With all the excitement over the Duke’s big win last weekend, we haven’t had time to address the developing situation with Villanova. For those you haven’t heard, Villanova has been extended an offer to leave the CAA football conference for the Big East. Villanova is the defending FCS National Champion and is currently ranked #1 in the polls. The school plays in the Big East for all sports.
Obviously, this could have quite an impact on the CAA and JMU. How much impact is tough to tell however. First off, it’s not even clear if Nova is going to accept the invitation. That might seem crazy to lots of fans, but as Mickey Matthews pointed out this week, Nova’s facilities aren’t exactly up to par. Their current stadium only holds 12,000 fans, which is below the NCAA standards for FBS programs. The Wildcats would need to make a significant investment to improve their current stadium, build a new one, or venture further off campus for home games to play in another existing facility. Plus, anyone who watched the semi-final game against William & Mary last year, knows that Nova doesn’t exactly pack the stadium they have.
If Nova does make the leap, the loss will be felt by the CAA. Just how much it will be felt is tough to tell. Taking a national championship contender out of the conference has got to be bad right? On the surface, yes. It’s not good to lose a consistently strong program. However, I don’t think it will damage the CAA’s reputation or drastically decrease the leagues level of competition. Plus ODU and Georgia State are ready to join the league in the next few years. It’s unlikely that either school will immediately fill a void left by Villanova in terms of competitiveness. Both schools are situated in fertile recruiting areas and it already seems quite likely that they’ll have more fan support from day one than Nova ever did.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out and how the other CAA schools, particularly JMU, react. I’m fairly certain that just about every JMU fan I know would jump at the chance for the Dukes to be in Nova’s position right now. They’re not though. As Rick Pitino might say, “The Big East isn’t coming through that door folks, the ACC isn’t coming through that door.” Nova has a significant advantage in that it plays its other sports, notably basketball, in the Big East. JMU does not and it’s tough to imagine that a BCS conference would randomly invite the Dukes to join up. I’m not even sure if it’s permissible under NCAA by-laws. If I’m JMU AD Jeff Bourne however, I’m calling every FBS school and conference administrator I can get a hold off and at least throwing the Dukes hat in the ring. I’m firmly against the Dukes jumping to a crappy FBS conference just to move up. It’s time to start seriously exploring the options however.
Needless to say, my Dukes cap is proudly attached to my work bag and likely to remain there at least through Liberty, but we must interrupt this broadcast to bring JMU Nation a reminder courtesy of Jazzie B. and Soul II Soul and do a quick reality check. While it’s nice to have an extra week to celebrate, please remember what frequent commenter Uncle Ron has to say about the formerly lovable, currently insufferable Red Sox fans after their first brush with success in ’04 and not act the fool. (Or at least pace ourselves, secure in the knowledge we’ve got till at least 2015 to lord this over our VT friends and family!)
But more importantly, we’ve also got to capitalize on the momentum by bringing our friends and fellow alums onboard the bandwagon while simultaneously warning them (and ourselves) about the perilous, terrifying, potentially soul-crushing road ahead. What am I talking about, you say? Check out the email list below I am grateful to have gotten today from JMUSB’s senior Richmond correspondents Landeta and Knopper. Here are the team’s on the Dukes’ remaining schedule and their current FCS rankings:
home 15 Liberty
home 11 Delaware
away n/a Towson
home 8 New Hampshire
away 1 Villanova
home 16 Umass
away 9 UR
home 12 W&M
away n/a Maine
Get those egos in check, Mickey!
The punchdrunk Hokies may turn out to have been an easier obstacle to clear than the CAA schedule when it’s all said and done this year. Rembemb, CrApp. St. lost to both Wofford and Georgia Southern the year they beat Michigan (though they did recover to win the NC). While this win certainly goes a long way towards showing the team the incredibly high ceiling for this year, it by no means guarantees success, or even a playoff berth, especially under the enormous weight of expectations it brings.
Now back to your regularly scheduled celebrations, PurpleOuts, and gloating.
Look for another bit of commentary on the administration’s dangerous fatwa against responsible tailgating later this week as well as updates on non-football items and NFL Dukes.
Lastly, please become a JMUSB fan on FB, follow us on Twitter, and most of all, share the blog with your fellow Dukes. Lots of momentum this week!
Oh yeah, and don’t forget to check out the JMUSB T-Shirt shop, featuring new items which can be used to “not go overboard about last weekend!”
Waking up in a world where the Dukes are best team in the Commonwealth and you know you’ll have a few years to wave this over your in-laws heads (at least until they play again) is really something special. Thankfully, the Dukes have a bye week coming up so the boys will have plenty of time to come down from this, put it behind them, and get ready for Liberty (who also beat an FBS team yesterday in Ball St.). And even better, we’ll have extra time to write sanctimonious stories about the Dukes and shower them with accolades here on JMUSB. Not to mention crafting some new t-shirts related to being the Hokie’s Daddy!
But first of all, we thought everyone might enjoy a rundown of all the JMU love flowing out of commentators from Harrisonburg to Seattle yesterday!
One quick educational point for those of you discovering for the first time that your alma mater has made some real changes. First, this is NOT the biggest win in program history. Second biggest, and might be the one that sells out the new stadium next year (if they can follow it up with a strong season), but this doesn’t happen without the National Championship over Montana in ’04. That was the spark that started the burn. This was just a big, fat, barrel of gasoline being thrown on the fire.
Plenty of links and pics after the jump.
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You can't tackle Drew Dudzik!
I do not believe what I just saw. The one and only JMU Dukes knocked off the Virginia Tech Hokies 21-16! I really do not have words to describe this. I’m not ashamed to admit that I was on the verge of throwing up the entire 4th quarter. On second though, yes I am, but screw it, the Dukes Won!
I spent the better part of the game texting with fellow JMU fans. First it was just me and Jamie, sending what would best be described as “moral victory texts”. Things like, “JMU really made them earn that TD”, but then it evolved into things like “Wow. I didn’t see that coming” and “JMU is hanging in there”. After the Dukes TD drive in the 3rd quarter, more people starting texting me. By the 4th quarter, my phone was beeping every 5 seconds and my increasingly euphoric texts to friends were garbled and misspelled because my hands were shaking with excitement.
Todd and I are going to both celebrate for a while. Like every other JMU alum I know, we’re on cloud nine. We’ll try to gather our thoughts after we calm down a bit and post a real game wrap soon. Boise State can’t like this.
Go Dukes!
Our beloved JMU Dukes will make the 2 hour trip down Interstate 81 to play the Virginia Tech Hokies this weekend. The Dukes will be looking to knock off a FCS opponent for the first time in their last 10 attempts. The Hokies will simply be looking to pick up a win and remove the bad taste from their mouth after Monday’s loss to Boise State.
What the Hell’s a Hokie?
Many JMU fans don’t know anything about some of the schools on JMU’s schedule. That’s not the case with Virginia Tech. Chances are if you went to high school in Northern Virginia like we did, about 1/3 of your graduating class went there. In all likelihood many of us would have gone there ourselves if our high school grades were bad enough, or if we graduated high school in the early 90’s and we were too lazy to fill out a real college application with essays. They have a “big time” football program though, recognized for having the stones to play tough out of conference opponents. They’re also known for losing to said opponents.
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Todd and I are still putting the finishing touches on our official game preview for the JMU vs Virginia Tech clash this weekend. In the meantime, we reached out to the Hokie blog, Gobbler Country, to give us a fan’s take on the 2010 Hokies. Check out the blog for great coverage of this week’s JMU opponent, including a Q&A with JMUSB. Big thanks to Gobbler Country and Go Dukes! Also, Nova/DC Duke Club has hooked up with Bailey’s at Ballston Mall to show every game accessible this season again. That means you can even join fellow Dukes for this ESPN3 telecast, although it’s not clear whether we’ll be segregated from Hokie fans. (Big Al’s in the West End for you RIC folks). Hope to meet some readers.
Most college football fans really respect the fact that Beamer and the Hokies are willing to schedule power programs out of conference, like USC, Alabama, and Boise State. Would you like to see Tech continue with that strategy or take a different approach and schedule some less challenging out of conference opponents to open the season?
I really like the idea of playing teams like Boise State out of conference. I think it’s important to challenge yourself before you get into conference play so you have a better idea of what your team looks like. What I’m definitely not a fan of is playing those teams on the opening week. In the last three years we’ve started 0-1 because we were trying to work new guys into the system and had inexperienced players getting thrown into the fire.
Wither the coaching staff needs become better at having these younger, inexperienced players ready for the first week or we need to just play Little Sisters of the Poor to open the season. Playing these games right away makes the offseason more fun and exciting, but they do you no good if you consistently struggle at the beginning of the season.
It was a tough loss to Boise State, but as outside observers we saw plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the 2010 Hokies (Jarrett Boykin’s play for example). Now that you’ve had a few days to digest the loss, what were some of the positives you take away from the game?
On offense, it’s that Tyrod Taylor is an outstanding quarterback. His final four passes were incomplete on Monday, but he connected on 15 of his first 18 attempts. That tells me that he wasn’t just whistling Dixie when he said he wanted to complete 70 percent of his passes this season. We weren’t able to go deep very often against Boise State, which is one of the reasons they were able to clog up our run game. If Taylor stays this accurate consistently through the season, though, it should mean big things for the running backs.
On defense, there’s a lot of speed and talent. Our problem right now is the mental aspect of the game and fundamentals. We made a lot of bone-headed mistakes on defense against Boise State and missed who knows how many tackles. If we can get that fixed and stay healthy, I think the defense will be fine.
Tell us about how Tech fans view this game with JMU. It’s a game that Tech is obviously expected to win, but won’t earn them much credit with pollsters. On the other hand, if Tech lost it would be crushing in the polls. What is the upside from the fan’s perspective?
The upside is, assuming you take care of business, you’re going to figure out what the ceiling is for this team. If we have some of the same errors we had against Boise State, like the missed tackles and missed blocks, then that’s something that’s probably going to plague us through the year. And if we can pull away early we’ll get a good look at some of the younger players and what they can bring to the table.
The problem is it’s not like we’re playing Campbell or VMI. If JMU plays mistake-free football, it could easily make this a competitive game. JMU’s got a good coach, plays in the toughest conference in FCS and doesn’t shy away from playing up to FBS. You’re a dangerous team, but one that Tech should beat if it doesn’t crap the bed.
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When Justin Thorpe injured his knee with about 30 seconds left in the first half of JMU’s win over Morehead State, it looked bad. Real bad. It was a pleasant surprise when it was reported he’d only miss one game. Unfortunately, Thorpe had a MRI which showed that the Dukes’ back-up QB has significant bone bruising and is now projected to be out 6 weeks.
It’s easy to question Coach Matthews decision to not take a knee on the play Thorpe was injured. The Dukes were up 34-0 with around 30 seconds left in the half. That’s not really the point though. Thorpe had seen plenty of action already, lining up at WR and wildcat QB throughout the game, and he was probably going to play the entire second half at QB. He could have been injured on any play. The real questions focus on what Thorpe’s injury means for the Dukes this year and beyond.
Drew Dudzik is the Dukes’ #1 QB and Justin Thorpe is the #2. True freshman, Jace Edwards is the #3 QB and Matthews and the staff were intending to redshirt him. Now if Dudzik gets hurt, JMU faces the real possibility of having to pull the redshirt off Edwards. JMU also has the option of moving WR Kavon Seaton to QB to back-up Dudzik, as Seaton played QB last year. The Dukes could also rely on WR Quintin Hunter who played QB in high school. Things become a little more dicey with JMU set to play VA Tech on Saturday. For all intensive purposes the two primary goals heading into that game are to 1.) cash the $450,000 check Tech is cutting JMU and 2.) get back to the ‘Burg without any injuries. I’ve got imagine the play was to plant Drew on the bench if/when the game got out of hand. Thorpe’s injury might make that more difficult.
Players risk injury on every play, so apparently Matthews seemed to believe that Thorpe’s talent merited getting him on the field as much as possible, even if it meant risking him as the back-up QB. I actually agree with the logic. Thorpe got killed (unjustly) by some fans for his performance as a QB last year, but the complaints centered on his decision making and throwing accuracy. I didn’t like him at QB either, but I’d love him at nearly any other position, offense or defense. The guy is crazy talented and a true game-breaker with the ball in his hands. He just might not be a classic QB.
Freshman QB Jace Edwards has supposedly been wowing everyone at practice. If he’s a good as everyone says, then I trust him as Drew’s back-up. If Drew does go down, pull the redshirt and see what the young kid can do. In my ideal world JMU would have Dudzik play out the season, Thorpe return mid-season and continue to play wildcat QB and WR, and Edwards continuing to prep for next year. Then next season I’d actually love to see Edwards get the starting nod with Thorpe lining up at WR, RB, wildcat QB, etc. Just find a way to get Thorpe the ball in as many different ways as possible. Without the burden of running the offense full time, I think Thorpe would be unstoppable. He’d also be a hell of a weapon for a young QB to rely on. For now though, I’d be a lot happier if he could just suit up Saturday.
The view from Todd's seats.
JMU opened up the 2010 football season with a 48-7 blowout of Morehead State yesterday. Clear blue skies and temps in the 70’s, makes for a outstanding day in the ‘burg. Throw a big Dukes’ victory on top of it and you’ve got a near perfect Saturday. I made the trip down with my 2 year old future Duke, and met Todd, commenter Uncle Ron and his wife. We also caught up with some other friends on campus. We had no real plan and while the pregame tailgating was fun, it was clear we were still shaking the rust off and not in mid-season form. The same could probably be said for the Dukes.
The game was never close, as JMU took advantage of several Morehead State turnovers and never looked back. Kerby Long had an awesome day, highlighted by a terrific catch and run to put the Dukes in scoring position on the opening drive. Long racked up 2 TDs and 175 yards in his first game since the tragic loss of his father last February. Dudzik made some good decisions, had a spectacular TD pass to Long, but had some iffy throws and a pick. The Dukes offense coughed it up 3 times. Not good. Mickey definitely had them throwing more though, and it’s pretty obvious that this team has a number of weapons with big play ability.
Defensively, the Dukes look dominant. It’s tough to read too much into the performance given the quality of the competition, but I loved the intensity and the fact that guys were just swarming to the ball. I know it was just Morehead State, but I’m optimistic that the D is gonna be really tough this year.
However, the victory might be overshadowed by the injury Justin Thorpe suffered near the end of the first half. Last year’s, CAA Offensive Rookie of the year lost the QB battle to Drew Dudzik in the offseason and appeared to be slated to learn from the sidelines this year. Coach Matthews apparently decided Thorpe was too talented to leave on the sideline and he brought in to play QB and WR sporadically in the first half. Thorpe is unquestionable a threat with the ball in his hands, but it’s a high risk, high reward strategy to say the least. Personally, unless you’re willing to pull the redshirt off one of the freshman QB if necessary, I question the value of the strategy. The Dukes now face VA Tech with Dudzik and no real back-up. That’s not good, considering the 2 primary goals of Saturday’s game seem to be to cash the $450,000 check and leave Blacksburg with no injuries. Now the Dukes are looking at having Drew play the entire game, or bringing in another offensive player such as Kevan Seaton or Quintin Hunter to take mop-up duty.
At long last, it’s time to cut the ribbon, sort of, on 1/2 Bridgeforth. The Dukes take on the Morehead St. Eagles at 6 p.m. Valley time on Saturday night to kickoff the 2010 season.
Morehead St. Basics: Located in Morehead, Kentucky, near the foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest, this public school of around 9000 students, the Eagles are careful to stress that Morehead is the premeire university in “East 
Kentucky”, so as not to be confused with their “more famous” neighbor, “Eastern Kentucky”. MSU plays in the Ohio Valley Conference for most sports, but participates in the Pioneer League for football. Thankfully for the purposes of JMU’s home opener, the Pioneer is the nation’s only non-scholarship, football only conference in the Football Championship Subdivision. Only part of the preceding mouthful that’s relevant here is “non-scholarship.” Dukes better win this one handily if 2010 is to go the way we all hope!
Questions: Health of the O-Line? Will Thorpe play? Any chance the Dukes will be able to tackle Ryan Williams next week?
BOTW and other tailgate items: Beer of the Week is going to be a recurring item in the gameday columns this year. Rob’s suggestions for this “summertime” game are Bell’s Oberon and Abita Satsuma Wit if you can still scrounge behind the ridiculously early pumpkin, punkin, and Festbiers already crowding your local market out of the lighter suds we all enjoy in the heat. Given that Jim Cantore is currently camped in front of my in-laws beach house (never a good sign), I also think you can’t go wrong with a 40 of Hurricane. Topical and old-school JMU style! Drink down to the label and see if you won anything!
JMUSB Attendance: Todd’s a sure thing this week and will be joined by frequent commenter, occassional contributor Uncle Ron (aka Dric). We’re happy to report we appear headed for a prime P-Lot spot (Showker) courtesy of friend of the blog Field Hockey’s Coach Lucas. Rob’s a gametime decision based on the status of the 2-year old, but in either case, we’ll be sporting JMUSB’s very own Old Guys Leave t-shirts so stop by and say hi.
Around the CAA: Villanova plays Temple at the Linc on Friday at 5 – Winnable FBS game was a sign of things to come last year for the ‘Cats. Can they repeat?
Final Score (Thur): Albany 3, Maine 0 – NOT a good sign for the BlackBears and a bad loss for the Conference to the frequently bubblicious Great Danes.
Final Score (Thur): Buffalo 31, RhodeI 0 – NOT a good sign for the Rams but an FBS loss is never that bad.
Final Score (Thur): Delaware 31, West Chester 0 – exactly what the Dukes need to do.
Final Score (Thur): Indiana 48, Towson 17 – respectable points from the Tigers against the Big Ten Hoosiers
Saturday: Cent. Conn. St. vs. UNH (nothing to see here); Richmond at UVa (can the Ticks follow the Tribe by knocking off their former coach?)
Game of the Week: William & Mary at UMass – Tribe should roll but no time for working out any kinks as they are on the road in-conference.
Score Prediction (Todd): Dukes 37, Eagles 10
Other gameday JMU Sports Events: Field Hockey in action against #13 Louisville at noon and Men’s Soccer hosts Rider at 1:30. Go Dukes!
Apparently this Twitter thing is gonna take off, and Facebook too. So, in the interest of keeping up with the rest of the civilized world, Todd and I have jumped on the bandwagon and set up a JMUSB twitter account and Facebook page. I guess you can call us trend setters. So before you read another word, please go “like” our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. Immediately.
OK, now that we’ve got that of the way, we understand that many of you have questions. That’s fair. Here are our answers to some of the most common questions you might have.
Why do I need to follow you on Twitter and Facebook if I read the blog everyday?
First of all, of course you read the blog every day. Who doesn’t? That’s great, but sometimes Todd and I have opinions, thoughts to share, pics, etc on things that don’t merit full posts. We’re going to post lots of those things to Twitter and Facebook and we’re also going to send out links to posts to keep you up to date on all things JMUSB related.
What if I don’t have a Twitter or Facebook account?
This one is easy. Just pull yourself out from that rock you’re living under and go sign up for each.
If I follow JMUSB on Twitter, will you follow me?
If it is important to you, then yes. However, it is kind of pathetic that you need to broker deals like that. It’s about one step short of begging. Sad. I’m just sayin’.
So what’s in it for me?
Aside from having more JMUSB in your life? Well, you’ll be provided with another opportunity to interact with us and your fellow JMUSB readers. Can’t find the football game on tv where you live? Check our Twitter feed to get in game updates. Have some photoshopped pics of Aaron Corp you want to show JMU fans? Post them to our Facebook page. Need tickets for the UMass game? Reach out to the other Facebook fans and snag some.
Why does the JMUSB Facebook page indicate that it is for a product?
Because we’re morons. There I said it. Although, I will say that it would be very helpful if “website” was one of the default choices provided to you when you’re setting up a page. We’re not all in bands Mr. Zuckerburg.
What’s the big deal and why do you guys care how many fans and followers JMUSB has?
Plain and simple, we are very vain. Facebook and Twitter are not like the blog where we know our pageviews, but you don’t (Ed note – we got 987 million site visits yesterday), the numbers are literally right there for everyone to see.
Seriously, what’s in it for me?
It’s going to be fun. It’s new to us also, but we’re really excited to see how things play out. Plus, we’ll probably have special JMUSB contests for our followers and fans and since our buddy Jari isn’t on Facebook or Twitter, someone else can finally win.
