{"id":10627,"date":"2018-11-11T12:45:06","date_gmt":"2018-11-11T17:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=10627"},"modified":"2018-11-11T12:45:06","modified_gmt":"2018-11-11T17:45:06","slug":"good-bag-ugly-from-jmus-win-over-rhode-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=10627","title":{"rendered":"Good, Bag, Ugly from JMU’s Win over Rhode Island"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Some things never change. Thanks to Jimmy and all the seniors for a helluva run!<\/p><\/div>\n

The Dukes, for a week at least, righted the ship in downing Rhode Island 48-31 on Senior Day in a game that had to feel great for the offense in that it was really the week they won a game for the good guys. JMU gets to 7-3 (5-2 CAA) and gives themselves a chance to possibly play for a seed at fellow CAA-heavy Towson next week. Given results around the country, the Dukes have likely punched a playoff ticket but a win would make all the difference in the world if it gets them a bye and a guaranteed home game. We still have no idea what the ceiling or the floor is for this squad, but let’s all sit back and enjoy having a HUGE game on the horizon this week.<\/p>\n

The Good<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zaire Bathea and the O-Line – It wasn’t perfect, but yesterday’s O-Line performance was the best we’ve seen in some time. Bathea in particular stood out in the pull game and this is hopefully something to build on. Cardon’s longish run early and his TD late were two of the best-blocked plays we’ve seen all year.<\/p>\n

Jimmy – Gamechanger. Always. Fitting Senior Day highlight.<\/p>\n

Good Nooch – What can we say? There was a whole lot of good Nooch going on yesterday. Getting everyone involved and \u00a0a the kind of fearlessness to tuck and run that we saw back in Raleigh. Still don’t love every decision on the read option but the swag was back and it might’ve been just in time to make something of this season yet! His first TD pass (of four!) was exactly the kind of play – making a great move to avoid a sure-fire sack and improvising for a short toss – that separates him when he’s at his best.<\/p>\n

Spreading the ball around – Not sure who to credit here but DiNucci and Donnie K probably deserve the most credit. After weeks of “run for two yards on first down, run for one yard on second, try and force it to Riley on third” we saw all kinds of name involved in the offense right from the jump. Dean, Brown, Sims, Dylan, Riley, Percy, Eldridge, CJ, and Sharp all got great opportunities in places they could do things yesterday and it made all the difference.<\/p>\n

Trott using depth – Make no mistake, URI can throw the ball with anyone in the nation. These are the Rams point totals from the games Lawson has played in this year: 21 (win over UD), 45 (win over Albany), 49 (loss to FBS UConn), 23 (win over a good Harvard team), 48 (shutting out Brown), 36 (nail-biting loss to likely CAA Champ Maine), 21 (three-point loss to Elon), 31 (JMU). What we’re saying is yes, JMU’s defense got beat some yesterday in the air. We’ve learned that the Dukes D is susceptible to teams that can really sling it, probably as much based on their style (stop the run, leave everyone vulnerable and rely on talent in the back) as their ability. The Dukes needed to find pressure yesterday. When they didn’t, they got roasted. But they found a way to manufacture enough pressure to make quite a few huge negative plays for URI in the form of multiple sacks and of course the huge Jimmy pick. A lot of this was DC Bob Trott keeping everyone fresh by using all of JMU’s considerable depth. Solid second-half shifts from Matt Terrell and Paris Black helped layer in behind the game changers like Rondell Carter and John Daka.<\/p>\n

Charles Tutt getting healthy – Burst was back. He missed that INT, but he was a real factor on the back end yesterday and having him running around with Jimmy and Amos could make a huge difference against the high-flying Tigers next week.<\/p>\n

Also, Tyler Gray got engaged after the game with the whole team cheering. And it was as great as that sounds! Congrats!<\/p>\n

The Bad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bad Nooch – The first pick was the only real appearance of Bad Nooch in this game. Real tough look for our guy. But if one per game is the ratio, the Dukes offense has a lot more room to grow. More on the second pick later, but that was NOT bad Nooch.<\/p>\n

URI punt return – Ugh. Talk about giving away any chance of a comeback with a mental mistake. That was hideous. And thank you from the bottom of our purple hearts!<\/p>\n

The Ugly<\/strong><\/p>\n

CAA Officiating – Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Every week is a sh*tshow with the CAA, but this was comically bad and thankfully not consequential in the outcome.<\/p>\n

Ole! – On DiNucci’s second interception, there was a whiff of a block by a TE that would’ve made a matador proud. Watch it again for a laugh and even the staunchest anti-Noochers out there have to admit that ain’t on the QB. We were just glad to see Houston get into the blocker and not Ben after the play.<\/p>\n