JMU Sports Blog

The Basics

Matchup: Morgan St. Bears (0-1) at #2 JMU Dukes (1-1)

Kickoff: 4:00 PM Saturday, September 14th

Location: Zane Showker Field at Bridgeforth Stadium, Harrisonburg, VA

Weather: Mostly Cloudy. Stray shower or thunderstorm possible (20-40%). High 80. Light wind.

Coverage: NBC Sports Washington in-market. FloSports streameing everywhere else. Last week the NBC feed was “accidentally” blacked out by mistake for out-of-market DirecTV folks. This week (and Villanova for Family Weekend) that will apply on purpose. So for many Dukes, it may finally be the week to get raked over the coals by the CAA!

Head Coach Tyrone Wheatley and Other Cool Morgan St. Things

Tyrone Wheatley, yup that one, is Morgan St.’s new Head Coach. Fantasy players certainly remember Wheatley being at top pick for the Giants and as a big ole goal-line touch vulture for the Raiders in his heyday after a stellar college career at Michigan. What we didn’t know was he’s truly paid his coaching dues, having started coaching high school at his alma mater in Detroit, then DII at Ohio Northern and then stops at Eastern Michigan, Syracuse, and Michigan in FBS and NFL assistant jobs in Buffalo and Jacksonville. He and his wife have five children, one of whom is sophomore RB at Virginia Tech. Hopefully his name and experience can really boost a program like Morgan St., so long as that starts after this week.

The Bears actually have a long and pretty cool history as a school and as a football program. Morgan St., located in Baltimore, is one of the oldest HBCU’s in the nation, founded in 1867. The football program is also one of the country’s oldest, having started in 1898. And their most famous player is inarguably one of the sports’ all-time greats, Chiefs Hall of Fame Linebacker Willie Lanier.

How the Bears Can Win

They probably can’t. Morgan St. hasn’t played since opening the season at FBS Bowling Green over two weeks ago so they should be fresh, and potentially much improved from that day. Note that a 46-3 FBS loss is really not unexpected or all that bad for a MEAC squad with a new Coach coming off a 4-7 season. The Bears haven’t won a non-conference road game since 2014 though so while there’s a first time and place for everything, Bridgeforth against a monstrous Dukes’ defense seems unlikely to be that place.

Keep in mind though that Morgan St. did go to Greensboro last year and knock off a then-#4 NC A&T team 16-13. That Aggies team had already beaten Jacksonville St. and ECU and would go on to win the MEAC and the Celebration Bowl (and oh by the way, start this season off with a win over CAA Elon). MSU also played CAA Albany very tough last year in a 30-27 loss up in New York. Plus the Bears feature quite a few Virginians on the team (particularly Prince William and Stafford counties) who are familiar with some of JMU’s roster and 17 returning starters from last year, so there’s little chance of them being intimidated.

But they’ll need to follow the same playbook as any really heavy underdog and play a clean (no penalties, no turnovers) game and hope to capitalize on JMU mistakes. It’s really hard to see Morgan St. matching the Dukes up front or in the speed department (at least not up and down the lineup) but the Dukes have got to clean up the mistakes that have nagged them the first two weeks.

How JMU Can Win

Play cleaner. The Dukes have fumbled on offense and specials, kicked off out of bounds, committed untimely penalties, and failed to score red-zone TD’s all in the first two weeks. An FBS opponent and a new regime provide excuses. Frisco expectations and 19 returning starters do not. JMU simply needs to clean things up and they can roll in this one.

Also, we’re convinced on Vanhorse, but it’d be reallllly nice to see the returning contributors Percy and Jawon find a rhythm with the line and in this scheme. Gonna need those heavy hitters here soon.

JMUSB Beer of the Week

Funky Buddha Florida Hefeweizen – An old-school light, tangy, hef is not our all-time favorite beer, but THIS is just a classic summer beer, and it’s widely available. After all the awfulness – and let’s be honest, nilihism – we’ve entertained this offseason from the Truly/Naturdays/Claw crowd, it’s time to break out something that fills their cries of “good summer beer” while actually being a) beer, and b) good.

Official JMUSB Prediction

Dukes Devastation. Faster, stronger, and hopefully better coached. JMU played “alright” against a better team in St. Francis last week and still cruised. While MSU has individual talent at certain positions to make a few plays, a full 60 minutes or any significant production on offense seems unlikely. We’re just hoping no thunderstorms causing some of the crazy weather delay/cancellations we’ve seen in this slot on occasion.

JMU 59, Morgan St. 10

Amy Cobb predicted the exact score of last week’s game and won the chance to guest post. Here’s her terrific piece about how much JMU has evolved since her time on campus.

JMU: You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!

Well here I go. My 15 minutes of (JMU Sports Blog) fame. First of all, let me just say this was beginner’s luck because I’ve never even participated in the prediction contest before. Why? Because I usually stink at these things. But participate I did, and won at that. And predicted the EXACT score, which the JMUSB guys say has never happened (really? Go me!) Second, I did actually think about my prediction for more than five seconds. After watching the WVU game, I figured we were good for five touchdowns and three field goals (yeah, not gonna talk about the red zone offense). I nailed it! I’d like to thank Virginia Beach’s own Cole Johnson for that last touchdown! And the defense for being, well, amazing as usual (I NEED to see some interceptions though. Channel your ‘inner Jimmy,’ please!)

I’m not going to write much about football other than to say I’ve been a huge football fan since I was at least eight or nine years old. I can identify pass interference when I see it (hello? CAA refs?) but I still can’t figure out what holding is, much less what targeting is – it’s not shopping at Target? Oh…(kidding!) I remember wearing my #9 Sonny Jurgensen hoodie when I was younger and cheering for the ‘Skins. And though the ‘Skins haven’t given me much to cheer about since, well, Dan (“I miss Jack Kent Cooke”) Snyder, I’m happy to cheer on one ‘Skin and former Duke, Jimmy Moreland, my new favorite pro player (sorry, Gary Clark). As a PR and marketing professional, I recognize the good PR that Jimmy has gotten and consequently, what that has also done for JMU. The free publicity is invaluable! I loved hearing Joe Theismann sing Jimmy’s (and JMU’s) praises during the pre-season and the announcers continuing that in the first regular season game. I hope that continues. Go #32 and go Dukes!

What I do want to write about is how far JMU has come since I graduated in 1987 (if you’re doing the math, yes I’m a 50-something). I jokingly say I attended JMU before JMU was ‘cool.’ I was one of four from my small graduating class of Franklin High School to choose JMU. It was the best decision I ever made. At the time there were about 10,000 students at JMU; I called it my “Goldilocks school”: not too big, not too small. (I still don’t understand when I hear JMU called a “small school” now – just HOW BIG does it have to be nowadays??) You could walk around and get lost in the crowd OR you could see everyone you knew in one day! For you recent grads or current Dukes, here’s what it was like back then:

• All that stuff on the other side of I-81? Didn’t exist, other than the Convocation Center (which was pretty new then). But we went over there (through the cow tunnel, mooing the whole way!) because back then, basketball was king. Who remembers The Electric Zoo? That place was rockin’ – as were the stands, literally. And we lived to tell about it! 
• Football games were okay – I remember the team being “average” (not great, not bad). Games were nothing like they are now, and that’s a good thing! Tailgating at a football game? Didn’t happen. (If it did, it must’ve been nowhere near the stadium or the now extinct Godwin Field.) Sing the fight song? Did we have a fight song?? I am ashamed to say I don’t think any of us knew the words to it. It certainly wasn’t printed for us upside down on a shirt (which I think is very clever, by the way).
• The bluestone dorms on the upper campus? Hard to get into as an underclassman. They weren’t designated by your major. My junior year, Gifford was all male. It went co-ed my senior year, yet I think there were more females there my junior year. And oh the lofts we had!! I lived in Wayland my sophomore year and we seriously had a whole second floor in our room and a living room with a couch, etc. underneath. Fire hazard or not, the lofts were cool! Oh and there was a HoJo’s (Howard Johnson’s) motel at the corner of Port Republic and I-81 that served as my dorm freshman year. Best part of that was being able to have a car even though I couldn’t park it on campus.
• Incoming freshmen – we didn’t have a parade or an orientation where they taught us what to do at football games, nor did we get to run on the field for the first football game. We did have an orientation earlier in the summer where they taught us not to say “Gibbons Dining Hall” and educated us on all the  other un-cool things to do or say.
• The campus – always was beautiful, and still is. The statue of James Madison wasn’t there though. I’ve always loved that JMU feels like a real college campus, unlike some of the urban campuses I’ve seen.
• Registration – this is where I’m going to sound like your grandpa who had to walk five miles uphill each way to school, in the snow. We actually had to STAND IN LINE. You read that right. You stood in line at the Library to register for classes, after looking through pages upon pages of class info in teeny tiny print (I think that’s why I need readers now. Okay, maybe not.) At the end of my freshman year I left registration in tears because I had to go beg professors for overrides. Not fun. I think the year after I graduated they started doing phone registration. I was so jealous. 
• The food. It was so good! (I hear it still is, thank goodness.) I remember chocolate covered Krispy Kremes for breakfast at D-Hall and lobster night. I would LOVE to get the recipe for the cream of potato soup (Anyone? Anyone?) at Salads Plus, which started in Chandler and later moved to the top floor of the Student Union, and doubled as the Steakhouse at night. Yes, we had a steakhouse – does that still exist? PC Dukes was brand new, too. 
• Uncle Ron – you would often see President Ronald Carrier walking around campus talking to students. Who can forget what he did for JMU and the surrounding area? He’s a legend in my book! 
• Snow. Lots and lots of snow. And cold. (This is probably still the case!) As a coastal Virginia girl, that was an adjustment. I remember Super Bowl Sunday of my sophomore year and it was something like 20 below outside. Walked to D-Hall with my roommate whose hair was still wet, and it froze! It was also the first time I ever experienced nose hair freezing. Freaky! My senior year it snowed a foot in January. Then another foot four days later. At the time, I think it was the first time the school had ever cancelled classes (I have The Breeze article in my yellowed photo album to prove it). Nothing like seeing all those kegs rolling across the Quad! (Yes, most of us were legal drinking age).
• Legal drinking age – it was 18 for beer, then 19, and I grandfathered my way through my college life. This was back before social media captured every stupid thing we did (thank goodness!). I won’t go any further with this. 
• And let’s just talk about JM’s, which used to be right across from campus (near Converse). I don’t even know what the building is now but JM’s was THE PLACE to be. Maybe because it was the ONLY bar in town, I don’t know? But I spent way too much time there – and have great memories of singing Paradise by the Dashboard Light, buying 10 cent drafts and 99 cent pitchers on Ladies Night (I think our guy friends later sold them for a profit later but we won’t talk about that), and honing my “maneuvering through a crowd to get to the bathroom” skills. 
• Concerts and movies – I was on the University Program Board (UPB) and we DREW posters on poster board. I think we did get some official movie and concert posters, too, but we definitely MADE posters as well. We had great concerts, even Jimmy Buffett (on a cold, snowy April night in 1987).
• The bookstore – it was so small compared to what is there now! You could buy books, a shirt, and maybe a few other JMU items, but that’s about it. There was a bank of post office boxes outside of the bookstore where you’d go and check for letters. Yes, letters. People actually wrote letters – on paper – back then! 
• Graduation on the Quad – yes, we ALL graduated together at the same time. I’m not sure if our parents were able to see us this way or not, but it was great to be on the Quad with all our friends!
• The ‘Burg – wow, has it changed! Downtown there was Jess’ Quick Lunch and Spanky’s. That’s about it. (And if you didn’t burn your tongue on a Spanky’s potato skin, did you really live?) All that stuff between JMU campus and Valley Mall? Wasn’t there. How did we survive?

JMU was (and is) about so much more than just getting a great education (which I did, despite all the JM’s references!). JMU was (and is) about forming lasting friendships. All these years later and I still see my JMU friends each year. Since 2006, a group of us girls have gone to our friends’ “Four Decs” beach home (you should check it out) in Corolla, NC for our annual “JMU Girls’ Weekend.” We take (and eat) too many snacks and drinks, shop a little, play games, and just catch up on each other’s lives. And every year at Homecoming, we all try to make it back to JMU if we can. We put up our purple tents, eat our tailgate food, wear our JMU gear, and cheer for the Dukes as loud as we can. We even sing the fight song! (Yes, I know all the words now). 

Young Dukes, take note: savor the moments, be present, and form those friendships. Four (or five or six) years go by really fast, trust me. You’ll soon find that life gets so busy and that it’s important to take the time to get together. One day it’ll be 32 years since you graduated and I hope you’ll be able to look back on your days at JMU as fondly as I do. Go Duuuuukes!

After securing the first win of the Coach Cignetti era, JMU is back at it against Morgan State this Saturday. Of course that means it’s predictions time. Y’all know the drill, but here’s a quick refresher. Leave a comment below with your prediction for Saturday’s game. Include the winner and the final score. The person who comes closest to nailing it (winner & score), will get to write a guest post. And one more thing. Use a legit email that you’ll actually check. Every year we have one or two weeks where we get no response from the winner and that’s no fun. We love the guest posts and all JMUSB readers do too. Now give us those picks and Go Dukes!

The JMU Dukes took care of business in their home opener, defeating St. Francis by the score of 44-7. Ben DiNucci lead the way completing 16 of 21 for 221 yards and 2 TDs. JMU deployed a running back by committee rushing game, with Solomon Vanhorse, Juwon Hamilton, Percy Agyei-Obese, and Austin Douglas each getting at least 9 carries. As a team, JMU racked up 295 yards on the ground. The real story was the Dukes’ defense which held St. Francis to only 175 yards and 9 first downs. The word dominant doesn’t do it justice. Here are three quick thoughts on the win.

A Step Forward

The Dukes let one get away against West Virginia. And the consensus opinion was that it got away because they turned the ball over, played way too conservative, made mistakes on special teams, and failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities. Well, in week two JMU had clear improvements in some areas, but have room to grow in others. Granted, St. Francis doesn’t have the sort of athletes WVU does, but pitching a shutout in the interception department was still nice to see. The guys need to hold onto the football and limit the fumbles though. And it was nice seeing Ethan Ratke go 3 for 3, but D’Angelo Amos is too good to not field punts cleanly. He did have a 22 yard return though, and Hamilton also ripped off a 45 yard kick return. The offense wasn’t going deep into the playbook and kept things pretty vanilla. However, even if with the outcome all but decided, most fans will probably be encouraged by Cignetti going for it on 4th in the red zone and pushing to punch it in. While we’re only in week 2 and it’s no time to push the panic button, just like last season, settling for FGs in the red zone seems to be a thing. It’s something we’ll be keeping an eye on the next few weeks. All in all though, there were improvements made from week one to week two. That’s really all you can ask for.

All About That D Though

The JMU defense played lights out against the rush in the season opener. Against St. Francis, the team’s passing defense was every bit as good as the stellar run defense. At one point JMU forced ten straight three and outs. Ten straight. It was almost too dominant, leaving the offense with virtually no time to catch its breath. St. Francis only ran for 2.7 yards per carry and managed just 11 pass completions. JMU’s front four is going to be a handle for team’s week in and week out this season. They absolute punish teams at the line. We’d still like to see them get to the QB a bit more, but are confident the sacks will come.

No Clue Still

Through two games, we’re pretty confident that JMU has a defense that is going to cause CAA teams problems. And we know that they’ve got some great weapons on offense, with a stable of capable running backs. Brandon Polk appears to be a stud and he’s surrounded by a number of reliable pass catchers. Nooch is still Nooch. To us that’s a positive, but others will disagree (vocally). With only two games in the books though, it’s hard to tell where the ceiling is for this team. It’s also probably a waste of time, because the team is still ramping up and adjusting to the new coaches’ scheme. For now though, we’re pleased with some of the improvements we saw yesterday and anxious to see if they can improve the strike rte in the red zone. JMU is 1-1 with an opportunity to get back above .500 next week against Morgan State. The team isn’t perfect, but we’ve got plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

The Basics

Matchup: St. Francis (PA) Red Flashes (1-0) at #2 JMU Dukes (0-1)

Kickoff: 6:00 PM Saturday, September 6th

Location: Zane Showker Field at Bridgeforth Stadium, Rocktown

Weather: Sunny, high of 79 and dropping to a crisp 54 overnight. Perfect.

Beer!

So a couple of major stadium changes in store for this weekend. First, make sure and arrive early if you care about watching the competitive portion of this game. JMU is breaking in the new metal detectors and clear bag policy so lines are sure to have you missing kickoff if you’re not at the gate early. And second, JMU will be selling beer in the stadium and not just in the club level. As we’ve said before, we have mixed feelings on this, but it appears you need to first get a wristband and then wait on what are sure to be extremely long lines at the extremely limited beer stations. There are only four points of sale (not the usual concession lines) so if you’d care to check this out, we’d recommend getting in even earlier and taking care of this pregame. Our guess is a halftime run is sure to have you missing part of the 3rd quarter on the first run.

How the Red Flashes Can Win

Turnovers and shorten the game. The Red Flashes allowed only an eye-popping 11 yards rushing last week to Lehigh. The Dukes are a whole other animal, but St. Francis would be best served continuing to do that and hoping they get a classic “bad Nooch” game in the passing game that leads to turnovers. But they also have to find a way to hang onto the football by finding some kind of a running game against the Dukes’ monstrous front seven. They simply can’t afford for this game to have lots of possessions and give JMU the chance to get in rhythm. Oddly, WVU did well last week to limit the Dukes chances in the second half and the Red Flashes need to hope to do the same.

How JMU Can Win

Get pissed. Seriously, the Dukes should be downright pissed off at the way they flat-out gave away an opportunity for a rare program-enhancing win last week in West Virginia. And they need to take it out on a decent NEC team in their home opener. Thankfully, an opening night crowd and hopefully an amped-up student section for a great-weather game won’t see them drop off the natural intensity that comes with a big-time atmosphere like last week. In truth, JMU needs to pound and pound and pound this team until they wear them down and then pound them again. It would realllllly help, and make everyone feel better, if they could not turn the ball over or get DiNucci killed.

JMU also needs to stay alert on special teams as StFU is keyed by their Safety/Punt Returner who had a key play in their win last week. Dukes need to show right now that they can limit big plays in this area.

JMUSB Beer of the Week

First home game of the year, perfect weather, and a day-to-night game in the Valley. Seems like it’s time for a perfect transitional beer, and we really like Pilsner’d from Brothers Craft Brewing right in the ‘Burg. It’s a crisp, easy-drinking (just 4.6%) German-style pils that is perfect for a long afternoon tailgate and a late postgame beverage on the tailgate.

Official JMUSB Prediction

The Dukes dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, taking out all the frustrations from their missed opportunity last week on a team that deserves better but simply cannot handle the JMU front four.

JMU 45, St. Francis 6

JMU played WVU tough, but ultimately lost last weekend. Now we get to see how the bounce back. The Dukes play St. Francis on Saturday at home. It should be a good opportunity to right the ship and get the first victory of 2019. And we’d like to know how you think the game will play out. Leave a comment below with your prediction for Saturday’s game. The person who comes closest to nailing it (winner & score) will get to write a guest post. That’s it. So give us your prediction below and go Dukes!

The Good

Adeeb Atariwa – Monster. WVU fans all around us were screaming about “who the hell is 95 and why can’t we block him?” by halftime as he was on a one-man tour of destruction from a DT position where it’s hard to even be noticed, much less look like a man among boys in a P5 matchup. And really the entire Dukes’ defense, who shut down the running game completely – limiting WVU to 1.4 yards per rush – and consistently pressured the QB and got off the field on 12 out of 18 3rd downs, deserves all the credit in the world. They saved JMU from the two turnovers early and kept them in the game all the way till 10-10 entering the fourth and the terrible INT.

172 – 34. That was how much JMU outrushed WVU. Total Yards, First Downs, Time of Possession. Basically every category JMU flat-out beat the Mountaineers phyically. Except for turnovers, which were very clearly the difference in the game and the Dukes lost that stat 3-0. But still, physically outplaying a P5 team is no joke, and JMU will be just fine.

WVU atmosphere – RV’d all weekend in the Coliseum and West Virginia fans were easily the kindest, most welcoming, most good-natured road group I’ve ever been around. Only issue we saw was two Mountaineers fighting in the stadium because one young couple was too hammered to know they weren’t in the student section. Otherwise, what an outstanding trip and hope we get to go back someday.

The Bad

Pass protection – As strong as the Dukes were at times in the run game, especially in the first half, they really struggled to give DiNucci anytime at all in the second half. Everyone wants to scream about Ben throwing it up on the INT, but that play was a fail from the snap for everyone involved.

Mistakes – A lot of JMU folks were pleased with only having two penalties, but wow were there some big mistakes in this game. Three terrible mistakes on specials were enormous (fumble, blocked FG, kickoff out of bounds) and of course the other two turnovers and some real “Ole” blocks in the second half were all huge game-changers.

The Ugly

Punting with no timeouts – It worked out because the Mountaineers out-stupided us later. And had that Big 12 mystery hold not showed up for JMU’s only penalty, thus wiping out a 30-yard run by the Nooch, we might still be playing. But it doesn’t excuse the wrongness of not going for it there when time and score say you have to.

St. Francis beat Lehigh on the road, so better not take next week too lightly either.

The Basics

Matchup: JMU Dukes (0-0) vs. WVU Mountaineers (0-0)

Kickoff: 2:00 PM Saturday, August 30

Location: Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, WV

Weather: Mostly sunny with a 85 degrees, high likelihood of evening smog from burning couches

Most People Are Average

People on the fringes attract a lot of attention nowadays. Perhaps they always have. The truth is that most people are not perfect saints, any more than they’re hopeless sinners. As individuals, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Good days and bad days. But overall, most people are way more similar, than they are different. Which means that it’s rather silly to judge any large group or community by the people on the extremes. Which is a great thing for WVU fans, because the Mountaineer fans in the long tail are borderline insane lunatics.

We’re not talking about your run of the mill WVU fans. Your average Mountaineer crowd is a whole lot like a typical JMU crowd. You’ll find engineers, plumbers, teachers, doctors, cops, and all kinds of everyday people. Having been to WVU games in the past, I guarantee you that 99% of Mountaineer fans you encounter tailgating are good people. Sure they might playfully boo you if you walk by in JMU colors, but it’s a virtual lock that if you respond with a certain rhyming food suggestion for Nooch’s former school, they’ll laugh, offer you a seat, hand you a beverage, and want to start talking football. Like any other college football fanbase, it’s made up of good guys and gals. Even if they do have a strange affinity for Davy Crockett cosplay.

The 1% fringe though? Watch out. They’re worse than you can imagine. And if you’re a WVU fan reading this, calm down, because chances are we’re not talking about you. But if you’re a full grown adult WVU fan who needs to have someone read this to you as a VHS tape of Major Harris highlights plays in the background and you pull a half smoked Newport from an ashtray, pour what’s left of last night’s Jack Daniels on a bowl full of Frosted Flakes, and plot ways to egg your Pitt fan neighbor’s house for the 83rd consecutive day? Yeah, we’re talking about you. This isn’t about the countless friendly, passionate, and fun WVU fans we shared drinks and laughs with in the FedEx Stadium parking lot before the game in 2012. It’s about the ones lacking any real affiliation with WVU, with more shoes than teeth, who were roaming around in what appeared to be packs of meth-head zombies throwing bottles and looking for couches to burn after said game.

And we’d be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge that JMU has its own breed freaks in the fringes as well. The ones that consistently turn their noses up at the rest of the FCS, while simultaneously losing their ever-loving minds whenever FBS fans throw shade at the subdivision. The ones who steadfastly refuse to acknowledge WVU’s success as a P5 school and spend more time arguing with strangers about their lack of respect for the Dukes, than they spend actually rooting for Dukes.

Here’s a litmus test. A friend shared this relatively benign video from a wannabe Desus & Mero duo with a group of us JMU die-hards. Everyone in the group had a collective “meh” response, realizing that it wasn’t about disrespecting JMU fans. It was about firing up WVU fans and getting excited for college football. If you can watch it and have the same reaction then go about your life, congratulations. You’re in the fat part of the JMU fan curve. If watching it makes your blood boil, forcing you to fire off a series of angry tweets trying to disprove the “arguments” presented by the hosts though? Well, we’ve got some bad news for you. It’s just a dumb video. (ed. note: No clue what they’re talking about with JMU playing Alabama close stuff, but props to whomever came up with the “When you talk about Virginia, you don’t talk about JMU…maybe you talk about the Spiders” smack. That hits us where it hurts. Respect.)

Let’s keep that in mind over the next 48 or so hours. Don’t judge a fanbase by the obnoxious Twitter eggs and lonely drunken tailgaters. Seek out the average fans, talk some playful smack, ask for their thoughts on their team, and then root like hell for yours.

How The Mountaineers Can Win

By following the new coaches playbook and leaning on their depth in the second half. New WVU Head Coach Neal Brown is one of the bright young minds in the game. In his most recent gig as the Coach at Troy, his teams were known for making big plays. We expect him to try to strike quickly and make big plays downfield on Saturday. Every FBS coach knows you don’t want to let FCS teams hang around in these games. That’s when the pressure builds and things get dicey. If WVU can execute a few downfield strikes and get out to a decent lead, it could be a long day for JMU.

The Mountaineers have a number of unknowns this year. New coaching staff, new starting QB, and a relatively inexperienced secondary among them. To account for all that, WVU will probably lean on it’s depth at RB and on both sides of the line. We’re all excited about JMU’s starting defensive line and think they can more than hold their own this week and every week. But the Mountaineers can utilize 4 capable running backs and rotate in big lineman on both sides of the ball. They’ll probably bet that eventually the fresher legs will be enough to break through JMU’s defense. That could be the difference, especially in the second half.

How JMU Can Win

By focusing on ball security, but not playing scared. We all know how last season ended. We don’t need to rehash it. But it was a good example of how even a mediocre team (yeah, I said it) can get the W if it wins the turnover battle. This 2019 WVU team ain’t Clemson, but it sure ain’t 2017 ECU either. JMU cannot afford to give the Mountaineers extra possessions. The Dukes absolutely can win, but they need to play the sort of ball we saw Cignetti’s Elon team play in Bridgeforth last year. That team was determined to run, and patient enough to keep at it until it had opportunities to break off a series of first downs on the ground. That team hung around and then capitalized on mistakes to get out of town with an upset. Sounds like a recipe for success.

This isn’t a situation where JMU needs to result to trickery to win. Yes, it will be tough to run the ball against such a deep collection of defensive lineman. But JMU needs to go right at them. If the Dukes can eventually have success on the ground, the receivers should be able to surprise the unproven secondary. Take care of the ball and play aggressive. There will be chances to make plays. Then it’s just about execution.

JMUSB Beer of the Week

First game of the year, temps in the 80s, and a rowdy FBS fanbase ready to consume many adult beverages. Sounds like the perfect spot for a balanced day drinker. Something like Ardent Pilsner. Simple and to the point. It’s a terrific tasting beer, and since it’s not overly bitter, it won’t fatigue the palette. Plus, it’s a reasonable 5% ABV, so it won’t put you under before halftime.

Official JMUSB Prediction

Fans fall in love with Nooch again, Rashad Robinson reminds the nation that he’s back and bound for glory, JMU pounds it out on the ground, and the Dukes get the first win of the Cignetti era.

JMU 27 – WVU 20

We made it through “the other part of the year.” Now another JMU year, and with it a football season, are upon us. And this one feels special to us for some reason. Not that every year doesn’t have its own charms, but as we enter our 10th season of this pure, beloved dork-hobby of a project, something is different and requires both acknowledgement and gratitude. This thing has been there for us through illness and death and children and spectacular personal-life successes and failures (all mine, Rob’s navigated adulthood brilliantly). Maybe it’s our inspiration Spencer Hall hanging it up over at Every Day Should be Saturday and us knowing there won’t be his annual kickoff column to read; something that always meant so much more than sports.  Maybe it’s not knowing what our own future looks like with this thing we’ve both come to love but which isn’t always compatible with middle-aged life. But whatever it is we’re gonna try, and likely come up short, to say a thing about what makes this all so special.

Homecoming. A word college football fans know and love so much that we probably don’t ever think too deeply on it after years of knowing “it’s the big game.”  The one where the school rolls out all the good stuff and old folks like us act like undergrad fools for a few hours or a weekend. But the act itself – coming home – is more than that, and feels different for Dukes. It probably does for other fanbases too, but all we know about is Dukes. What does it fully mean to come home to JMU? Does it have to be in Harrisonburg? Or could one come home in Morgantown, West Virginia or Chattonooga, Tennessee or Kingston, Rhode Island, or even Frisco, Texas? Needless to say, it’s a whole lot more than black-out games or conference rivalries, or even class reunions. And it doesn’t happen once a year, but at least eleven or twelve times and hopefully more if things break the way we all hope.

If you’re reading this, you probably know that much of our JMUSB engagement with other fans has migrated over the years from the comments on this here site over to Twitter. We run that account – the JMUSB Twitter account – together, and I know I speak for both of us when I say that it has become one of our favorite things. And you know what makes it great? It’s all about JMU and that just makes us happy. It’s the closest thing to “sticking to sports” in a world where that’s not possible. We each maintain separate “Individual” accounts on that site, and others, where we follow family and friends and the outside world. And in talking to each other over the years, we’ve realized that we sometimes see two different worlds on those other accounts given our often divergent views on all kinds of things. I imagine that’s the way it is for many folks out there. And while I may check those other accounts for breaking news or family photos or event information, it also seems to makes me sad and angry and unhappy and anxious.

But every fall, the JMU tribe gathers back up and we come home. Together.  

Throughout the long offseason, I often find myself on those other accounts growing steadily angrier at some members of my JMU tribe. I’ve thought a lot about my own anger, and where it comes from. I’ve thought on this a good deal more than is healthy; of that I’m certain.  And you know the only thing I’ve come up with? The very thing that pisses me off or makes me sad – sad like the very snowflake I’m probably being accused of being at this very moment – is how much I love those folks in my tribe. I know them, I love them, I respect them. And you know why? Because when we come home every fall, we grill brats and we roast oysters and we share too many beers and bad brown liquor. And we throw bags, and play 2×4 jenga, and yell “it’s Bo Time” at the chicken, and share streamers, early mornings, and late nights. On the very best days, we even rush fields in Williamsburg or Harrisonburg (ASU) or Chatty or Frisco. Together. And somewhere in all that frivolous debauchery, my tribe has graciously and unconditionally been a healing salve on the gaping wounds left by some of those personal failings I mentioned. They’ve been an undeniable force for good in service of others from the Valley to Seattle and back. From Crab Feasts to Food Pantries. They know me. All my flaws and happiness and many of them know darned sure that none of us as individuals are all one thing or another. None of us are all good or all bad, all one party or another, all right or wrong. They’ve put me up in Charlotte or Wilmington or Albuquerque when I needed a weekend away from the world. We know each other well enough to know that none of us believe in an across-the-board ideology on anything. Except one thing that is: Dukes! And I’d like to think that occasionally I’ve been able to return the favor with support and friendship and joy. Especially when I know them a bit too and have learned at least a teensy bit about their own heartbreaks and tragedies and joyous occasions.

But we always come home to this one thing we share. We share a love and passion and experience that brings us back. There may be no real chance of “sticking to sports” anywhere, and there shouldn’t be, but there is believing, together, in this singular grand, silly, loving, and delusional thing that brings us back.

When Start Wearing Purple begins and visiting fans are bewildered at the song choice, we are together. When we lovingly laugh at alumni-band day when the first few notes of Bill Chase’s “Get it On” blast out, we are together. When we smirk knowingly when someone sneers “Party in the EndZone,” we are together. When we giggle asking a stranger “You rootin’ fer Dukes, bud?” we are together. And when we all come together on the Twitter cesspool to celebrate a random night in August of preseason NFL featuring former Dukes, we are together.

It’s enough to make us wonder if maybe we all stepped away a little more often from all the “screens” in our life, if we couldn’t find some more “together?”

College athletics, in particular the type of big-time college football that JMU plays, brings with it all kinds of problems and issues and wildly irrational contradictions. At least if we’re honest about the endeavor it does.  And I’m not suggesting for even a minute that whether the issue is college football or altogether more important things in the world, that we shouldn’t question or challenge – or when necessary even call out – our own friends and fellow tribal members to be better or think differently. But the thing I think we love the most about loving this insane endeavor that is JMU football is that when we do those things, we do so after we have first recognized each other as “Dukes.” When we are Dukes first, we’ve already acknowledged each of our members’ humanity in a way we so often don’t in other forums. I’m not saying JMU football itself is even the best thing in the world to bring us together (but come on, it is!), but I would scream the same full-throated defense of this silly thing at the elitist liberal faculty member AND the equally clueless anti-higher-ed conservative legislator who can’t grasp why “athletics is the front porch of the university.” I think there is one thing they both miss in not understanding the place this thing holds – however anachronistic on a micro level – in the cultural landscape at the macro level. This thing, this coming home, is one of the last spaces where we come home “together,” and that keeps us coming back year after year.

Dr. King once remarked – and I’ve always supposed he did so plainly and sadly – of worship services, that “Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America.” More and more, the same could be said of so many of the group civic and cultural activities we voluntarily elect to participate in, even when the exact types of segregation may continually shift. But you can’t say the same about this one thing we love, and for that I am filled with gratitude. When we come home to JMU we sign up to share fellowship with others who may only agree with us on this one thing, Dukes, but that thing makes all the difference in the way we talk – and more importantly for loudmouths like me – the way we listen. And I’d suggest to all the fellow members of our tribe that we celebrate this as a strength of this crazy thing we love, not a weakness. Most of us don’t just cheer 19-yr olds, or bitch about playcalling, or pour countless hours and dollars into this thing we love because we deeply care about the beauty of a finely-tuned spread offense or because we don’t believe in concussions. Rather, we do so for something deeper, maybe even something that involves connection with others. Once a year, when we ask our old pals from over Massanutten to share “the good stuff” with us, they send us their tailgate spot. And they don’t ask for any shibboleth other than that we bleed purple and we imbibe together, when we’ve come home.

Or who knows, maybe I’m full of crap? After all, my favorite recurring character in literature, Travis McGee, is a guy who always claims to be “wary of all earnestness.” Maybe with all the acrimony between us humans today I should do the same and this whole bowlful of words I just tried to write is all too earnest to be taken seriously. But the deeper truth with my guy is that McGee is actually full of it when he acts the cynic. Despite his own spectacular failures, he always comes home to his friends, sometimes in open and vulnerable and yes, earnest, ways. So with that I say let’s do this thing – coming home again – one more time! Together. Go Dukes!

We post one time and then immediately begin hitting y’all up for content. Peak JMUSB. Anyway, for those of you who are new, or any of you who don’t remember, this is something we’ve enjoyed doing for years. Before each JMU football game, we’ll create a predictions post. Everyone is invited to leave a comment with their prediction for the upcoming game. The person who comes closest to nailing it (winner & score) gets to write a guest post. If two people tie, we’ll give it to whomever was first. That’s it. It’s incredibly simple, but something we’ve had a lot of fun with for a while. And it’s resulted in some of our best content. So leave a comment below with your prediction for Saturday and Go Dukes!