This was reported by Andy Staples last week, but somehow we missed the fact that Georgia State has resorted to essentially paying people to come watch its football team. That’s right. The same program that decided to move “up” to the Sunbelt before ever playing a down of CAA football has resorted to literally dropping money from the rafters in an effort to get people to come to games. I’d say I have no idea how we missed this, but the truth is I know exactly how we missed this. We missed it because like the majority of other people in the country we’re not paying any attention to Georgia State football. You can see pictures of the cash drop over at Larry Brown Sports. And for the record the promotion drew in a whopping 9,531 fans who got to see New Hampshire beat the Panthers 44-21.
Yes, most of these thoughts on Saturday’s big victory over the defending CAA champion Towson Tigers are lifted from our commenters, but they nailed it. Just because the game was ugly and looked eerily like many painfully frustrating games from the last two seasons for huge stretches, do not sleep on how important this win was. Towson returned nearly all of their dominant squad from last year and results around the CAA have begun to show three teams potentially separating themselves. With Richmond surprising Villanova and Maine destroying UD, those tough teams have all shown a bit of inconsistency that has, for the moment, allowed for the possibility that JMU, ODU, and Towson may be a notch above the rest.
These thoughts on Saturday’s big victory over the defending CAA champion Towson Tigers are simply lifted from our commenters, but they nailed it!
From 2004 Duke:
-Let this be a big fat “I told you so” from the “pass more” crowd. Myself being a charter member. (JMUSB: Rob’s also in this crowd and felt the same way)
-We have 3 solid RB’s on our roster. I do not understand why we only played the one who isn’t 100% healthy. (JMUSB: Rob was yelling about this by the 3rd quarter. Did Jordan Anderson kill MM”s chihuahua? What about our “prepared starter” Brodie?)
– If we play D like that the rest of the year, we are going deep in the playoffs. (JMUSB: Simply stunning performance. Finally saw the D-Line performance we’ve been hoping for. That said, both Robertson and Williams were nicked up in this game and they are the irreplaceable heart of this unit. Need them healthy. Also not sure why it took Towson 3 and 1/2 quarters to figure out short passing is the way to go)
-This is the first time in my life I have benefited from horrible officiating. (JMUSB: Yep. That said, there were some egregious misses both ways – late hit anyone?)
– I’d like to extend a special “thank you” to the parents weekend crowd for breaking from tradition and not sucking. (JMUSB: Just great news. We were certainly worried about the crowd given this was essentially the first real game of the season, but they brought it)
From SunChase
I’m with you 2004. Scott is a special back, but I don’t know why we didn’t give some touches to the other guys in the backfield if for no other reason that to try to spark the offense. Hell of a win though and an absolutely outstanding defensive effort and game-winning drive by Thorpe and the offense. (JMUSB: I was killing JT for one of the worst passing days of his career, but he showed up big-time when the Dukes needed it most)
Also three cheers to NBC Sports for a great broadcast. (JMUSB: No way to overstate how thrilled we were with this production. It’s a thrill to see the CAA and JMU getting the first class treatment it deserves. Great comments about “CAA as SEC of FCS and a noticeable lack of disrespectful gaffes only added to the phyical production quality! NBCSN really seems to understand what’s important here. As you might imagine, we watch a ton of college football, and this treatment is an order of magnitude better than what CBSCollege does for the Patriot and CUSA, FX for the Big 12, and certainly blows away the old Raycom/Jefferson Pilot budget ACC coverage. Would love to see the same crew for the ODU game.
photo courtesy of www.epicsnapshots.com
After the bye week, it’s time to launch into meat of the CAA schedule as the defending conference champion Towson Tigers make their first visit to New Bridgeforth on Parent’s Weekend. And in case you didn’t notice, Towson gave LSU all they could handle in Baton Rouge last week so this should be quite the measuring stick for the Dukes.
The Basics
Towson is a very strong, balanced squad on offense. Led by last year’s CAA Offensive ROY RB Terrance West and veteran QB Grant Enders, they can light up the scoreboard or grind through a time of possession battle. Enders can sling it, but he’s a surprisingly slippery runner as well, and the JMU’s edge defenders will need to play with a discipline they haven’t been asked for JMU’s four mismatch games so far. The defense is more questionable and hopefully the Dukes can find opportunities to exploit. To do so, they’ll have to contain DT Frank Beltre, who makes a ton more plays than most interior DLinemen.
Don’t be fooled by Towson’s 2-2 record. The losses were the aforementioned LSU trip and at FBS Kent St. in Week 1. They weren’t challenged either by St. Francis or W&M so it’s possible this will be the first true test for both teams. Towson has a tough schedule the rest of the way and will need to win at least two of three against JMU/ODU/UNH to get to 7 wins so look for them to be plenty motivated.
Parent’s Weekend/Pink Out
While both of these items tend to mellow the football atmosphere at BFS, we’re feeling good this week and looking for silver linings: At least it’s been moved to 1 p.m. instead of the old noon start for Parent’s Weekend for a bit more tailgating(we may be monitoring the situation, but at least we’re responding to game time requests); remember, Parent’s Weekend sells the extended JMU family on the continuously improving product; at least JMU is combining these two things into one week; and finally…
…National TV on NBC Sports Network
This is JMU’s first action as part of the CAA’s new NATIONAL deal with NBC Sports Network. From what we’ve heard, the network formerly known as Versus has been producing a program on par with the best in college football that blows away anything we’ve ever seen for a CAA broadcast! Enjoy.
Beer of the Week
It’s Parent’s Weekend, so bring something decent (or even better, see if they’ll spot you). We’re going with Sculpin IPA from Ballast Point Brewing in San Diego. A classic, tasty west coast IPA that seems to be available at most decent places back here in Virginia. Big fan of Ballast Point as I also love the Big Eye IPA, but this tastes classier (probably because Big Eye has a pleasantly nostalgic aroma of other extracurricular substances no longer in my old-man life).
Prediction
Towson is really good, and we’re nervous that JMU hasn’t really played a meaningful game ALL SEASON, but not sure the Tigers have either. They should be confident after the LSU trip, but that makes for a long week while the Dukes were getting healthier (though we’ll still be missing Till). That said, we’re thinking the Dukes are ready to show they really are as good as we’ve all been hoping since NDSU last season and this is their first real chance to prove it.
Dukes 34, Kittens 23
It’s prediction time again. Here’s a refresher for those that need one. Leave a comment with your prediction (winner and score) for Saturday’s game. The reader who comes closest to getting it 100% correct will win the right to guest post on whatever he or she (sooner or later a lady will win, right?) desires. Pretty simple.
And here’s the lowdown for Saturday. The 3-1 JMU Dukes welcome the defending CAA Champion Towson Tigers to town. Towson sits at 2-2 on the season and is coming off a hard fought loss in Baton Rouge against LSU. The Dukes are coming off a bye and should be relatively well rested. On paper, it looks like it’s going to be a good one. Who’s going to win and what will the final score be?
Let’s get right to the point here. The fine folks at the Duke Club have been doing a tremendous job fundraising for JMU athletics. And they’ve extended a special offer to readers of this blog. They have agreed to raffle off 4 chair back seats and a parking pass for the JMU vs ODU game on November 17. All you need to do is join the Duke Club by making a $50 donation (or more obviously) and listing “JMUSB” as your referrer. Everyone who does that will be entered into a raffle for the tickets and the parking pass. And since many of you are already members, you can be entered into the raffle by recruiting someone new. Just get them to join and list your name in addition to JMUSB for the referrers. That’s it. There will be nobody else entered into this raffle, so chances are the odds of winning the tickets will be pretty good. And four tickets prime seats plus a parking pass to one of the most anticipated football games in a long time, is a pretty great prize.
So please sign up and donate some of your hard earned money to support JMU athletics. Donations are tax-deductible and they’ll go to support the 435 JMU student-athletes who give their all for you, me, and every other JMU fan. Last year’s Duke Dog Pride campaign raised almost $2 million and increased Duke Club membership to over 3,200 supporters. But more support is always needed. It’s very simple. Click. Donate. Win great tickets to see the Dukes beat the Monarchs.
I’ve watched this a couple times already and there is nothing about it that isn’t awesome. And yes, that guy really is drumming upside down.
H/T to @ry_hudson for posting it first and to @jamiemottram for bringing it to our attention
The Dukes might have had a bye week, but the rest of the CAA was in action and there were plenty of highlights. It’s still early, but we’re already starting to see some of the contenders step up and distance themselves from the also-rans. Here’s a quick look at the week that was in CAA Football.
Villanova 35 – Maine 14
Last year was a rebuilding year for Nova and many of us thought they’d take some small steps forward this season. So far, they seem to have take a pretty big leap forward. The Wildcats easily cruised past Maine on the road to move to 4-1 on the season. And they did it by running the ball in dominating fashion. For the game, Nova had 314 yards rushing. Kevin Monangai led the way with 192 yards and 2 TDs. The Wildcats have eclipsed 200 yards rushing in every game this season. As JMU has shown in the past, dominating rushing attacks can lead to great things in the CAA. I’m not sure if Nova deserves to be considered one of the favorites, but if they keep running the ball like this then they will be.
Bowling Green 48 – Rhode Island 8
Rhode Island has struggled to stay within shouting distance of its opponents at the FCS level, so it’s no surprise they got blown out by a FBS team. And this game wasn’t even close. Bowling Green had five times as many first downs as the Rams. That is not a typo. URI managed only 6 first downs and 171 yards of offense. I’ve never tracked this, but I’ve got to imagine teams that punt for almost twice the yards they gain on offense, don’t win too often. It’s going to be long season for URI.
New Hampshire 34 – Delaware 14
This was a heck of a bounce-back win for the Wildcats after losing a game in which they scored 61 points last weekend. New Hampshire’s defense played a tough ball game and limited the Blue Hens to only 2.3 yards per carry on the ground. They also pounded Delaware’s QB and finished the day with 6 sacks. New Hampshire has been ranked in the top 25 for about 6 million weeks straight and yet many people (including me) continue to overlook them every year. They’re good enough to contend for the CAA and a playoff bid again this year.
William & Mary 35 – Georgia State 3
Georgia State is a terrible football team. And that’s all there is to say about this game.
The football Dukes have reached the bye week just in time to heal some injuries and with exactly the solid 3-1 record most of us expected. If anything, they’ve been a tad better than we thought in dispatching three weaker opponents without too many hiccups, something they’ve had trouble with the last couple seasons. If you’re looking for CAA games of interest this week, you might at least look up the scores and injury reports from ODU v. UR and Towson (JMU’s opponent next week) traveling to Baton Rouge to play the other Tigers from LSU. But this week we’re going to do a quick look around the dustier and neglected (at least by us) corners of JMU Fall Sports. And yes, if it gives
Healthy this year. Dominant this year. Taylor West.
us another chance to hype our favorite program – Field Hockey – well you’re just going to have to read it and like it!
Field Hockey – Our favorite squad is off to a solid 6-3 start and if you want exciting finishes, this is your team. All nine games have been decided by a single goal and the Dukes have won all three OT games they’ve played. That said, if Coach Lucas decides taking away their sticks and running them up Reddish Knob might help prevent a few late-game letdowns, we had nothin’ to do with it. FH opens a huge 7-game homestand tomorrow night against #9 Northeastern and they’re already 2-1 against ranked opponents!
Men’s Soccer – Struggling out of the gate a bit at 3-4-1 overall, but they’re 1-0 in the CAA and the proud owner’s of JMU Athletics’ best win of the year so far with an upset of then #1 UNC in the grand opening game at University Park, the new home for Soccer, Track, and Lacrosse (and someday Field Hockey). The new facilities are over and down the other side of the hill on Port Republic on the way out to Lakeview Golf Course. When we were in school that would have seemed as far as Dayton or Bridgewater, now it’s within sight of the back of UREC.
Women’s Soccer – Going to need to get it going in CAA play but at least they pounded ODU last week.
Volleyball – The women are off to a decent 8-7, 1-0 CAA start and the best part is a new fact we just learned this year. This team, which didn’t exist in Varsity form back in our day, still uses good old Sinclair Gymnasium in Godwin Hall as their home court! No wonder they’ve developed a strong following and tradition so quickly in the truly friendly confines.
Reader Mark Steidler came came closest to predicting the final score of last weekend’s game against URI. As a result, he won the right to guest post. Bookmark his personal blog here and check out his thoughts on elevating the JMU football program below.
Every four years, we’re faced with a choice.
The choice is more paramount than spicy or mild, single ply or double, Empire Strikes Back or Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s a choice which we must be able to defend, which we must see through to the very end, and which we must ultimately bear the burden of responsibility. It’s not as easy as black and white, but rather as bold as purple and gold.
Just four games into the season, preseason expectations backed up by on-field performance have forced our hand into prematurely making this choice: do we once again buy into the four-year cyclical success of Mickey Matthews’ football programs or idly stand by and scoff at their accomplishments because our subdivision prevents us from playing in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.
Yes, once again, JMU has aligned their “high expectations meets high performance” campaign with the presidential election cycle, challenging the Redskins Rule for the top slot as Nostradamus of November. As a refresher, you may recall 2004 as a time when swift boats dominated the airwaves and Rascati swing passes dominated the A-10. Just four years later, we gushed at the promise of hope and change, only to experience an untimely change in quarterback in our most pressing moment. And, now, in 2012, we’re told that not only are 47% of Americans dependent on the government and believe they are victims but also that our team is capable of having 47% of our first downs come from passing plays (Check the Rhode Island box score. It’s crazy).
For me, the choice of whether or not to embrace this program, to buy into its legitimacy, and to expect, nay, demand success is not a choice at all. I see the great things that the past, present, and future Dukes can do for the world. I see an underrated institution that has yet to maximize its potential. I view our football program as an important extension of our university, an essential component of our marketing mix that can one day capture a share of the national spotlight that so many other schools already bask in. And I wonder why any JMU grad would not invest a few hours of their Saturday into rekindling their relationship with the site of some of the best years of their life.
Perhaps it’s because we haven’t worked out all our issues. We’ve certainly had our moments of success, but too often those are overlooked as minor footnotes due to our division, stadium size, and proximity to bigger, mainstream teams. But that all can change.
In honor of the proven five point post, here’s five simple ways we can re-energize our program and put Harrisonburg on the pigskin map.
read more…
The Dukes went on the road and took care of business against Rhode Island yesterday. JMU won 32-7 to pick up its first conference win of the 2012 season. This was a game that most people expected the Dukes to win in convincing fashion. And the important thing is that they did just that. There’s obviously a lot to like about any 25 point road conference win. And like any early season contest, there are some things to improve upon as well.
Things We Liked
The aggressive playcalling on offense. JMU marched 83 yards in just four plays for a TD the first time Thorpe and the offense got the ball. And 59 of those yards came from 2 big pass plays. Then to top it off they went for, and converted, a 2 point conversion to jump out to an 8-0 lead. That’s not exactly the rush heavy, only throw when they need to, JMU offense we’re used to seeing. And it wasn’t just some sort of “surprise them with the pass early” and then return to rushing it. Thorpe threw the ball a relatively ridiculous (by JMU standards) 42 times, completing 27 for a whopping 347 yards. Not only was that a career best for Thorpe, but it was the most by any JMU QB since Rodney Landers.
After giving up an amazing (or fluky depending on your perspective) TD to the Rams to let them back into the game, the defense was very impressive. The offense might have been the story of the day, but it was another stellar day for the defense. JMU completely shut down the Ram rushing attack, limiting them to 19 yards on the day. And they didn’t do that bad against the pass eitehr, limiting URI to only 164 yards in the air. Rhode Island isn’t known for lighting up the scoreboard, but any time a team holds it opponent below 200 yards on offense it’s doing something right.
The thing we liked best of all about JMU’s win however, was probably the resiliency the team showed. You don’t normally associate a word like resiliency with a 25 point wins, but I thought the Dukes showed a lot of it yesterday. After marching out to an early 15-7 lead, the offense sort of went to sleep. The attack was ineffective and the players were making careless mistakes. Thorpe in particular made a couple of poor plays. They team never seemed rattled though and kept plugging away. And then it just started clicking and they put together a couple really nice long scoring drives.
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