Dukes Down Tribe, Move to 6-3
One last time till next year.
Huge, huge win yesterday. The Dukes 4th quarter comeback to beat William & Mary 31-24 was easily the biggest win of the young Withers era and this season in particular. No caveats needed. Even with one enormous break thanks to the Tribe acting dumb, there’s no way to call this anything but a good win over a good team – exactly the kind of win that JMU has struggled to come by the last few years. Need 2 out of 3 the rest of the way to get to 8-4 and we’d all feel even better if the Dukes could take them all including winning at Bridgeforth East in two weeks against the Ticks.
You can read the official JMU story for stats and gamers here, but we’re a bit beat up after a long, cold, rainy weekend back on campus so we’re keeping our Good/Bad/Ugly brief tonight. Looking forward to seeing the new rankings tomorrow and seeing how everyone’s feeling about our postseason chances this week when we get our own poll up Tuesday or Wednesday.
The Good
The helmets! Look, we know we should focus on the actual play, but those purple lids were perfect. Just perfect – no other adjectives or qualifiers needed. Purple helmets forever.
Halftime adjustments – in case you haven’t noticed, this has become a big-time theme this season and we’ve got to give the new staff a ton of credit. JMU’s offense was a trainwreck in a six-point first half, but as has been the case all year, they found their rhythm after the half and really started humming down the stretch. It’s also great to see in person the last two weeks how invested the entire team seems in the game and how much you can see their own belief growing week by week.
Sage Harold – really starting to look dominant and clearly providing the emotional spark for the whole D.
Vad Lee is now only one TD pass short of the record the GingaNinja set just last year for most in a season. Something to keep an eye on this week out on Long Island.
Daniel Brown – it really is amazing how when the Dukes get him involved, everything else tends to improve.
Non-football note: Field Hockey winning a tough roadie at Hoftsra to punch their ticket to the CAA Tournament. Long-time readers know they’re our favorite program. Even though we lost our insider status with the coaching change, we’re thrilled for the women for getting the program headed in the right direction!
Fourth Quarter fans. We’re just not in a complaining mood about the very light attendance yesterday and the weather did no one any favors. But those that stuck it out were the real fans and honestly the stadium was louder late with less people than I’ve heard it full any other time this season. Good work people. (And remember, you’ll be needed again for the Elon game since the students will mostly be long-gone already for Thanksgiving Break.
The Bad
Slow starts, bad penalties, Richmond beating Villanova.
The Ugly
CAA refs – ’nuff said.
Calling a pass and then throwing a pass when you’re down 1 with a confident kicker that’s made three already and is very much in Field Goal range. Did you not watch the Ole Miss game last week?!
Also, for the record I’m not putting the decision to kick the extra point on JMU’s penultimate TD on here. I was terrified when they made the decision but I did understand it. There was 8:49 on the clock and Withers was betting on his offense to score again (correctly) while insuring that even if W&M scored another TD in the worst case, the Dukes would still get the ball back down 8. Seemed late to most of us in the moment, but I think they just didn’t think it was late enough to chase points.
Number 14 On D has got to learn to play his man straight up. He held the guys arms down right in front of ref then he has a face mask call then some other stupid penalty. 14 costs JMU at least 45 yards and 3 first downs
The D was playing very tough guys out and one guy gives it up.
Work with him to be better and not a cheat
Not sure if you guys listen to the radio show after the game but it was pretty good this week. Vad and Withers explained that the final TD was a called QB draw however Vad is given the opportunity to look down field for a second first just in case. Obviously he made a great choice on that last pass.
Good: Team not quitting when it could after the punt block
Bad: 3.2 yards per carry on 38 carries is just not going to get it done
Ugly: Referees across all levels this year are bad and getting worse
Tremendous job by the Dukes to claw their way back to beat W&M yesterday. Just finished watching the game on Madizone (once again another shaky job by their producer — at least 4 plays missed because of scenery shots or full screen graphics….)
Good: grit and getting the ball to D. Brown; defensive line play continuing to improve
Bad: 1st half offense
Ugly: special teams; bad penalties at critical times (yes, I’m looking at T. Reynolds’ facemask — the sack bailed him out)
Not sure what the side judge was looking at on the PI call (replays were unclear as to when the foul occurred), but think we lost the INT there. The “targeting, then not targeting” call was, I believe, actually correct. First of all #50 was not involved in the play — it was #48 (and the madizone broadcast crew never caught that either). #50 was well behind the play and the other tribe player blew up the defender who was pursuing the play and within about 3 yards of the ball carrier. I think the play was called correctly (overlooking the number mistake) but understand many folk’s frustration given that the Dukes have been on the ejection end of a couple of those this season.
Again, excellent win when in year’s past we might very well have folded up the tents and gone quietly into that good night.
Keep it going on Long Island!
GREAT Job DUKES!!!!!! Way to get a gritty win with your backs against the wall. Keep up the hard work and take care of business at Stony Brooke.
Love having an offense like this where JMU is always in the game. What a change for the better from the previous regime. Another big change is the ability to make halftime adjustments and out play teams in the 2nd half.
I think the program is in good hands and moving in the right direction. Not sure why so many are quick to want to get down on this staff — New staff, new system (off & def), and playing with a lot of the same players that have not been able to make the playoffs.
I hope no one still has an issue with Vad Lee being QB1. Birdsong cannot hold this guy’s gatoraide and knew it when he bolted.
The game was cold, miserable, and wonderful. What a finish
How is bill and mary ranked #24 and we are still unranked? I realize w&m played unh, tech, villanova….but seriously, we have a better conference and overall record. Thanks for nothing, TSN.
The delaware overtime loss is coming back to haunt us. All we need to do is win.
SHAME ON STUDENTS…Per coach Withers… over 5,000 students sign up for the game…. est 500 attended. BOO HOO , was it the rain ?
JMU should add a question to all applications- To go along with your pulse, have you ever even heard of college athletics? If you dont like football, the JMU men and women have several great teams to choose from.
(and you can bring your iphone to the game)
I’m a student (I showed up by the way) and I think the reason for the piss poor showing of the other students was a mix of the weather and more importantly it was Halloween and Homecoming weekend. They have friends come up and all they wanted to do was party. You can’t deny that that is what a lot of students here want to do. After saying that, they’re terrible students who could atleast wait to party. It kind of disgusts me. Also, fuck TSN, we should be ranked.
I completely understand everyone’s frustration with the poor attendance. I’d love for Bridgeforth to be packed week in and week out. The fact is that the program had hit a plateau of mediocrity under Matthew’s last few years and much of the student body never caught the JMU football bug. That can change and I think it will change as the program continues to push forward. Despite Withers calling the students out yesterday, he’s been enthusiastic about outreach to the students and fans. Things like Fan Appreciation Day and the new uniforms will continue to build excitement. As will wins. In the meantime, how about those of us who are frustrated by the situation try to fix it instead of just venting? We should try to convince everyone who’s frustrated with the lack of attendance to buy an extra ticket and bring a friend (and possible new fan) to the Elon game. It’s Senior Day and the welcome back party for the 2004 National Championship team. It’s a small idea, but it’s better than getting worked up about it and doing nothing, no?
As someone that was in games and at games before everyone jumped on the bandwagon after 2004, I can tell you that the student attendance was better before the Nat’l Championship than it has been in the last few years. Students are just fans that happen to go to games free. Student attendance isn’t an issue at bigger schools because it is part of the culture (i.e. Georgia, Penn State, Nebraska). Those teams have not won a national championship in a long time and the students keep showing up. The problem lies both on the field and on the students. The teams have been mediocre AND the students are apathetic. Oh and I own 4 season tickets. In previous weeks I have brought family members, friends and outsiders. Let’s stop making excuses for the students..either that or we could shrink back down to a 15K seat stadium and at least it will look packed.