{"id":12018,"date":"2024-10-25T10:09:30","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T14:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=12018"},"modified":"2024-10-26T09:49:37","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T13:49:37","slug":"southern-miss-at-jmu-official-2024-jmusb-game-8-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=12018","title":{"rendered":"Southern Miss at JMU: Official 2024 JMUSB Game #8 Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Happy Homecoming!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For everyone making their way back to Harrisonburg this weekend, travel safely and have a great time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The football game will take place at Bridgeforth in the midafternoon. For those of you looking to fill up on Homecoming events, remember that the biggest game of the weekend is not at Bridgeforth Stadium at all! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JMU Men\u2019s Soccer is hosting No. 6 West Virginia at Sentara Park at 7 p.m., and there are some major postseason implications on the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re looking for an evening activity, or the football Dukes are up 38 at the start of the fourth quarter, you might consider a quick trip down Port Republic to watch one of the biggest JMU athletics games of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we like to say, JMU is indeed an Everything School, and men\u2019s soccer may very well be in the hunt for a national championship this season. Consider supporting them on Saturday night!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, let\u2019s talk football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Matchup: Southern Miss (1-6, 0-3 Sun Belt) at JMU (5-2, 1-2 Sun Belt)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. EDT, Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg, VA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weather: 65 and Partly Sunny. The football gods are serving up a nearly perfect day of late-October weather for JMU Homecoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broadcast: ESPN+<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day Job Numbers: JMU -24, ML -3000; O\/U 53.5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s fascinating to watch a team get thoroughly dominated on the road, then come back and play as a 24-point favorite one week later. But Southern Miss really is this<\/em> bad, and JMU has shown a tendency for frontrunning this season. I won\u2019t be surprised when JMU covers this number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 2024 Homecoming game should provide a feel-good moment after a difficult week, but the November schedule looms large.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

It doesn\u2019t take long to go from darling to dope. After the Ball State game on Sept. 28, the Dukes had wrung up 133 points in two weeks. Everything seemed possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One month later, JMU is 1-2 in conference play. The first loss, at UL Monroe on Oct. 5, was written off as what my Appalachian parents and grandparents might call a shoulda-woulda-coulda<\/em> game. But a second loss last week at Georgia Southern was more existential in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You didn\u2019t have to look hard to see the question. Perhaps you even asked it yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are we actually any good?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should have some deeper thoughts on this during next week\u2019s bye. But it\u2019s probably a good time to remember that old sports maxim \u2013 you\u2019re never as good as your best game, and never as bad as your worst game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This up-and-down season has delivered major highs, but also some of the lowest lows we\u2019ve seen in many seasons. That\u2019s the nature of a rebuilding team with a new coaching staff and 50+ new players. It’s rocky. It’s construction in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a broader college football sense, it\u2019s all refreshingly\u2026 normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Things to Know About Southern Miss<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Will Hall-Sized Elephant In the Room<\/em> \u2013 College Football Hot Seat<\/a> is one recurring article I write & update during the football season, and unfortunately, Will Hall had been highlighted for a while before Southern Miss dropped the axe on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Golden Eagles are historically a good, consistent program \u2013 they posted 18 consecutive winning seasons through the 1990s and 2000s. Unfortunately, Will Hall took over in 2021 and he finished with a 14-30 record. Half of the wins came in 2022. He\u2019s won two FBS games since the start of last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whenever a college or professional team plays a game in the aftermath of a fired coach, it\u2019s common to expect a bit of a dead cat bounce. Maybe JMU is in the unfortunate position of getting the best punch Southern Miss has to offer. However\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There Is No Sugar-Coating How Bad Southern Miss Is <\/em>\u2013 I mean, it is what it is. I\u2019m not trying to be mean, but this team is really bad. On an EPA\/play basis, the Southern Miss offense is the worst in the conference and one of the five worst offenses in FBS college football. They only run about 58 plays per game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophomore Ethan Crawford has taken the snaps at quarterback over the last two weeks, but there’s been no clear answer under center all yeaer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defense ranks similarly in EPA\/play allowed \u2013 it\u2019s the worst in the conference and among the worst in FBS, giving up around 450 yards and 38 points per game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Execute. Forget about Georgia Southern and conference standings and records and Twitter noise and this blog and whatever else is going on right now. Play the game on the field. JMU is the better team by a wide margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only way JMU loses this game is if it beats itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Southern Tier\u2019s Pumking. Do visit Pale Fire, Restless Moons, Three Notch\u2019d, and many of the other lovely establishments we have downtown on this fine Homecoming weekend! That said, I allow myself to drink a pumpkin beer or two when I\u2019m within 14 days of Halloween, and I\u2019m currently enjoying this annoyingly named brewery from Lakewood, New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s available all over \u2013 DC Whole Foods, Virginia Beach Total Wine shops, RVA Wegmans, and more. They even have it in the Friendly City Food Co-op on Wolfe Street in the \u2018Burg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

JMU 49, Southern Miss 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, there are questions. But if nothing else, this JMU team has consistently shown it excels when playing from ahead against bad teams \u2013 or even good teams who are stuck in one-dimensional situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JMU beats Southern Miss to a pulp, and fans have a long bye week to think about what is possible in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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