{"id":11780,"date":"2021-12-10T10:13:27","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T15:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11780"},"modified":"2021-12-10T10:13:27","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T15:13:27","slug":"2021-fcs-quarterfinal-preview-montana-at-jmu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11780","title":{"rendered":"2021 FCS Quarterfinal Preview: Montana at JMU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Res Ipsa Loquitur – the thing speaks for itself.<\/em> Favorite maxim of law students and Sorkin nerds everywhere. But rarely does it hit this hard<\/a>. Montana vs. JMU. What else do you need? Nothing, you need nothing else. For two schools separated by 2300 miles that are playing for only the third time, it really is stunning how much just that phrase – Montana vs. JMU – means to fans of both programs. But given that each of those matchups have occurred in December, you know what that means in terms of the stakes for FCS teams. A title won, a heartbreaking semifinal loss for the most mythical Dukes team ever, and now tonight! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Matchup: #6 Montana Grizzlies (10-2, 6-2 Big Sky) at #3 JMU Dukes (11-1, 0-0 Sun Belt)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kickoff: 7:00 p.m. EST. FRIDAY December 10, 2021, Bridgeforth Stadium, Rocktown<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weather: Cloudy, High 46<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broadcast: ESPN2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FEPO: Opened at JMU-6.5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How We Got Here<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dukes received the #3 national seed in the FCS playoffs and beat the snot out of Southeastern Louisiana last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sixth-seeded Griz avenged a regular season loss to Big Sky rival Eastern Washington at home last week in front of a raucous crowd. After falling behind early, Montana used some huge plays on special teams and an avalanche of Eagles errors to turn a thriller into a semi-blowout and won going away 57-41.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Montana Can Win<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avoid mistakes and get to the QB. Offensively, Montana needs to play soundly. 17 or so points and no turnovers from their offense would be fine. They cannot afford to give the Dukes defense big plays and opportunities the way SLU did last week. And really, they probably don’t want this to turn into a typical Big Fluffy shootout like their game against EWU did either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Montana’s strengths are on defense and specials and that’s where they’ll be looking to win this thing. What they need to do most is pressure Cole Johnson. Given the matchup, it seems unlikely JMU’s running game will go nuts, but if Cole has time, Montana showed last week they can be beaten on the back end, and that was before they saw Wells, Thornton, Ravenel, and Brown. The Griz simply have to get to Cole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And of course they have great teams. A track-speed kick returner, a strong punter, and a solid kicker. They’ll need to be special in this phase too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How JMU Can Win<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make less mistakes and more big plays. It sounds too simple, but this one is just so closely matched that it really does come down to those two things. Cole won’t have clean pockets all day like last week, but if the Dukes can hit 2 or 3 big ones on offense again this week, that’s where the Griz are vulnerable and could be enough. Defensively, the Dukes need to play clean and get off the field on third down when they can. Every extra chance they can give the offense, the better the chances the big plays will hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just like Montana, Ratke, Wise, Sroba, Thornton\/VanHorse, and especially ALL of the coverage teams need to play their best games of the season. Most importanly, mistakes must be extremely limited when the margins are this close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JMUSB Beer of the Week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brothers Resolute – Friday night lights means it’s that time. Dark, cold, perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Official JMUSB Prediction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last home playoff game ever (in all likelihood we know). Montana. Rodney Landers narrating the hype video. Montana is really good. Good enough to win. Definitely good enough to make this a heart-wrenching, nervous-as-hell, insane Friday night game. But the Dukes ain’t done yet and they’ll find a way. Dukes 27, Montana 24.<\/p>\n