{"id":11159,"date":"2019-10-03T07:11:47","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T11:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11159"},"modified":"2019-10-03T21:20:26","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T01:20:26","slug":"guest-post-a-new-rival-for-jmu-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11159","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: A New Rival for JMU Football?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Steve Brown is one of the most loyal Dukes’ fans out there. He also won last week’s prediction contest. Here’s his piece on finding a rival for JMU football<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are so many great rivalries in sports: Yankees v. Red Sox; North Carolina v. Duke; Auburn v. Alabama; Army v. Navy; Nadal v. Federer; and Navratilova v. Evert.  Since 2016, JMU does not have a conference rival. Over the last 5 years, JMU has won 81% of its games with a record of 59–14 through last Saturday. Since 2014, JMU has only 1 loss to Richmond and William & Mary combined, both in back to back weeks in 2015. Neither Richmond nor William & Mary are JMU\u2019s rival. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before 2014, Richmond was JMU\u2019s rival; William & Mary not so much. Over a 20-year timeframe, from 1994 \u2013 2013 in the regular season, UR won 11 games and JMU won 9. During that same timeframe, JMU was 14-6 over William & Mary. Also, there is no other team in JMU\u2019s CAA division that rises to the level of being a rival at this time.\u00a0 So, who could be JMU\u2019s new rival in the CAA? Is it Delaware? Not really. JMU is 4-0 since 2015 against Delaware. We should play Delaware every year by the way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stony Brook could be a good rival for JMU over the next few years if they remain in the rotation.  The last visit to Stony Brook by JMU was in 2014 and it was a close, hard fought 27-24 win by the Dukes on a cold early November day.  Three of the five games we have played against Stony Brook have been decided by 3 points, but two of those three games were in 2013 and 2014. Stony Brook is on a good trajectory right now and the game on Saturday is the one I see as a good test for JMU in many ways. This should be like a first or second round playoff game for the first half of the first quarter and then JMU will settle in.  Stony Brook cannot stop JMU\u2019s offense and JMU\u2019s defense can shut down anyone, all night long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Saturday, I am expecting to see a loaded JMU team dominate in all 3 phases, just like it has done all year long.  This JMU team does not care where the game is played; they feed off of physically beating down the other team until they tap. The waves and waves of JMU players and schemes is too over whelming and it will be that way on the north shore of Long Island on Saturday night. My prediction: JMU wins 45\u20149.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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