JMU Sports Blog

Yeehaw! The Dukes went right into the heart of the Texas State Fair and took all of SMU’s newfound momentum under whiz-kid coach Chad Morris and dropped an absolute bomb on the whole dang place in a thrilling 48-45 victory. As much as these FBS games don’t really matter on paper to the Dukes’ playoff chances and ultimate goals, it’s hard not to think this is the signature win of the still-young Everett Withers era. There is so much to be excited about this game that there’s no way to get it all in one post and keep track of anything, but make sure you check out the highlights over at JMU Sports. (seriously, go to that link right now and enjoy every second, especially the end of that video!)

The Good

Where to even begin. Well let’s start with the end of that video package linked above where the players are singing the fight song postgame with exactly the same reckless abandon that we’re certain groups of Dukes fans gathered all over the country were. Pretty sure it’s getting misty here at JMUSB HQ.

The Defense! Vad and the Death Star Offense will get all the headlines, and for the most part deservedly so, but the defense really came to play last night. And don’t be fooled by the 45 points SMU put up. They put up 37 on TCU last week and their QB Matt Davis and WR Courtland Sutton are as good a players as the Dukes will see all year. We knew there were gonna be a ton of points in this one, but the defense made some key stops, especially when the momentum had swung to SMU after halftime, and the Defense made huge plays early to get JMU off to its customary fast start. The consistent pressure applied on the quarterback, and the five sacks that resulted, was particularly noticeable after that had been a real concern through the first three weeks. We had hoped that maybe the coaches had been holding something back against overmatched opponents, but the fury unleashed last night was thoroughly unexpected.

DE/LB Andrew Ankrah and DB Jordan Brown! We have to admit, these two redshirt sophomores were not the names we knew when the season started, but they are making plays all over the place. With guys like this developing so quickly, the ceiling for this defense is suddenly looking a whole lot higher this year.

The kicking game. One of the best compliments you can pay a kicking game is that you don’t notice them. And that’s exactly what’s going on with the Dukes. Ryan Maglio quietly knocked through two field goals and it seems the Dukes coaches understand what they have and don’t try to do much in this regard.

Ok, now onto the Death Star. And we’ll just let the numbers speak for themselves. Madison had a school-record 729 yards on 85 plays. Against an FBS team. And remember in our previews when we talked about how we thought Vad had likely been holding something back at the coaches’ behest in terms of his carries? Well, he carried the ball 20 times last night for a stunning school record 276 yards rushing. And when he wasn’t running it, he casually went 20-33 for 279 yards and 3 TD’s passing. When SMU scored to take the lead, the entire group I was watching with looked at each other, then at the clock which read 2:04, and then said, “they left too much time, we got this, Vad has this!” Seriously, that was the moment when I knew we’re on to something special this season. Because it was pure Rodney Landers ’08.

The Station is now fully operational, no doubt about it.

In four games this year, the Dukes yardage totals are 713, 618, 625, and 729. They are averaging over 50 points a game. Now read those two sentences again.

Our final “good” goes to JMU fans everywhere. First, in the stadium they were clearly audible on the broadcast and MUCH louder than the home crowd despite being outnumbered. Also seemed to be a great turnout from the Texas Dukes throughout the weekend’s events. And second, it was so great to see the nascent alumni watch parties that had really ebbed in the last couple of Mickey years seemingly headed back to full steam again last night. On that note, huge thank you to Old Town Draught House for hosting the first-ever NC Triad Dukes watch party. No that’s not a real thing yet, but it felt awful real to our small group and hopefully the Alumni Association will let us know what we have to do to be official. On the official front, great to see friends of JMUSB Sarah and Kara pulling off a solid event down the road in Raleigh too!

The Bad

That blown lead and the inability to ice the game. We’re putting this in the bad because it’s obvious, but those extra 22 scholarships for SMU also contribute greatly to this so we’ll wait to panic on this till we see it happen again. It’s also important to remember that you live by the offense, you die by the offense. We play fast and we run lots of plays, many of them passing plays. You can’t just flip a switch and turn into a smash mouth group for the last eight minutes. And as fans who screamed about Mickey trying to sit on three-point second quarter leads, we can’t turn around and complain about 50 points a game when it makes things difficult down the stretch. As TCU’s Gary Patterson said after their shootout with Texas Tech, when you play this way, these things are gonna happen (i.e. both teams are going to score early, often, and late). The same goes for the griping about the interceptions. Vad was responsible for 565 yards and four TD’s – you don’t get to complain about the bad parts. It also stands to reason that when you run 85-100 plays every game, some of them aren’t going to go well. The point is most of our FCS competition simply can’t keep up like SMU over an entire game.

The Ugly

Alger’s hat. Really puts a cap on what was quite the week on the Athletics front for JMU’s President.

Yeehaw!

Here at JMUSB HQ, one of the best things about the FBS games every year is the chance to interact with “peers” that actually exist, meaning fanbases developed enough to have independent writers and bloggers providing their own version of what we try to do for our fellow Dukes instead of the afterthought programs we find littered around the CAA. And this year we were fortunate to connect with Joey Hayden of The Stable Sports to trade Q&A’s on the other side’s perspective.  His answers make for great insight into SMU and even include some tips for this week’s game and another potential Dukes game in the Metroplex this season. You can still check out our answers to the SMU questions about JMU here. And we are thrilled to present the SMU version of our questions here. Happy reading and Go Dukes!

1. How excited are Mustang fans with the start of the Chad Morris era? Combined with the Larry Brown investment, is SMU headed back to the Big12?

It’s incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more positive 1-2 start in my lifetime of watching SMU football. I have been genuinely (and pleasantly) surprised not only by the Mustangs play on the field so far this season, but the support from the fans. There was a reported sellout for the Baylor game, and another decent showing from students and fans against North Texas. It all stems from the work Coach Morris and his staff have put in since Day 1 of steeping foot in Dallas.

Unlike what my counterpart at The Stable, Jesse Carr, said in an interview with the TCU blog “Frogs O’ War” (shameless plug), no, I don’t see a move to the Big 12 coming any time soon. The Big 12 isn’t interested, the SMU fan base even inside the confines of Dallas is outnumbered by the fan bases of Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, etc. They already own the market. SMU just doesn’t have the ability to push the monetary needle the Big 12 would be looking for right now.

2. Who are SMU’s studs on each side of the ball?

No. 4 QB Matt Davis – in 3 games, almost 1,000 total yards and nine total touchdowns (five passing, four rushing)

No. 16 WR Courtland Sutton – 262 yards and has caught four of Matt Davis’ five touchdowns

No. 29 CB Darrion Richardson – leads the team in total tackles and pass breakups

No. 99 DE Justin Lawler – 2^nd in total tackles, 2.5 sacks

3. Early returns look really promising on this year in the AAC – do you think SMU can compete right now and do fans care about being in the AAC?

It’s tough to say how much the fans care about the conference, it’s still relatively new. That being said, it’s still a huge step up from the WAC/C-USA days. I think it matters a lot more during basketball season when we’re playing UConn, Memphis, and Temple than it does on the football field. The conference is off to a nice start, however. Navy, Houston, Temple, and Memphis are all still undefeated. Do I expect SMU to win a conference title this year? No. Do I expect them to be a tough, competitive matchup for every team they face? Definitely.

4. On that note, do you think the AAC is done with realignment or who you see being involved in future movement in or out?

No, if this were baseball, I see the lower conferences as AA teams, the AAC is somewhere in the middle and could be considered the AAA step to the big league clubs of the Power 5 conferences. Navy is always interesting, UConn and Cincy are huge basketball schools that could potentially move if the opportunity presented itself. I don’t see a lot of stability in this conference, but who knows?

5. We’ve heard it’s Homecoming week, does that mean a big crowd is expected?

Yes*.

*Big by whose standards? Alabama’s? Or SMU’s? After the absolutely pathetic showing from fans last year (granted for an absolutely pathetic team), anytime this stadium gets halfway to three-quarters full, I’d consider it a decent crowd.

6. Has anyone ever heard of James Madison down there? On that note, how confident are SMU fans about this game?

My guess is no. My guess is people read the name James Madison and think, “Oh, some sub-level school they scheduled for Homecoming? We’ll roll over them.”

7. Any pro tips you can give our fans for tailgate details (lots, rules, etc.) or local watering holes?

Tailgate – get there early, The Boulevard is a very serious ordeal and must be treated as such. Hopefully, you already know people who have a spot/tents on The Boulevard, otherwise, go make some new SMU friends. – Parking is just the lots/garages on campus, no real tricks there.

Watering holes – Hillcrest and SMU Blvd are two roads literally connected to campus filled with bars and restaurants. You shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a place.

8. One thing that’s annoying as hell for our fanbase is JMU students, especially early in their college careers, that hang onto their daddies’ loyalty to UVa or Virginia Tech. We know about SMU’s infamous history and we assume fans of that era are loyal Mustangs, but has this been a problem with heavyweights like the Longhorns and Aggies casting such a long shadow the last twenty years or so?

Yeah, you could say we’re in similar boats, your situation being even tougher fighting the “FCS” stigma, at least our students can just hop onto another top level program. But even loyal SMU fans have struggled through the last quarter century of losing. Pro Football Hall of Famer and the face of the Pony Express Eric Dickerson said they should “just kill the program” in an interview last year if the administration couldn’t put the proper effort into the football team.

9. SMU wins if…

We don’t look at the name on the front of the jersey, we don’t underestimate the opponent, and just play the way Chad Morris preaches every day in practice. In 2013, we played FCS-opponent Montana State in our second game, and it took a four yard touchdown pass from Garrett Gilbert to Darius Joseph with 12 seconds left to sneak out of our HOME stadium with a 31-30 victory. Montana State was the No. 3 team in the FCS at the time, so it could be a very similar situation to this weekend.

10. Where the hell is Frisco since we plan on being down there come the first week of January?

About a 30-45 minute drive north of where you’ll be playing Saturday – depending on traffic.

Toyota Stadium, home of FC Dallas, it’s a really nice, still relatively new facility (with a much better parking situation than SMU).

And just like that, conference play is here with the Albany Great Danes coming to town for an early-season test before the big road trip to Texas next week.

The Basics

Match-up: #10 JMU Dukes (2-0) vs. Albany Great Danes (1-1), unranked

Kickoff: 3:00 in Bridgeforth Stadium

Weather: Perfect. 84 degrees, sunny. It really doesn’t get better than this for serious rootin’

Broadcast: Comcast SportsNet (Yes, that CSN so almost all of JMU Nation should be able to catch this one)

On Albany

As  you may recall, the Dukes Ryan Maglio kicked a game-winning Field Goal at the gun that allowed the Dukes to slip out of upstate NY with the win last year 31-28. As you may also recall, like last week’s opponent Lehigh, this game appeared on the schedule before JMU had really begun clicking on what would ultimately turn into a huge run of success to end the season. In fact, this game was the start of that run and a season and program turning point coming off back-to-back losses and a questioning fanbase early in the campaign.

It’s hard to glean much intel from Albany’s first two games which have gone as expected. A blowout loss to solid MAC school Buffalo to open is nothing to say the Danes aren’t good and a blowout win over hapless Rhode Island last week is nothing to say they are. Albany features a Penn St. transfer, D.J. Crook, at QB, though he only threw a handful of passes for the Nittany Lions before starting this season. And while they return four players along the O-Line, they lost mostly all of their significant skill-position contributors including the RB that caused the Dukes a good bit of trouble last year. That said, Freshman Eliot Croskey is the current CAA Rookie of the Week after posting 141 yards and two TD’s on a whopping 33 carries last week.

A really big disappointment for the Danes in the early season has been the loss to injury of their leading tackler and all-around stud LB Mike Nicastro. This helps the Dukes for sure, but we hate to see players lost to injury for anyone.

Biggest Factor This Week

Tempo and Turnovers – plain and simple. With that run-heavy offense and a shaky, raw player at QB, the Great Danes will try and control the clock and limit the Dukes’ murderous offense’s opportunities. As we all know, the Dukes simply don’t give a crap about Time of Possession and we also know that when you AVERAGE 55.5 points it truly doesn’t matter because that tempo forces the other team to keep up and ultimately leads to mistakes. But the Dukes have GOT to limit their own turnovers so as not to assist Albany in their efforts to slow the game down. If the Dukes have zero or one turnover this week, they should be able to handle the Danes. Anything more and this could get a lot dicier than we’d all like.

It will also be interesting in a potentially frightening way to see how the Dukes’ defense handles the loss of Simeyon Robinson to suspension earlier this week, especially given how much Albany would like to run the ball and control the clock.

Tailgate Invite

So it’s only half of us, and that’s the unfortunate part for rational fans, but through the generosity of a fellow Duke, we’ve moved into the heart of P-Lot craziness for this week. Just look for the JMUSB banner near the tunnel end of the lot. We’ll be working from around 10 a.m. on a low country boil along with the below mentioned beers of the week.

JMUSB Beer of the Week

Freak of Nature Double IPA from Wicked Weed Brewing in Asheville, NC. This is the closest thing we’ve found to the untouchable Heady Topper. It can’t match that Vermont legend, but it’s darn good and similar to it’s northern neighbor, possesses a signature bunch of flavors all its own. Wicked Weed is an incredible brewery supported by the money from the Guthy-Renker late night infomercial people. They have a whole separate facility for sours, an unbelievable pub facility in downtown Asheville, and a lineup of beers a mile long. This is one of their absolute best and has been widely released for the first time this year. If you’re looking for a regular IPA from them, they’re also doing four-packs of the lighter Pernicious this year.

Official JMUSB Prediction

The Great Danes traded punches with the Dukes all game last year and nearly sent the season into a tailspin. JMU will not take Albany lightly after last year’s close call and with this being the first game in CAA play. Hopefully the Dukes will play with chips on their shoulders, determined to prove that they’re better than they showed last year in New York’s rotten capital. We’re ready to sound the “all aboard” for the Dukes Death Star. Albany hangs around for a half, but the Dukes just keep firing and the defense keeps improving. 52-20 Dukes. Keep rootin’!