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The Dukes bounced back from their first conference loss in three years with an old-fashioned 37-0 whooping outside Philly over the previously good Villanova Wildcats.<\/p>\nThe Dukes bounced back from their first conference loss in three years with an old-fashioned 37-0 whooping outside Philly over the previously good Villanova Wildcats.<\/p>\n
The Good<\/strong><\/p>\n Getting Healthy – So we’re guessing you may have noticed how much better the Dukes defense looked in all phases this week. And yes, some of that is because Villanova is average at their best and a flaming hot pile of garbage with a QB2\/3 combination. But a lot of that was also due to the return to the field of a few key players. First, DT Adeeb Atariwa makes such a huge difference by helping clog the middle in the run game, something that was glaringly missing against Elon. Second, welcome to the season Landon Word! No offense to others that have been working in that backup linebacker role behind Moore and Holloway, but having Word back really beefs up that position. It also allows them to play a little heavier set to stop the run instead of having to bring Wayne Davis down into the box every play. If this defense continues bringing talent back to the field and manages to stay healthy for those already out there, they’re only going to continue improving.<\/p>\n Punt Return – We had to call this “Punt Return” instead of just DeAngelo Amos because he wasn’t even touched on the second of his back-to-back game-sealing punt return TD’s in the 3rd quarter. In other words, the entire return team needs full credit for winning this game. It was actually kind of funny how gassed Amos was on the second and had us laughingly thinking about whether they might need to take a timeout for the return team to “get a breather.” You don’t hear that everyday.<\/p>\n Jimmy ‘effin Moreland – Two of the biggest plays of the game came from JMU’s incredible playmaker. And neither of them were interceptions. Jimmy quietly forced a fumble and blocked a punt, and were it not for Amos’ returns, would easily be the talk of the week again. We’re out of words for our favorite player, but let’s hope it continues all the way to Frisco!<\/p>\n CAA Chaos – No idea whether anything beyond Elon losing to Delaware is good (they still need to lose again for JMU to have a shot at the title and auto-bid) or bad for JMU, but what a crazy week added on to an already crazy year. The Dukes certainly have their work cut out for them if they want to start building another streak over the last four games this year. And not playing Maine this year could even mean they don’t ever get a sniff of the autobid conversation – but as this week shows, even with only four weeks left, it’s probably way too early to talk about those things yet.<\/p>\n The Bad<\/strong><\/p>\n Red Zone offense – Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Since the coaching staff knew that without their starting QB, Villanova could literally do nothing in this game it’s a little easier to understand all the settling-for-Field Goals, but this is officially a problem.<\/p>\n Standard Definition – Maybe those of you who streamed this online got something better, but for those of us who watched this on DTV at parties, it’s just so jarring when you get the small box these days.<\/p>\n The Ugly<\/strong><\/p>\n Villanova – Well….that was….”special”? Without Zach Bednarcyzk, Villanova could do absolutely nothing on offense. Despite an FBS win over rival Temple, Nova is now 3-4 overall and 0-4 in the CAA. Their schedule actually makes it possible they could rally to 7-4, 4-4, but this is not a vintage Cats team. And scarily, just like after wins over W&M and RU, the Dukes probably need to keep their swagger in check during the bye week after this “meh” win given the opponent.<\/p>\n