Well, this sort of makes my earlier post defending Thorpe a bit irrelevant, no? Mickey indicated that Thorpes’ failure to pitch the ball on 4th and one was the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. That makes me think this was brewing under the surface for weeks or maybe even longer. It also makes me wonder why we stuck with an offense our QB couldn’t be trusted to run (or vice versa) for so long, but that’s probably something more suited to be discussed over a few beers than in a blog post. In any case, Birdsong has looked good and clearly has talent. If he’s the guy, then we’re behind him. Let’s go Ginger Giant!
Update: Mickey announced that Birdsong is starting. Go get ’em kid. Carry on folks.
We usually hold off on writing our post game thoughts until we have a chance to let thing sink in. Well, it’s been over 24 hours and thinks have sunk in quite a bit. The sting of yesterday’s loss still hasn’t worn off though and I’m still not quite sure what to make of JMU’s 35-29 defeat at the hands of Richmond. Rather than just mindlessly blubbering and complaining about things, we’ll attempt go through things “Good, Bad, and Ugly” style.
The Good
Top of everyone’s mind here, is Michael Birdsong. We’d be crazy to argue that the kid didn’t look good. He did. He provided a much needed spark for the offense and almost helped the Dukes steal a game they had no business winning. He’s a big kid and showed that he can sling the ball around yesterday. He’s also a pretty effective runner when he starts going downhill. Let’s hold off on the coronation and keep things in perspective though. He was facing some pretty soft coverages and had the good fortune to have Mickey go for broke and open things up once he came in. However, we seem to remember a lot of folks reading way too much into a near comeback performance by Drew Dudzik in relief of Rodney Landers against Montana in 2008. Look how that turned out. Birdsong took advantage of the opportunity though and played very well in relief of Justin Thorpe. The future looks bright for the Ginger Giant, but let’s not go crazy yet.
Dae’Quan Scott wasn’t as good as we’ve seen him at his peak, but I still thought he played better than he has in weeks. He was more decisive and turned up field quicker. As a result, he got going North-South and was able to break a few. Maybe he’s turning the corner after his injury and ready to go on a roll. And DeAndre Smith continues to progress as a receiver. He’s young, but he’s already showing that he’s got the potential to be a game-breaker.
read more…
Tick week. Poormond week. Sweater vest week. Ahh, nothing like the Dukes’ bi-annual invasion of the capital city! For quite a few alums, there’s no bigger rivalry game than this. Yes, we know the news that College of Charleston is expected to join the CAA as another weakassed, conference-destroying, non-football member is supposed to be announced tomorrow, but we’ll hold off on the full JMUSB treatment of the issue until things are official. Not that Andy Katz hasn’t been a solitary pro-CAA voice in the national media for a couple of years now, but let’s wait till the Board of Trustees vote tomorrow before wasting our breath. And it’s also pretty cool that former JMU soccer player Joel Senior was capped for Jamaica in the game that clinched that nation’s advancement in World Cup Qualifying. But it’s football season, and your JMU Dukes are now ranked #2 in the nation!
So back to the gridiron. Since UR has announced they’re moving down to DIII and Spider Bandwagon is solely covering hoops these days (we kid, we kid), we’re just running with our own preview. First, the basics:
Or?
The Richmond Ticks are 4-3 (2-2) and certainly still in the thick of things in the CAA. They’re also potentially better than their record. They have three cupcake wins including Georgia St., but they also upset a very good Villanova team on the road and hung tough with ODU at home and UNH on the road last week. The other loss was to UVa to open the season. That said, they’ve lost their top RB and their QB1 for the season in the last two games and we hold the fact they’re coached by former Liberty coach Danny Rocco against them as well. We’d like to continue our usual policy of mocking their new, but oh-so-itty-bitty-high-school-style Robins Stadium, but don’t forget the Dukes fell 13-10 there in JMU’s only other game in 2010.
What We Want to See:
The Dukes play with energy from the opening kick after sleepwalking through most of the first half last week. The offense run north and south, especially in EVERY SINGLE 4th down and goal-to-go situation. The offense look like they have an overall gameplan. WR Arlandis Harvey build on last week’s breakout performance. Continued solid play on Special Teams. With UR trotting out a backup QB, we’d like to see the Defense play more aggressive; force the Ticks to beat you over the top instead of dinking and dunking you with short passes up and down the field. Lastly, it will be interesting to see how JMU gameplans for 
the Ticks best player and Buchanan Watch List member Safety Cooper Taylor.
TV: We know lots of you from the RIC (you won’t catch us using RVA) will be in attendance and we hope you make the tailgating uncomfortable for the champagne crowd, but thankfully for the rest of us, this game is on Comcast again. This week, it’s the actual Comcast Mid-Atlantic so for most of us that’s the normal ComcastSportsNet.
Prediction: Like last year, we expect JMU to put up their best game of the year to this point against Richmond. After four essentially meaningless games to start the season, it’s taken the Dukes a couple weeks against two good teams to really get going. We like them to really get their footing and light up a banged-up Ticks squad. Dukes 27, Ticks 13.
And finally, you just might see this! Never gets old. [Two other notable items in this top 10: “Robert Griffin” makes an appearance w/out a 3 or a III, and both Hofstra (#thanksstu) and Northeastern flash football scores on the crawl]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMl6LaXEqvQ
After a hectic weekend that saw many of the top FCS teams in the country suffer losses, the JMU Dukes find themselves as the #2 ranked team in the country. This Saturday they’ll attempt to silence the vocal minority who claim they’re over-rated by beating their in-state Rival the Richmond Spiders. As we do before every JMU game, we’re going to invite you the readers to predict the outcome in the comments. And per usual, the reader who comes closest to predicting the result (winner & score) will win the right to guest post about whatever he or she chooses. But wait, there’s more. The fine folks behind Sam’s Cornhole Bags have also agreed to throw in a set of purple and gold corn hole bags for the winner. So not only will you get to guest post on your favorite blog, you’ll get a fancy new set of corn hole bags just in time for your homecoming tailgate.
The Dukes crushed the Spiders last year in former Duke Jace Edwards’ first start at QB. This year’s Richmond team is vastly improved and has its sights set on a return to the playoffs. They’ll be without starting QB, John Laub, who injured an ankle in last week’s 44-40 loss to New Hampshire though. Will Justin Thorpe and the Dukes offense break out and lead the team to a big win on the road? Or will UR avenge last year’s loss to JMU and secure bragging rights in the capital city?
First of all, I would like to offer my deepest apologies to any children sitting within 50 yards of me at the game on Saturday. I know you’ve never heard any of those strange words you heard during the first overtime period, and I know that there are certain physical actions that were suggested by (a) certain fans (fan) that your parents might have a hard time explaining to you. You see kids, there are certain times when it is appropriate to address a situation in an assertive way, such as suggesting the coaching staff is anatomically incomplete or should attempt to do something that is not physically possible. One such situation (and please, please do not ever forget this) is when you have the ball on the 1 yard line in OT against a 2-4 team in your home stadium in front of 20,000 fans AND YOU LINE UP IN THE SHOTGUN (Pistol).
I swore I was going to buck the cranky old man moniker this time (I avoided the temptation to write an entire post on how only cowards run east/west and real teams run north/south). Here is my feeble attempt- MM coaches what I call “Witchdoctor Football”. A perfect example of this was during the Towson game. During the pregame interviews, Towson’s Coach talked about playmakers, strategy and motivating his players. Where was Mickey’s head? The wind. He talked about the wind. While everyone else in America is looking at pictures of the defensive alignments and feverishly scribbling X’s and O’s on the sidelines, MM is licking his finger and holding it up in the air (breaking for the occasional visor toss). Don’t turn the ball over, punt, play defense and play field position. “Witchdoctor football” reminds me of golf- it is more important to judge the wind, contour of the fairway, height of the grass, pin position and softness of the green than it is to just hit the damn ball as far as you can and try to get it in the hole with the fewest stokes possible (Consequently, MM is a scratch golfer). In the case of this weekend, “Witchdoctor football” must have included sacrificing a chicken (or half-naked eagle) and placing a hex on the Fighting Geeks’ kicker. I definitely give him my game ball.
We decided this weekend that JMU has got to be the WORST GOOD football team in the country. Even when we win (which we usually do), it often feels like we lost. Rather than be really excited about our win, we go to bed (or pass out) Saturday night frustrated about our dysfunctional offense, or our defense’s inability to defend the forward pass. Then we wake up Sunday morning and find out we are the #2 team in the nation, and come back for another weekend of purple pride, hot girls, fantastic tailgating and winning despite getting beaten in every statistical category.
At the end of the day, with all due credit to MM, “witchdoctor football” works. He rode that horse to 101 wins. If we need to start punting on 1st down or lining up for a hail mary from the one-inch line to win 101 more games and another national championship- so be it…I’ll just be sure to wear oversized dark sunglasses and long sleeves to cover the bruises.
P.S.- I would also like to extend a special you suck dart to masses of current JMU students who walked out on a 17-17 game against an in-state rival.
From a proud alumni who did not help build that stadium and program with literal blood, sweat, tears and hard-earned cash so you could treat it as “just pregaming for Fox Hills”.
Phew! The Dukes dodged a massive bullet yesterday thanks in large part to three missed FG’s by William & Mary, including a chip shot for the win at the end of regulation. Personally, I’m fairly certain that kid saved me from hating sports entirely for a while on the heels of Friday night’s game that shall not be named.
The Good
Missed FG's: Gifts from the pantsless Griffin
A win is a win. For the second straight week, JMU held serve at home by overcoming extremely inconsistent play, especially on offense, and pulled out another dramatic victory. We’ve both noticed that while certain things drive us nuts about this team, this group seems to have a quiet mental toughness that allows them to keep plugging away and not get down throughout the game. They don’t have a singular leader like the ’08 squad, but we love that they seem to have a knack for just hanging in there until they can figure it out. URI, WVU, Towson, and this week were all games where they really struggled for huge early stretches, but ultimately found their stride and acquitted themselves well. Also, what a difference a few hours make: In this case, just sneaking out with a win may vault JMU to the nation’s #1 ranking as all three teams ahead of them lost (all of them at home too) NDSU lost to Indiana St., Montana St. fell to Eastern Washington, and yes, ODU gave up 38 unanswered points in getting whipped by suddenly scary Villanova. All things considered, ranking mean nothing thanks to playoffs, but it would be nice. NDSU could stay #1, or EWU could jump the Dukes after the upset of Montana St., or possibly even unbeaten Lehigh could garner some consideration.
Also nice to see a Wide Blocker, I mean Wide Receiver, finally step up. Arlandis Harvey turned in career-best performance to lead this injury-riddled corps with six catches for 113 yards and a TD.
While JT threw another gag-inducing pick early, he also made some good throws yesterday for huge yardage in addition to his continued strong running game.
The Bad
Can’t remember who I’m stealing this from Twitter yesterday, but Mickey was definitely channeling his inner Andy Reid in terms of clock management at the end of the first half. Somehow he ended up with timeouts in his pocket on the W&M 34 yard line when time expired. Awful.
The Ugly
The remaining schedule. Other than Georgia St. (a well-scheduled Homecoming opponent), the rest of the way is going to be no picnic. Richmond nearly upset New Hampshire on the road while putting up 40 points and certainly won’t be easy next week. Villanova is apparently very much back, the trip to Orono, Maine in November is always brutal, and of course ODU to close. In other words, no matter what the polls say tomorrow, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The William & Mary Tribe makes the trip to Harrisonburg this weekend to face our beloved JMU Dukes. JMU currently is ranked 5th in the FCS Coaches Poll and 4th in the Sports Network Top 25. William & Mary is unranked and hoping to pull off the upset and carry some momentum into the heart of the CAA schedule.
Viewing Options: Televised via Comcast SportsNet or streamed for free on Madizone
Weather Forecast: Sunny, high of 61 degrees, and 0% chance of rain (perfect).
The Charm of “The College”
We might as well get this out of the way. W&M has a well-deserved reputation for academic excellence. And we all know that the W&M community doesn’t exactly view JMU as a peer institution. We say they study too much and never have fun. They say we party too much and don’t buckle down and hit the books enough. Then we both agree with each other, they head to the library, we hit the bars, and life goes on. So the schools are different. Be that as it may, I’ve always really enjoyed games against W&M and interacting with Tribe fans. And I highly recommend taking a road trip to see the Dukes play at W&M some time. It’s like a trip back in time. And not because it’s located right in the heart of colonial Williamsburg though. But because the entire gameday experience is a living tribute to a simpler time time when stadium seats were miles from the field, good lights were non-existent, and restrooms with working plumbing were a luxury.
The Basics
The Tribe lost 4 straight games out of the gate this year, but didn’t play poorly in all of them. They could have (and probably should have) defeated Maryland in the season opener. And they hung in there against Towson, a team that gave JMU all it could handle last week. But they also got their doors blown off by Delaware and lost to Lafayette at home. They come into this game riding a 2 game winning streak though after beating Georgia State and Penn.
Much like they did last year, W&M’s poor to mediocre play has a lot do with its instability at QB. It’s a cliche to say “if you have two quarterbacks, you have none”. Well the Tribe has 3 QBs. And due to various injuries and inconsistent play, not one of them has firmly grabbed the starting role. The end result is that the Tribe offense is the 2nd worst passing in the CAA and 3rd worst overall. However, Brent Caprio got his second start of the year at QB week agains Penn and performed quite well, throwing for 220 yards and 2 TDs. Head Coach Jimmy Laycock still won’t declare him the starter, but expect him to get the nod on Saturday. Sophomore running back Keith McBride should help take the pressure off whoever plays QB. He’s averaging over 5 yards a carry this year.
The Tribe is much better on the defensive side of the ball as they’ve showed in every game except the loss against Delaware. JMU should win this one, but it’s no sure thing and W&M is definitely capable of coming into Bridgeforth and stealing one. Especially since JMU has been getting a little banged up and guys like Stephon Robertson, Titus Till, Brian Barlow, and Dae’Quan Scott could be out or less than 100%.
JMUSB Beer of the Week
Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA is our JMUSB BOTW. Even non-beer geeks are familiar with Sam Calgione’s genius now and the amazing beers he and the Dogfish crew are making. 60 Minute is less extreme than many of Dogfish’s beers, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good. It’s pretty great actually. Plenty of hop aroma and bitterness, but with enough malt so that it’s not overwhelming or piney.
Prediction
This has all the makings of a trap game for JMU, but I don’t think it’s going to be one. Matthews seems to have this team focused and I think the Dukes are ready to build on last weekend’s exciting victory over Towson. William & Mary might be ready to distance themselves from some of the weaker CAA teams. Look for JMU to have more success running the ball than last week, which should open up the passing game a bit. Dukes 28 – Griffins 10.
The JMU Dukes welcome the Wrens/Griffins/Tribe from William & Mary to Bridgeforth Stadium this Saturday. The Dukes are fresh off a big win against Towson. William & Mary struggled early but is currently riding a 2 game winning streak after defeating Georgia State (yes, that still counts) and Penn the past two weeks.
Let’s get some predictions. This should be routine by now, but let’s refresh. Leave a comment predicting who you think will win and what the final score will be for this weekend’s game. The winner who comes closest to predicting it accurately (winner & score) will get to write a guest post on whatever his or heart desires. Lots of history between the Dukes and the Tribe. Is William & Mary turning the corner and ready to take out the Dukes? Or are the Dukes completely focused and ready to move to 3-0 in CAA play? Let us know what you think.
photo courtesy of epicsnapshots.com
A meme hasn’t really peaked until Duke Dog puts his stamp on it. Well, gangnam style has now peaked. Your move internet people.
h/t @richpriz for the link
