We did not have this circled as a big game when the schedule came out, but JMU at Stony Brook is huge. The Dukes are looking to avenge a disappointing loss to the Seawolves at Bridgeforth last year. They’re also looking to keep their playoff hopes alive. Kickoff is at 1:00 and the game can be streamed for free from Stony Brook’s website here. Consider this your open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game chatter. Go Dukes!
We forgot to post the chart last week, but it didn’t really matter. The big spike in fan confidence occurred after the win over William & Mary anyway. With the offense rolling and the D line pressuring the QB, JMU fans are thinking that their playoff dreams might become a reality. Fordham avoiding an upset last night helped, as would a win today over a tough Stony Brook team. Go Dukes!
The Basics
Match-up: JMU Dukes (6-3, 3-2 CAA) vs. Stony Brook Seawolves (4-5, 3-2 CAA)
The Line (for recreational purposes only): JMU -2
Location: Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on the campus of Stony Brook University on Strong Island
Kick-off: 1:00 on Saturday, November 8
Broadcast Options: Watch via Stony Brook’s stream here or tune into the JMU audio broadcast on Madizone.
How They Got Here
Stony Brook is coming off a bye last week, because of course it is. It’s the third CAA game this season for the Dukes in which their opponent had the prior week off. In their last game, the Seawolves dropped a close one to New Hampshire 28-20 on the road. Good job, good effort, but still a loss. Stony Brook has had an up and down season, beating some CAA bottom dwellers and hanging tough in close to losses to William & Mary and UNH. Despite some inconsistent results, one thing has been consistent throughout the season is Stony Brook’s defense. It’s pretty stellar on paper.
JMU of course comes into this game riding a four game win streak. You know this, or at least you should. Last week Vad Lee and the offense woke up after a slow start to rally for a big win over William & Mary. Sage Harold had another outstanding game for a defense that played one of its better games of the season. The season has been all about adjusting to new schemes and new personnel for the Dukes. The offense has been explosive at times, but has yet to put together a full four quarter performance. The team seems to be gaining confidence each week though.
Irresistible Force vs. Immovable Object
The Seawolves aren’t going to beat anyone in a track meet. They’re going to try to shut teams down and slog out 10-3 wins. They’ve got the top scoring defense in the CAA, only surrendering 11 touchdowns thus far. They’ve held opponents to 2.5 yards/carry and 5.8 yards/reception, both tops in the CAA. They’ve collected 10 interceptions while only giving up 6 passing TDs. They’ve played some suspect teams, but this isn’t a case of them collecting stats against the weak part of their schedule. They’ve got a D that has been consistently stellar all season.
JMU on the other hand, is built to play fast and outscore opponents. The Dukes average 30 points a game. They run the ball to the tune of a CAA best 5.0 yards/carry. With the exception of Towson, JMU’s defense hasn’t shut any teams down. In some games it’s looked like as long as they get the ball last, the Dukes will win. JMU is not going to try to grind out low scoring wins. It’s going to try to light up the scoreboard and leave teams in the dust.
Essentially, we’re looking at a match-up of strength versus strength. Vad Lee and the Dukes’ attack against Stony Brook’s dominant defense. Something’s got to give.
The Seawolves Will Win If
They manage to control the pace and turn JMU over. Stony Brook doesn’t want JMU’s offense running 80+ plays. And the Seawolves don’t want JMU breaking off big plays for huge chunks or yardage. They’ll try to shut down the run and keep the Dukes from gaining yards on first down. The more successful they are in forcing the Dukes into third and long situations, the more one dimensional they’ll make JMU. And with an offense that isn’t ultra-explosive, they’d benefit greatly if they force a few turnovers to create short fields.
The Dukes Will Win If
They keep Stony Brook guessing, spread the ball around, and keep it up tempo. Essentially they need to do the complete opposite of what Stony Brook wants to do (funny how that works, huh?). JMU’s offense has come alive late in games several times this year. Some of that is due to solid adjustments. Some of it is simply due to the offense wearing teams out with its pace and dynamic attack. If Vad Lee is doing Vad Lee things, the running backs are finding holes, and multiple receivers are catching passes, it’s a lot for a defense to worry about. If JMU does those things Saturday, it should be able to break through and score. And if Sage Harold continues to go beast mode and the D plays like it did for must of last week’s game, they’ll keep points off the board.
JMUSB Beer of the Week
Schlafly Tasmanian IPA. There are no shortage of IPAs out there and we all have our favorites. Tasmanian might be my newest favorite. It’s so damn good. It’s a single hop/single malt ale. That’s exactly what it sounds like, a beer brewed with only one type of malt and one variety of hops. The result is a super clean IPA that highlights the citrus flavors and aroma of the Galaxy hop. Instead of going on with a bunch of beer geek speak, let me just say this, it’s delicious. It’s really delicious. And it’s only available for a limited time, so grab some. It’s around $12/six pack, which is a little more expensive than most IPAs, but it’s worth it. If you don’t like it, just give it to me. I’ll drink it.
JMUSB Prediction
JMU 31 – Stony Brook 17. Sage Harold gets to the QB, Jimmy Moreland makes us scream Jimmy Effin Moreland with delight, Vad Lee sets the pace, and the Dukes win.
Jason Kennedy, aka madddukes98, won last week’s prediction contest and earned the right to guess post. Here’s his take on the state of JMU hoops.
Although there is still a good chunk of the football season left, I thought I would write up my guest post about JMU basketball. With the tip-off less than 2 weeks away versus a formidable opponent in UVA and an exhibition loss to a D-II team having already taken place, my confidence at the start of the men’s season is already in a deficit. Oh, and that doesn’t even include the part about how our best player is suspended for the first 5 games. By the way, Nation should be gone. There I said it. He has had too many chances. Brady already has some credibility issues in my opinion going all the way back to his Marist days so to allow this behavior to continue isn’t helping his reputation in my mind. The “zero tolerance” policy that Brady is now applying to Nation could very easily not be enforced if it’s something that can be covered up by the athletic department such as a team rules violation or something else with low visibility. Who knows how many other chances he will get that don’t really “count” under the zero tolerance policy. Or, maybe Brady’s words hold true and he does get dismissed. That would be at least honorable and would improve my opinion of the program. read more…
JMU has a huge game up in Long Island this weekend against Stony Brook. JMU will take it’s high scoring attack up north to face Stony Brook’s dominant defense. A dominant defense that has only given up 13 touchdowns all year. This game could be a real dogfight. Leave a comment letting us know who you think will win and what the final score will be. The person who comes closest to predicting it correctly (winner & score) will get to write a guest post. That’s it. Easy. Go Dukes!
[polldaddy poll=8423061]The Dukes got their best win of the New Era last Saturday, defeating William & Mary 31-24. JMU now sits at 6-3 with 3 games remaining. Two of those games are on the road against Stony Brook and Richmond, and the finale is in Bridgeforth against Elon. If the Dukes get to 8-4, they’ll certainly be in the discussion for a playoff bid. If they get to 9-3, they’ll be sitting pretty.
Last week 47% of respondents thought JMU would make the playoffs. Will the confidence increase after the big win? Vote in the poll and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
One last time till next year.
Huge, huge win yesterday. The Dukes 4th quarter comeback to beat William & Mary 31-24 was easily the biggest win of the young Withers era and this season in particular. No caveats needed. Even with one enormous break thanks to the Tribe acting dumb, there’s no way to call this anything but a good win over a good team – exactly the kind of win that JMU has struggled to come by the last few years. Need 2 out of 3 the rest of the way to get to 8-4 and we’d all feel even better if the Dukes could take them all including winning at Bridgeforth East in two weeks against the Ticks.
You can read the official JMU story for stats and gamers here, but we’re a bit beat up after a long, cold, rainy weekend back on campus so we’re keeping our Good/Bad/Ugly brief tonight. Looking forward to seeing the new rankings tomorrow and seeing how everyone’s feeling about our postseason chances this week when we get our own poll up Tuesday or Wednesday.
The Good
The helmets! Look, we know we should focus on the actual play, but those purple lids were perfect. Just perfect – no other adjectives or qualifiers needed. Purple helmets forever.
Halftime adjustments – in case you haven’t noticed, this has become a big-time theme this season and we’ve got to give the new staff a ton of credit. JMU’s offense was a trainwreck in a six-point first half, but as has been the case all year, they found their rhythm after the half and really started humming down the stretch. It’s also great to see in person the last two weeks how invested the entire team seems in the game and how much you can see their own belief growing week by week.
Sage Harold – really starting to look dominant and clearly providing the emotional spark for the whole D.
Vad Lee is now only one TD pass short of the record the GingaNinja set just last year for most in a season. Something to keep an eye on this week out on Long Island.
Daniel Brown – it really is amazing how when the Dukes get him involved, everything else tends to improve.
Non-football note: Field Hockey winning a tough roadie at Hoftsra to punch their ticket to the CAA Tournament. Long-time readers know they’re our favorite program. Even though we lost our insider status with the coaching change, we’re thrilled for the women for getting the program headed in the right direction!
Fourth Quarter fans. We’re just not in a complaining mood about the very light attendance yesterday and the weather did no one any favors. But those that stuck it out were the real fans and honestly the stadium was louder late with less people than I’ve heard it full any other time this season. Good work people. (And remember, you’ll be needed again for the Elon game since the students will mostly be long-gone already for Thanksgiving Break.
The Bad
Slow starts, bad penalties, Richmond beating Villanova.
The Ugly
CAA refs – ’nuff said.
Calling a pass and then throwing a pass when you’re down 1 with a confident kicker that’s made three already and is very much in Field Goal range. Did you not watch the Ole Miss game last week?!
Also, for the record I’m not putting the decision to kick the extra point on JMU’s penultimate TD on here. I was terrified when they made the decision but I did understand it. There was 8:49 on the clock and Withers was betting on his offense to score again (correctly) while insuring that even if W&M scored another TD in the worst case, the Dukes would still get the ball back down 8. Seemed late to most of us in the moment, but I think they just didn’t think it was late enough to chase points.
The JMU Dukes were surprised with new purple helmets and black uniforms prior to the start of yesterday’s game against William & Mary. The uniforms are in a word, amazing. Based on the video above, the players certainly loved them. Even better, the Dukes went out and defeated William & Mary in a thrilling 31-24 victory after putting them on. New Era indeed.
The Dukes and Tribe are about to kickoff. It’s a critical match-up for both teams. The winner will be carrying some momentum into the CAA stretch run. If you’re lucky enough to be at the game, stay warm and root fer Dukes. If you’re watching at home, consider this your open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game chatter.
Another new mascot?
Zac already did a lot of the fun stuff for us this week and we traded previews with the W&M blog so we’ll stick to the keys today and really just get prepped for Homecoming! But the first thing that needs to be noted is that this game is HUGE. For both teams. With both teams coming in at 5-3 and with both teams still having Richmond on their schedules, the loser will be in a “have to win out situation” while the winner will be in great shape going forward.
The Basics
Match-up: unranked JMU Dukes (5-3, 2-2 CAA) vs # 17 William & Mary Tribe (5-3, 2-2 CAA)
Kick-off: 3:30 PM Saturday, November 1 at Bridgeforth Stadium, The ‘Burg.
Weather Forecast: Time for some football weather! High 52, Low 35, showers in the morning (maybe even with some “wintry mix” thrown in) giving way to cloudy skies but it’s looking like much less chance for rain (less than 30%) from mid-morning on for the tailgate. Get your tents ready, break out the warm clothes and fire up those new propane heaters.
Broadcast: It’s right there in beautiful high definition at Bridgeforth Stadium and that’s where you should be watching the Homecoming game, but this will be also be one of the Dukes’ first games on the CAA’s new package with ASN. This network is picked up regionally in huge portions of the country, including pretty much everywhere in Virginia. Check your listings as it may be in an unlikely place (for example on Cox in Nova it will likely be on News Channel 8). Otherwise Madizone should have it.
How William & Mary Can Win
Avoid turnovers and force JMU to throw deeper. So far, the only real difference between William & Mary’s 5-3 and JMU’s is that they lost to a strong UNH team while JMU lost to a weak Delaware squad. But the Tribe did get absolutely drilled by UNH, 32-3, so even that’s hard to call distinct. We’ve all seen that when JMU produces turnovers for points or even just more opportunities for its offense, they can score in a hurry, so the Griffins really have to avoid the big plays. And everyone who’s been paying attention knows 3rd and long is the one place JMU doesn’t like to be.
How JMU Can Win
Force turnovers and be better on special teams. We’ve reached a point where we have confidence that the offense will move the ball and find it’s way to a respectable amount of points. W&M’s defense has been touched by injuries a bit and maybe fallen victim to their own hype a bit. They’re simply not as good as they were alleged to be in the preseason and we think the Dukes will find pockets of success against them. We also know that JMU’s defense is at best inconsistent and at worst a big-play sieve. But the games JMU has been at their best, the defense has managed to produce big plays at the same level they give them up and they’ll need to do that again here.
Special teams is vital this week, and not just on the Field Goal front (that is what it is). W&M leads the nation in blocked punts and JMU simply cannot afford to give up that type of momentum producing play. Not putting kickoffs out of bounds and generally being sound with the football on what could be an iffy weather day are equally important.
JMUSB Beer of the Week
Because it’s Homecoming, we’re choosing two beers this week one a practical choice and one in the spirit of Old Guys Leave,. First, one thing that’s important to keep in mind is you need to choose a low ABV session beer to keep your wits about you during a good long tailgate and for catching up with old friends. And wouldn’t you know it, Harrisonburg’s own Three Brothers Brewing has a perfect session ale for this purpose in their Drift. A couple few cases oughtta do it as you might need a few extras for a postgame celebration tailgate or to offer to old friends.
But we’re also choosing an Old Guys Leave beer in the spirit of late 90’s JMU folks. To that end, might we suggest Green Man Brewing’s (Asheville, NC) Toad the Wet Hop Ale which honors everyone’s favorite band they pretend they don’t like’s 25th anniversary playing music we all tried, and mostly failed, to hook up to. I’m a bigger fan than most of wet-hopped ales, but this is a particularly good rendition from a brewery that’s earned our trust.
Tailgate Notes
We’re planning to be set up on Godwin Field #189. Just look for the big JMUSB Start Wearing Purple banner and stop by to say hi anytime! If the weather closes the fields to tailgating we’ll be down by the old baseball field. And we’re really looking forward to visiting our ‘shine buddies over near Hanson Field, though that location needs to remain secret.
Official JMUSB Prediction
This one’s gonna be tight, real tight. It seems every year, even the last few mediocre campaigns, the Dukes usually show up big time for one of their bigger home games. It was Richmond a few years back when they had “the hoodie” and Villanova for last year’s homecoming. And of course the game against then-top ranked W&M when JMU did not pass the whole game and DaeQuan just ran wildcat all day. We think this is that game this year! We were all set to go 35-34 Dukes, but we’re revising the total downward based on the weather and what we think will be some serious intensity from both defenses given the enormous import of this game to both teams. Dukes 28, Featherless Tribe/Pantless Griffins 27.
Just can never run this too many times!
