Yesterday was CAA Basketball Media Day in Baltimore, Maryland. Just like every year, it was a chance for all of the league’s coaches to drop meaningless quotes, dole out plenty of over the top praise for their peers, and attempt to convince the audience (and themselves) that their guys outworked the rest of the league all summer and are poised to make a big leap forward. And since the event took place in Baltimore, there were plenty of throwaway lines about crab cakes.
The highlight of media day was the release of the preseason poll. The poll was voted on by the league’s coaches, media relations directors, and media members. The results have been known for weeks, but yesterday they were officially released. To no surprise, the Towson Tigers were picked to finish first. JMU, the defending CAA champs, was picked to finish seventh in the nine team league. The full results of the poll can be seen here.
The preseason All CAA teams were also officially released. The league’s coaches and media members selected Towson’s Jerrelle Benimon as the preseason CAA Player of the Year. Benimon won the award last year after averaging 17.1 points per game and leading Towson to 18 wins. Joining Benimon is joined on the preseason All CAA first team by DAmion Lee and Frantz Massenat of Drexel, Devon Saddler of Delaware, and Marcus Thornton of William & Mary. The Dukes’ Andre Nation was selected to the second team.
Preseason polls aren’t worth much, but yesterday’s results show how difficult most people think it will be for JMU to replace Gene Swindle. Or more precisely, how difficult it will be to replace Gene Swindle’s graduating class, a group that included Devon Moore, A.J. Davis, Rayshawn Goins, and Alioune Diouf. The group of graduates helped lead JMU to its first CAA Tournament Championship since 1994 last season. They’ll undoubtedly be tough to replace. JMU is undoubtedly young, but last year’s freshmen class earned valuable minutes in big games. Collectively, they might have more talent than last year’s graduates. They’ll be growing pains, and not having Andre Nation until January will hurt, but I wouldn’t count this Dukes team out. Most of the coaches rightfully praised Towson, but also indicated they thought the league was up for grabs. They’re probably right.
The league’s television schedule was also released, and the Dukes will have the second most appearances, highlighted by a nationally televised game on NBC Sportsnetwork against William & Mary from the Convo on Superbowl Sunday. If the game is anything like last year’s contests against the Tribe, it’s sure to be a good one.
The Dukes had a bye this week so we’d thought we’d take a quick run around the CAA landscape as the football season heads for home and teams really start jockeying for playoff position. Although many of the early national predictions have the CAA as a three-bid league, our guess is 8-4 overall with a winning CAA record will do it if the fourth place team can achieve those marks. That means the Dukes need to go at least 3-2 in their last five. With games against Villanova and Towson on the schedule and a trip to UNH that’s never fun also out there, it shows just how critical this weekend’s game at struggling-but-dangerous William & Mary is.
Maine (6-1, 3-0) The Black Bears are the only team squarely in control of their fate as the only undefeated team in conference play. Their trip to Villanova this week may be the most crucial game left on the CAA schedule.
Towson (7-1, 3-1) At 7-1 overall, Towson is still in great shape with a bye and only four games remaining, including their home finale against the Dukes.
Villanova (4-3, 3-1) Nova is a strange team. Their comeback turned come-from-ahead upset loss at UNH really put them in a tough spot. The team that shredded a formidable Towson team is now in real danger. The ‘Cats host Maine this weekend and then travel to the ‘Burg for JMU homecoming. They probably need a least a split to keep their hopes alive, though the Fordham loss early doesn’t look so bad.
Delaware (5-2, 2-1) We’re reallllly not sure the Hens are any good, but that win over a shitshow Dukes squad that week may continue to serve them well in the race for 3rd/4th all season. They still have trips to Towson and Nova upcoming so 8-4 seems a likely result, and JMU may still need to finish ahead of that mark to earn 4th place and a playoff shot. Of course, Delaware could easily vomit against an odd URI team or W&M since they barely escaped Albany a couple weeks back.
JMU (5-2, 2-1) @ W&M, Nova, @UNH, Stony Brook, @ Towson. Very tough stretch and read Delaware’s section to understand why 8-4, 5-3 still may not be enough. But like Villanova and UD, any finish between 4-1 and 1-4 wouldn’t be a complete shocker.
New Hampshire (3-3, 2-2) The bold decision to go for two in the last minute and complete the 29-28 upset of Nova this week did two things: Save UNH’s season for the moment and remind Dukes fans how completely unfun trips to Durham can be like the one JMU has in three weeks. UNH has a manageable schedule the rest of the way but will still need to at least split two home games against JMU and Maine to get to avoid a fifth loss.
Rhode Island (3-5, 2-3) Probably out of it already, but they’ve been oddly competitive at times and the win over UR this weekend was a stunning result. Not sure whether UR just quit after the trip to JMU or injuries caught up with them, but that’s not pretty.
William & Mary (4-3, 1-2) Very much still alive despite inconsistent play. Needless to say, Homecoming against the Dukes means as much or more to them. Brutal schedule with JMU, UNH, UD, Towson, and UR to close though and it’s tough to see them avoiding a fourth CAA loss which would also mean a fifth loss overall.
Stony Brook (3-3, 1-2) Stony Brook’s losses have been to FBS Buffalo, Nova, and Towson, so not much to go on to know what they’re about but JMU fans certainly shouldn’t dismiss them yet based on the deceiving 3-3 overall record. Tough trips to JMU, Maine and UNH still remain.
Richmond (2-5, 0-3) Ewwwww. Just awful and that “big” win for the Dukes last week may not mean squat when the Ticks finish bottoming out.
Albany (1-7, 0-4) Nothing to see here. Tough first go-round in the CAA for Bob Ford’s group.
Frank the Tank predicted that JMU would beat the Ticks 38-31. That’s exactly what happened so he gets to be this week’s guest blogger. Take it away Frank.
I had major writer’s block when the JMUSB offered me the opportunity to compose a guest post after winning last week’s prediction contest. No one could have predicted the way the richmond game unfolded (I cannot bring myself to capitalize JMU opponents) and I was NOT rootin for a tick touchdown in the 4th quarter, despite knowing I could win the prediction contest. First, I must say that I was pleased with what I saw from the team. We have significantly cleaned up our play (penalties, TOs, mental mistakes) and we finally played a great 3rd quarter. Many are wary of our secondary, which is a legitimate concern, but after my review of the game tape I do not think we will face another team with better timing routes than what we saw last Saturday. Additionally, we executed the bend/don’t break game plan and eliminated the back-breaking big play that we gave up in our first five games. I like the fact that this team started off a little raw and is forced to develop game by game. We are now entering the part of the season where it is time to bring it all together and execute. I saw the emotion that has been lacking the last few years, and who couldn’t help but go crazy when Dejor took one to the house! “De-Jor, De-Jor, De-Jor!” Dude was so fast; it didn’t even look like he was running fast. read more…
Prior to the big win over Richmond, Michael Birdsong took a stroll through campus with a camera crew in tow. The Student Ambassadors better watch out because the Ginga Ninja gives a hell of a tour. Provided you’re more interested in bluegrass at Taylor Down Under than finding true love at Kissing Rock of course.
The Dukes got the job done and defeated Richmond by the score of 38-31 on Saturday. After a hard fought first half, JMU was clinging to a 7-6 lead. Dejor Simmons provided a much needed spark with an electrifying 100 yard kickoff return for a TD to open the second half. Feeding off Simmons’ energy, the Dukes went on to play far and away they’re best third quarter of the season. Michael Birdsong and Brandon Ravenel connected on a 71 yard passing play that led to a Quintin Hunter TD. The Ginga Ninja followed that up with a 16 yard TD pass to Deane Cheatham that put JMU up 28-9. Things got dicey in the fourth quarter though and Richmond stormed all the way back to pull within a touchdown late. Luckily, JMU recovered a Spider onside kick and ran out the clock to seal the win. read more…
Alright folks, here we go. It’s gameday and the Dukes and Ticks kickoff in just a few hours. I’m heading down to Bridgeforth to watch the big game live. Anyone who is unable to attend in person, can tune in for the NBC Sportsnetwork coast to coast television broadcast. The game will also be streamed. And Madizone has free audio domestically and the full video for Dukes fans abroad.
Consider this your open thread for pre-game, in-game, and post-game chatter. Enjoy the game and as always, root fer Dukes!
Well, it’s one of those weeks. One of the only weeks we’ll miss when the CAA is finally behind us – Tick Week! Thankfully for us fans, it’s heated already and we haven’t even reached the end of the week. Time to forget about conference realignment, forget about suspended hoops players, forget about the Carr Report, the UD collapse, coach resignations, and even forget about firing other coaches. The only thing that matters is the answer to a single question: You rootin’ fer Dukes, bud?!
The Bad Blood
First, we’re being referred to by the Philly/Villanova press as “hill people” in advance of this one. Not even entirely sure if they’re calling us bumpkins or trying to negatively reference our DC-centric alumni-base, but needless to say, we’ll be storing this bullshit up for an enormous Homecoming showdown, complete with a massive JMUSB tailgate in Godwin Lot, on November 2 against Villanofun.
More important to the matter at hand, Stephon Robertson correctly noted during a radio interview Tuesday that “Richmond, oh it’s just such bad blood. It’s such bad blood. They don’t like us. We don’t like them. And it’s going to be that way, probably, Saturday.” Going on to specifically discuss the Dukes ugly OT loss in Poormond in 2010, the nation’s best defensive player by a country mile said “I’ll just never forget that game specifically because their fans were really just obnoxious, and I just think it was the way they were, and then the players, the way they were. I didn’t like it.”
ItsyBitsyTick Wide Receiver #29 Stephen Barnette than started running his stupid maw by responding with “We don’t like their fans. Heck, I don’t like their professors. I don’t like anything about JMU, their gold or purple. So we’re just fired up, ready to go.” His stupid ass then took to Twitter (@Scooba_Steve29 – have fun everybody!) where he announced “Hahaha Stephon Robertson is wack!!!! I can’t wait to talk some (S) Saturday!!!”
Needless to say, we’ll be terrified for two reasons the first time this little kid goes over the middle this week for two reasons. First, we really need Steph to avoid anything that gets him a 15 yarder, but second, we’re also legitimately concerned for this young man’s safety. Good luck kid.
The Purple Wave
There’s a huge JMU fan out there (DP) many of you may know that used to post for years on the old CAA Zone message board as The Purple Wave and produce a weekly newsletter/preview of the same name during football season, often filled with solidly humorous hatred of the week’s opponent. But like so many of us, life got in the way and he was forced to hang it up. But thankfully for all of us, he resurfaced this week with a special edition of the Purple Wave just for Tick week that is so good that we feel like we have to share: https://sites.google.com/site/thepurplewave/ Enjoy! And please take his tailgating/rootin’ suggestions to heart.
The Basics
The Ticks have switched to an almost entirely pass-focused attack this year. Given the spotty play of our defensive backfield this could be trouble, but as we’ve seen before when a Dukes front seven knows they can pin their ears back and rush the passer, they can make it ugly in a hurry. Just ask “The Hoodie” himself Aaron Corp about the black-shirted JMU defense two years ago!
Ticks are coached by former Liberty HC Danny Rocco, who has always produced a decent gameplan for facing JMU. Of course, that was mostly during the MM/Durden/Thorpe days and it will be interesting to see if the O’Cain/Birdsong combo can orchestrate a little sumpin’ sumpin’ this weekend! After all, it was at Poormond last year that the legend of the Ginja Ninja began when he came off the bench, ran the hell over some Tick defender for a touchdown, and very nearly led the Dukes to a stunning comeback in his first collegiate action.
On the Line
There is no overstating the ramifications of this game for either team. It’s a true desperation situation for the Ticks as they’ve started 2-3, 0-1 with a home loss to CAA contender Maine and an out-of-conference loss to another likely bubble team out of conference in Gardner-Webb. For the Dukes this is very likely the make-or-break game in the season. Win and they move to 5-2 with the toughest part of the schedule to come after next week’s bye. That would mean a 3-2 record down the stretch would give them a great shot at a playoff berth. Lose, fall to 4-3 with ‘Nova and @ Towson yet to come, and it will be severely uphill all the way in.
Coverage
BFS is the place to be, but just in case, it’s pretty cool to know this is the NATIONAL game on NBC Sports Network this week. Production will be top-notch, but check your local listings for what channel to find NBCSN on as it’s moved around a bit lately on some providers.
Beer of the Week
Found this incredible surprise this summer and have been saving it for a worthy opponent and some actual fall weather (screw the rain by the way and don’t discount the Purple Wave’s suggestion of bourbon in case of inclement conditions). Seriously love everything about this balanced (i.e. perfect for fall and not even crazy hoppy as is my usual) offering from Indeed Brewing Co. in Minneapolis. My favorite “find” of the year is definitely their Midnight Ryder American Black Ale. The only place I’ve found it is at Red, White & Bleu in Falls Church, but if you see these rather artistic cans, do not hesitate and buy as much as possible.
Can the Dukes repeat what they did to Aaron Corp two years ago?! We think they’ll give it a good run!
Prediction
Pain for the Ticks. Also, Ticks are seriously the worst living organism on the planet (well, besides ODU “fans”). Not sure the Dukes can match the sacktastic domination of two years ago, but Robertson, Steele, and Marlowe are the type of game-changing players on the defensive side that the Ticks just haven’t seen this year. We think the Dukes ride a very balanced attack with contributions from DQS, Abdullah, Cheatam, Brown, Smith, and Hunter all helping the Ninja finally achieve a signature victory.
Dukes 30, Ticks 21
It’s time for the prediction contest everyone. The rules are simple, let us know in the comments who you think will win the JMU vs. Richmond game and what the final score will be. The person who comes closest to predicting it correctly (winner & score) gets to write a guest post.
JMU vs. Richmond. Dukes vs. Ticks. It’s a big game this year and ever year. Will the Dukes get it done and send Spider fans home crying in their sweater vests? Or will the Dukes poor third quarter ways hurt them again? Let us know in the comments and root fer Dukes.
M@ won our prediction contest last week and is this week’s guest blogger. Here’s a little walk down JMU football memory lane.
I did a post last season about some random thoughts I had on JMU football. I found the experience quite enjoyable in all and so I decided to keep making guesses. Low and behold my randomly selected score matched closely with reality and here I am again. This time I’ve decided to include a list of some of my most vivid memories of JMU football (I apologize for the number of losses). Whenever possible I will provide a link (or links) to the game in question, but some of these are pretty old. Now, without further ado, and in no particular order, my most memorable football moments: read more…
Well, the single most important piece of news is the Dukes bounced back from the Delaware debacle and picked up a “W,” thus keeping all of our hopes that they’ll go and have themselves a season alive for at least another week and setting up a make or break game at home against the hated Poormond Ticks next week. Beyond that, let’s just say it could’ve, and should’ve been easier and this one didn’t do much to clear up the lingering concerns.
The Good
The Dukes won by 27, and threw up the points and yardage expected against a terrible Albany team (could be wrong, but certainly looked like Albany was even worse than STFU or CCSU – they simply didn’t have a single player that was athletically capable of scaring the Dukes).
Kid is unstoppable right now!
Both Mike’s, Birdsong and O’Cain, have unlocked the secret that is Daniel Brown. Right now there’s simply no covering him at the FCS level and it’s nice to be running an offense that seems capable of exploiting the matchup nightmare he creates.
Freshman RB Khalid Abdullah is turning out to be a hell of a compliment to Dae’Quan Scott in the backfield. Speaking of DQS, he broke former PK David Rabil’s all-time JMU career scoring record and with good health could extend it out to untouchable heights throughout the rest of the season. By the way, tough to break a PK’s scoring record.
RFreshman LB Gage Steele is all over the field and combined with Stephon Robertson, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better LB duo anywhere in FCS.
Jeff Bourne’s halftime interview on MadiZone. The entire thing was about the Carr Report and to us it sure sounded like all systems go a little kabuki with the naysaying constituencies and of course, awaiting a desired invitation to an FBS conference. Another highlight of the interview, and the report (full Carr brief from us coming Tuesday) is that JMU apparently is in really great shape already from a Title IX standpoint and may not necessarily have to add as many scholarships as originally thought.
The Bad
Special Teams (and special teamsish things – e.g. 2-pt. conversions). One missed Extra Point. One missed Field Goal. Beaten for a first down on an Albany fake punt. Missed another 2 point conversion on a first quarter score. Allowed another 2 point conversion. Two good returns negated by holding penalties. Wow.
MM admitted (or covered for) after the game that PK Cameron Stark has been dealing with an injury. He’s a senior with a great track record, but we were glad to see the backup Graham Sharples in there on the last two extra points. Better to be reliable from a known, but shorter distance than to wonder every time you attempt a place kick.
On JMU’s missed 2-pt conversion try early, count me as one who supports the idea, but the problem we’ve seen all season is that it runs smack into JMU’s identity problem we discussed at length last week. If you’re an up-tempo team that’s never going to let off the gas, why not go for it, set a tone, and pressure the other team early. But if you’re going to clam up and go ultra-conservative after the half, then you’ll be the one missing that point as the game moves on.
JMU didn’t do a whole lot to inspire confidence in this one. In fact, Albany seemed to run the right plays for the most part to attack the Dukes, but simply didn’t have the athletes to execute.
The Ugly
“Halftime adjustments” and the 3rd quarter. This is taken straight from the CSN BBS Message Boards and full credit to “JMUSteeler” but this explains the point about in-game adjustments, identity, and coaching questions better than more drivel from us. Now you can add last week’s two-score halftime lead and three-point second half to the list. Just keep this in mind when hear someone say another JMU fan is reaching when they say the Dukes have more talent and don’t maximize it. You can read into this what you want, but this list is REALLY hard to ignore:
2009
6-5, 4-4
vs. teams > .500
2-4
Wins vs Liberty & UD (6-5)
vs. top of CAA
0-3
Key Loss: UR – led 17-14 at half, lost 21-17
2010
6-5, 3-5
vs. teams > .500
3-5
Wins – VT, Liberty, W&M
vs. top of CAA
1-5
Key losses:
UD – led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10
UNH – led 14-10 at half, lost 28-14
UMass – led 14-3 at half, lost 21-14
UR – led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10
2011
8-5, 5-3
vs. teams > .500
2-4
Wins: Liberty, Eastern Kentucky
vs top of CAA
0-3
Key loss: ODU – led 20-14 at half, lost 23-20
2012
7-4, 5-3
vs. teams > .500
1-3
Win: Towson
vs top of CAA
1-3
Key Loss: ODU – led 21-10 at half, lost 38-28
So, over that time we are a cumulative 30-21 to this point. In the CAA, we are 17-16. Through 2012, we are 8-16 vs teams with winning records (not counting this year yet, we don’t know how it will turn out). Of those 8 wins, 3 are against Liberty and 1 against Eastern Kentucky. Also, I didn’t count the 3 FBS losses against us (as teams with a winning record) but did count the VT win. We are 2-14 vs the top of the CAA during that time, not including UD this year. We have 8 losses where we led at halftime, and either failed to score in the 2nd half or scored only once.
I have no idea where CCSU, ST. Francis, Morehead St., etc finished during that time. We aren’t seriously going to count those as quality wins, I hope.
