. After 14-15 years I think it may be time for a change. Coaches after a while lose their effectiveness and I think that time has arrived for MM.
I have not doubt in my mind that JMU has tons of talent on that roster….but the JMU coaching staff is failing them and not putting them in position to win and be successful. Fourth and a football and you get in the pistol and run an option…..hell JT cannot even run a good option so why do that????
Hats off to the crowd tonight…..you showed up to support the team.
Sorry to ramble about but I am pissed off over the performance I just
watched. I understand why everyone left at halftime all season long. I wish I had done so tonight.
Hey, hat off to ODU tonight too…..they came to the ‘burg and got that ASS.
MM is a jackass as well….if you listened to the post-game press conference he gives the reporters all kinds of shit when they are just doing there jobs. He should be expecting to get asked questions like:
– Would you call that same play again on 4th down?
– How do you feel about the QB play?
– Do you feel some serious changes are needed with regard to philosophy?
I am still fuming at that disgusting 2nd half of football I had to witness tonight. I think JMU played about as well as they are capable of playing in the first half, but then what happened? The ODU offense moved the ball at will in the 2nd half and we made ODU, who everyone has torched all year, look like champions. Can anybody tell me when the last time we were successful on a 4th and less than one? And Thorpe… I thinked he may have set a new poor performance level tonight. He looked absolutely lost in the 2nd half. And let’s face it, it is insanity if anyone thinks he will be any better in year 6. JMU needs to move on at the QB position and MM needs to indicate that NOW even if he is not sure yet, who the heir apparent will be. It will not be healthy for anyone or the program to move into spring and summer thinking that Thorpe has a shot at being QB1.
Listening to the post game interview with MM, he admitted they struggled on offense tonight, but unless I misunderstood him I think he indicated that the Defense played pretty well. What the heck game was he watching? Maybe they played pretty well in the first half but the second half was more of what we have seen all year – Not able to put any pressure on the QB and inability to cover a WR. It seems to me if you are serious about wanting to pressure the QB you might want to rush more than 3 guys! The times they did rush more the results were mostly positive.
We have about 9 months now to lick our wounds and heal the emotional wounds that these the past few games have inflicted on us. During that time I hope that MAJOR changes are made on Offense, Defense, and Special Teams. This loss tonight really really stings for one being that it was ODU who beat our A**, and secondly keeps us out of the playoffs after starting a season full of hope and promise.
@Shady-
I’m telling you…. Firing Jeff Durden is not going to make any difference. The reason we don’t pass is because MM’s philosophy is to play strong defense, play the field position game, play the wind direction, and run the ball. To MM, a forward pass is simply risking a turnover. You might recognize the coaching philosophy if you were a Oklahoma Sooners fan in about 1950.
We need to pass a resolution in the Commonweath that lining up in the pistol is illegal and punishable by death.
Aside from the fact that it takes the RB about 0.8 seconds LONGER to even reach the line of scrimmage, the LB’s can see everything you are doing, and can just crash straight downhill to stuff you. I could write a novel on all the reasons the Pistol is the worst offense ever created.
@2004 Duke
I got it that MM wants to play super conservative on offense so be it. But if that’s what you want to do lets do it right. Line up in the wishbone and actually give the defense multiple options to defend. I agree with you that MM plays not too lose and it was evident last night. We got the lead at halftime and he tried to ‘milk’ it in the 2nd half and just hang-on. The defense went from being agressive in the secondary to playing bend don’t break where even GaState moves the ball at will. This current team is just ‘soft’ and that attitude once again comes from the coaching staff.
Let’s take this back a couple of weeks…..I too listened to the post-game and MM keeps saying they have really missed Birdsong the last 2 weeks after he got hurt. And I agree with that, he actually puts pressure on the defense. The question I have about that injury is with 30 seconds left in the Maine game and up 30 points why were we not just taking a knee in the ‘victory’ formation. I completely blame MM and the coaching staff for that injury. Another example of the JMU coaching staff being the problem and preventing this team from winning.
Firing coordinators and position coaches isn’t going to fix anything. MM’s philosophy is behind the times. It’s time for him to get the hell out of here.
Not a penny from me until it’s done. I’m sick of this shit. We’ve underachieved the past 4 years, making the playoffs only once. It’s inexcusable.
Duke alumni and fan in Columbus, Oh. Wanted to be there but too far to travel for this weekend. Awful second half. Time to consider letting MM go. He’s been living off the national championship from 8 years ago. 4 out of 5 years without playoffs. 7-4 or 6-5 is the best he can usually do. Pedestrian offense in today’s FCS. On his postgame news conference he said ODU did not make any 2nd half adjustments when the ODU coach said they made all kinds of adjustments. When he is not being clueless, he is sniping at reporters’ questions. Just thank him for the many years of service and let’s look for someone new.
The coaching in the second half was just atrocious. We saw what a real coach (Wilder) would do and made second half adjustments. There is no way in hell that a 11 point halftime lead would hold up against ODU but MM coached like as if it would. ODU’s only strength on defense is its front four and what does MM do, keep running right into it. And on defense, lets not blitz (since it worked in the first half) and just play prevent in the second half. Enough is enough.
I hate to say this, but the only way to get the administration’s attention and fire Mickey is a mass boycott of BFS next season. I hate to do that to the current players but I don’t see any other options as we don’t have big money donors who can force the issue.
All of you guys were spot on. We got absolutely out coached in the 2nd half in the biggest game of the year for us.
I’ve been posting this for several weeks now…
It’s time for a change!
FIRE MICKEY MATTHEWS.
What do we have to do to make this happen?
Derek Dooley just got fired at Tenn….he is a modern offense minded coach who will be looking to rebuild his reputation. He is also young and open-minded to the current age of football. He had a tough gig at Tenn to bring back a down program in the SEC. That is the kind of guy that JMU should be targeting TODAY!!!
@Shady_P I like that idea. Dooley is better than MM. Even if it doesn’t work out, it isn’t ever going to work out with MM anyway…I am tired just like everyone else..You expect us to fill the stadium and donate money? For what? For MM to keep getting paid hundred of thousands of dollars a year to lose? They built this big nice ‘ol fuckin’ stadium and now they can’t fill it. I am changing my stance on the whole support issue..It took last night for me to really see why everyone leaves at halftime and why most of the students don’t even try to come to games. Well..I guess the team gets to go home for the holidays, I hope poorly representing your school and shitting all over your season was worth it guys.
I am not an alumni, but a father of one but would it not be time to get an alumni petiton together and start to force the issue with the administration, it appears to many, many alumni are truly fed up. The only way the administration is going to do anything is if this becomes a public issue.
I’ve been looking into starting an e-petition and it looks like Facebook might be the quickest and most effective way. I’m a little hesitant to create a page myself though.
I remember seeing a “Fire Bob Bradley” page two years ago and it wasn’t long after until the US brought in Klinsmann to coach our men’s national team.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you check Facebook over the next few days and there may be a “Fire Mickey Matthews” page.
Wow. Just found this. It looks like this guy has had Mickey figured out for several years. Three years later and…
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/253390-why-mickey-matthews-is-the-worst-coach-in-fcs-football
I’m not trying to be too harsh, but Bleacher Report is one of the worst things to happen to sports blogging, journalism, etc ever. And that post is bad even by Bleacher Report standards. Mickey definitely needs to make changes, and it might even be time for him to move on. He’s not the worst coach in FCS and it’s not even close. You don’t have as much success as he’s had by accident. Calling him the worst coach in FCS is just ignorant.
Rob, I completely agree with you about bleacher report. I googled Mickey Matthews to see if there were any “hot seat” articles and that article popped up. The article is pretty bad but she made a few good points in ’09 that are still valid today which is sad. I have a ton of respect for MM and what he has accomplished at JMU. I also agree that it is ignorant to say he is the worst coach in the FCS but watching JMU the last several years has been rough and it all boils down to the big whistle. I think the goodwill from the National Championship has run out. The JMU Nation has high expectations and he has failed at meeting those expectations. It’s time for a change but honestly I really don’t see anything changing. Do you anticipate any changes?
Thanks for doing the blog. I read it daily.
Yeah, I wasn’t trying to beat up on you for linking to it. Ironically enough that very post was one of the first things that had us thinking about starting our own blog. We figured if that was the only JMU content out there, we could do better. I don’t want to speak for Todd, but I’ve always been a big Matthews supporter, yet I’m starting to open up to the idea of moving on. He’s gone great things, but the program seems to have stalled a bit. Hopefully, something lights a fire under him and causes him to step his game up. He’s got talent on the roster and on the coaching staff. Now it’s time to be a leader and maximize it.
Something has to change!! It’s time for a new regime dome new n fresh ideas. Jmu has the most talented roster in the conference and yet they cannot produce a national championship they should have no less then 10 wins a season withe the athletes they’ve been able to recruit. And it’s gonna continue to be hard getting 757 talent until they can produce on the field. The games themselves are not even exciting to watch! Long and drawn out boring. It’s a passing league