John Daka – Absolute monster. Villanova took the lead 24-17 and got the ball back for one play. Daka blew it up, caused a fumble, and ignited the Dukes to 21 straight points to win going away. And that’s before all his other great stuff. If he plays like the FCS’ version of LT, JMU is awfully tough to do anything against.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M.J. Hampton – Still learning, but what can you say except “bravo” to ejected Amos’ replacement after he made the biggest play of the game and nearly had two other picks (the one in the end zone where he and Smith collided and the deep pass he broke up late)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Riley Stapleton – Our whole section called the second TD on a back-shoulder as soon as Villanova showed man coverage. The way he was used on the first two TD’s makes him the unstoppable force we all remember from Frisco vs. NDSU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Resiliency – Seriously, a standing ovation to the team and coaches. While me and most of the crowd was panicking about the secondary and losing our mind with the officials, Coach Cignetti stayed calm and the team rallied back with a 21-0 fourth quarter that shows just what is possible from this group. Also doesn’t hurt to have a Marshawn, er, Latrelle Palmer, to throw at them just when they other team is wearing down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crowd – This was a top-10 New Bridgeforth performance from the crowd with no caveats even needed about Family Weekend. Incredible job by parents, students, everyone sticking around and making an impact on this one in the fourth quarter. If we can get that kind of performance for four quarters every week, that place is impossible for visiting teams. Can’t wait to do it again in two weeks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#FCSonGameday – The effort appears to have worked as the JMU vs. Villanova game was one of the featured games to pick on ESPN’s College Gameday’s last segment. Plus it was very cool to hear Walter Czobcak himself John Goodman say “I like the Dukes!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bad<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pass Defense – Lather. Rinse. Repeat. McCormick out. Amos ejected. Drew injured. But there’s still no excuse for a bunch of speedy and talented players to be consistently burned very badly by a bunch of try-hard types on the outside for Villanova (except for Hodge, he’s good). I mean, sometimes we are beat so badly we aren’t even in position to commit a last-gasp pass interference that would be preferable to the catch and\/or score. We used to get on Mickey’s defenses for playing soft and allowing easy catches in front of them, but at this point, isn’t switching to that softer coverage almost necessary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n All that said, the secondary did make the play of the season to date and come up with three straight picks to ice the game. So we can hope they come away with some growing confidence and something to build on headed to Williamsburg to face the Tribe’s suddenly potent run n’ shoot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lobster! – For the second time ever, lobster won the food race and lobster rolls were 3.50 in the fourth quarter. But having it happen when the Dukes were down and no one could steal away for more concessions was tough look. But cool move pulling that on Family Weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ugly<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n CAA and Officials – We try really hard every year to stay out of the homer-filled blame-the-refs game. But even putting aside the accuracy or inaccuracy of specific calls, we cannot recall ever seeing a more inconsistent, dysfunctional, and unprofessional game by an officiating crew. This was beyond our ability to even joke on Twitter with @AverageCAARef because this was dangerous and potentially season-altering garbage. Most coaches will tell you all you really hope for is consistency. And not only was this inconsistent, it was just an all-out debacle and the CAA should be embarrassed. Inordinately long replays, lack of any explanations, replays of replays, getting things wrong and then stopping again to get them wrong again (How can a 15 yard penalty be mis-spotted and then suddenly “corrected” only to become a 16 yard penalty?). The list was long and undistinguished of things wrong with that performance but Clown Commish Joey D (apparently there isn’t enough time to evaluate refs between all the times a middle-aged man puts on a uniform to play soccer with Northeastern’s women’s team) and someone at the league office better make darned sure this crew NEVER works another CAA game again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Riley](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Stapleton_Riley_111018_RhodeIsland-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C576\")