{"id":11372,"date":"2019-12-22T19:04:47","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T00:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11372"},"modified":"2021-02-18T10:11:53","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T15:11:53","slug":"if-youre-gonna-play-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11372","title":{"rendered":"If You&#8217;re Gonna Play in Texas&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>&#8230;ya gotta have a fiddle in the band! And a couple of monster Defensive Linemen never hurt either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;re really here to put some thoughts together about JMU&#8217;s dominant performance in the semi-final victory over Weber St., but first we&#8217;d just to share with all of you our sense of gratitude and wonder that the Dukes are headed back to the National Championship game for the 3rd time in 4 years! These right here ARE the good ole&#8217; days and don&#8217;t get so caught up looking ahead and arguing with Bison fans online to stop and appreciate what an incredible run the Dukes are on right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In no particular order, here are our notables from the 30-14 win on Saturday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Beer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh JMU did you miss out on some cash when the beer ran dry mid-2nd the other night. But probably for the best and they&#8217;ll be plenty of time for celebrating in Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mateo Jackson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ve been begging for someone to step up and just be willing to be a little crazy on Special Teams since Sam Kidd went down. And it was thrilling to see the young player from Hermitage in Richmond really making an impact last night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Icing the Kicker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you Weber! Bet they wish they had that decision back as Ratke left the kick short but the Dukes just turned and threw it up to Riley for the play that essentially ended the competitive portion of the evening. Oh yeah, how much swag does Cignetti have?! Late in the game he called for victory formation. Weber called an unnecessary timeout. So Cignetti got pissed and threw another one up for Riley to end it. It was glorious!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Speaking of Stapletons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weber St. fans will have nightmares of Riley after two legendary performances against them for years to come. And oh by the way, it must&#8217;ve been such a kick in the nads to have Dylan Stapleton joining his brother in marauding through the defense and generally wrecking things all night!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>467-256<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those are the yardage totals for the Dukes and Weber respectively. JMU went up 17-0, go the big play at the end of the first half and then grinded through the second half in a way that was more dominant than the final score indicated and continues Coach Cignetti&#8217;s just do what needs to be done. JMU&#8217;s offensive and defensive lines are just wearing people out and its beautiful to watch. Hopefully with a few weeks to get fully healthy again for guys like Holloway, Nooch, Percy, and Polk this team will be fresh and ready to roll. All things considered, and of course noting that everyone is a little banged up after 15 games, assuming Holloway&#8217;s ankle sprain heals up for Frisco, we can&#8217;t ever recall a JMU team this healthy this late. Man are they primed for the rematch they&#8217;ve worked two years through two staffs to get to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Hammer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s frighteningly unfair for opponents to have Latrele Palmer enter the game late for the Dukes after Fornadel, Patrick, Wilson, Percy and co. have been getting after people for a few quarters. Needless to say, all the backs are running outstanding right now, but whoo boy is it fun to see Latrele in the 4th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Up Next<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Y&#8217;all know. This is the one we all wanted. Have fun the next few weeks, don&#8217;t take things too personally, only troll if you can handle the smoke yourself, and most of all, remember we&#8217;re lucky to be Dukes! See ya at The Star!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-attachment-id=\"11283\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?attachment_id=11283\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/5dd0920575b34.jpg?fit=680%2C382&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"680,382\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"5dd0920575b34\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/5dd0920575b34.jpg?fit=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/5dd0920575b34.jpg?fit=680%2C382&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"680\" height=\"382\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/5dd0920575b34.jpg?resize=680%2C382\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11283\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/5dd0920575b34.jpg?w=680&amp;ssl=1 680w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/5dd0920575b34.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure>\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fjmusportsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D11372&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=80\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:80px;\" allowTransparency=\"true\"><\/iframe>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230;ya gotta have a fiddle in the band! And a couple of monster Defensive Linemen never hurt either. We&#8217;re really here to put some thoughts together about JMU&#8217;s dominant performance in the semi-final victory over Weber St., but first we&#8217;d just to share with all of you our sense of gratitude and wonder that the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11056,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11056","url_meta":{"origin":11372,"position":0},"title":"2019 JMUSB Game Preview #2: St. Francis at JMU","date":"September 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Basics Matchup: St. Francis (PA) Red Flashes (1-0) at #2 JMU Dukes (0-1) Kickoff: 6:00 PM Saturday, September 6th Location: Zane Showker Field at Bridgeforth Stadium, Rocktown Weather: Sunny, high of 79 and dropping to a crisp 54 overnight. Perfect. Beer! So a couple of major stadium changes in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Beers","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/iStock-854848732_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6007,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6007","url_meta":{"origin":11372,"position":1},"title":"The JMU Dukes Head to Delaware","date":"September 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The early season out of conference schedule is complete and things are about to get real. The Dukes open up CAA play this weekend with a Saturday night game against their old pal Delaware. Needless to say, a road win would be a terrific way to start of league play.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"JMU-UD FTB","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/100210-jmu-ud-ftb1-tw.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2971,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=2971","url_meta":{"origin":11372,"position":2},"title":"JMU Faces Off Against Liberty","date":"September 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Well folks it's time for the Dukes to clash with the Liberty Flames. Admittedly, I didn't know too much about the Liberty football program or the school itself before last year's game. I did a little poking around online though and\u00a0Liberty seems like a neat place full of incredibly nice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11654,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11654","url_meta":{"origin":11372,"position":3},"title":"Official JMUSB Quarterfinal Playoff Preview: North Dakota at JMU","date":"April 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"WPW - the Championship Combo The Basics Matchup: #7 North Dakota Fighting Hawks (5-1, 4-1Missouri Valley) at #3 JMU Dukes (6-0, 3-0 CAA) Kickoff: 6:00 p.m. EDT. Sunday, May 2, 2021, Bridgeforth Stadium, Rocktown, VA Weather: Mostly Cloudy, high 82 heading down to 57 but humidity increasing throughout the game\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1411,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=1411","url_meta":{"origin":11372,"position":4},"title":"The Dukes Host Liberty","date":"September 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The win over the Hokies is history, the bye week has passed, and now it's time for JMU to move on. The Dukes will host the Flames from Liberty University for a Saturday night game in the half-new Bridgeforth Stadium. The Dukes are hoping to notch another win over an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9844,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9844","url_meta":{"origin":11372,"position":5},"title":"Gameday: Dukes vs. Tribe","date":"October 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Today seems like a beautiful day to win a 19th straight football game. The JMU Dukes have an opportunity to do just that in Williamsburg this afternoon. For the 40th time JMU will play William & Mary. The Tribe is hoping to shock the world. The Dukes are hoping to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11372"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11376,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11372\/revisions\/11376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}