JMU vs. Stony Brook Preview

Look, Stony Brook is a decent university by all measures.  But seriously, if “Stony Brook” doesn’t scream “what the hell are we still doing in the CAA?!” then we just don’t know what to say.  That said, Stony Brook has been more than legit the last few years on the gridiron and despite their middling record and the loss of an NFL running back in Miguel Maysonet last year, they are more than capable of competing with, and beating, this edition of JMU football.  But seriously, the Stony Brook Seawolves, playing out the end of their first long, tough season in the CAA better not be able to show up the Dukes this weekend.

The Basics

First ballot guy.

This is 99% certain to be Stephon Robertson’s last home game in purple and gold.  Everything else is really secondary to this fact this weekend.  In case you haven’t been paying attention or have spent all your energy bitching at the administration or the coaching staff the last few years, you may have missed one of the singularly spectacular JMU careers of all time for this do-everything linebacker and unquestioned leader of the Dukes.  Robertson is a finalist for the Buck Buchanon award, given to the nation’s best defensive player at the FCS level, and is very likely one of the top two candidates nationally at this late stage of the season. Stephon was making HUGE plays in Lane Stadium four years ago when he began to show flashes of the unbelievable field-covering, QB wrecking, tackling machine he would become. Regardless of whether he wins an award or the team finds a way to the playoffs, he and the other seniors deserve all of our attention and respect this weekend.

This also very well could be the last home game for Mickey Matthews in what has to be at least partially known as The House That Mickey Built.  We covered this at length earlier this week, but no need to do anything but root fer Dukes and keep a little perspective this weekend no matter the result.

Stony Brook is a run-first team with a TON of injuries, especially on Defense.  We’ve cited this as something that should play into the Dukes’ hands earlier this season and ended up looking “chicken of the sea” dumb, so we’ll just say it’s at least not a bad thing.  The Seawolves are also a fairly strong defensive squad and JMU would probably qualify as one of their best wins of the year so there’s nothing to take lightly here.

Scoreboard Watching

Told you we’d be back with a fresh pitcher of purple KoolAid later this week despite the fact it’s time for the MM era to draw to a close. And after a good hard look at the CAA and national schedule and standings, it’s actually a lot more realistic to see the Dukes heading to Towson next week with a very decent shot at qualifying for the playoffs if they can win this one.  If you’re into this as much as we are, here’s a basic primer on who to pull for elsewhere this weekend (some of these are more important, or more realistic, than others, but all worth keeping an eye and thanks to the boards for sourcing this):

Root: Montana St over Southern Utah
Root: W&M over Towson (so we control ourselves with TU but oddly if Towson wins we can still root for UR to then beat WM again to help the Dukes)
Root: Albany over UNH (root extra hard despite the fact this isn’t likely – do it for Bob Ford one time!)
Root: South Dakota over South Dakota State
Root: Chattanooga over Samford (don’t F it up Durden! – seriously, this one is to make the SoCon a one-bid league)
Root: Appalachain St over Wofford (it’s hard to root for ASU, but necessary)

Root: Against Delaware

The simplest is thing is root for W&M, if they beat Towson that will likely set up the JMU/Towson game to be a play-in game (even a weak BCS win – UCONN – and higher expectations all season won’t be worth a head-to-head against a team with an identical record.  Would be very similar to the ODU game last season.

Beer of the Week

It’s that time.  Nearly all of the hideous pumpkin beers have been cleared from the shelves in favor of the best beer season of the year – winter! And my (Todd) all-time favorite beer, Founder’s Backwoods Bastard is out and about if you look hard enough at specialty stores (growler fills available at Fair Lakes Whole Foods!).  The idea of bourbon-beer is wonderful, but unfortunately most folks doing it now just can’t pull it off.  It either tastes like straight liquor or merely flavored beer.  But Founders nails it dead center with a 10.5% ABV that brings all the goodness of whiskey without the harsh bite.  This beer is made for a campfire, a cigar, and a long conversation.  Simply one of the best.

Prediction

Dukes 38, Stony Brook 13 – Dukes roll in this one.  Stony Brook is beat down by the CAA and we don’t think MM will let the boys give up whatever belief they’ve got left just yet.  Smells a lot like this same week two years ago.