{"id":1644,"date":"2010-11-09T22:47:15","date_gmt":"2010-11-10T03:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=1644"},"modified":"2010-11-09T22:54:39","modified_gmt":"2010-11-10T03:54:39","slug":"in-which-we-attempt-to-stop-whining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=1644","title":{"rendered":"In Which We Attempt to Stop Whining"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alright folks, this is getting depressing. Yeah, the Dukes obviously are not living up to the expectations many of us had for them. Reading crap like my wrap-up of the Richmond game (worst post ever) makes it sound like JMU&#8217;s best option might be to halt the construction of the new stadium and fold the program. There are still 2 games left. JMU isn&#8217;t going to the playoffs. This season. That doesn&#8217;t mean they won&#8217;t turn it around and be back competing for championships next season. Here are 3 quick thoughts on why things might not be as bad as they seem.<\/p>\n<p>1. ) Did anyone watch the Cowboys play Sunday night? \u00a0Now that is a football team that has completely given up and bailed on its coach. It was the complete opposite of the sort of effort I&#8217;ve seen JMU put in every week. Obviously, effort doesn&#8217;t equal wins, but I&#8217;d be far more concerned with the state of the program if the players had obviously given up. Idiots (like yours truly) who alleged that two disappointing seasons in a row means the program is in crisis might be taking things a bit too seriously.<\/p>\n<p>2.) JMU has a championship caliber defense and they&#8217;re excelling with a bunch of back-ups and guys playing out of position. This defense is on pace to give up the fewest points in JMU history. JMU has only given up 12 TDs all season! The only thing they have lacked is an ability to cause turnovers, but it looks like they might have figured that out last weekend against Richmond.<\/p>\n<p>3.) The Dukes are really young overall. At times this season, JMU has looked a little inexperienced in big moments. You know why?Nearly 70% of the players on the roster are Freshmen or Sophomores! JMU had few senior leaders heading into the season and now due to injuries and other issues, many of them haven&#8217;t been playing. Injuries are no excuse, but sometimes a season like this one gives players a chance to get game experience earlier on in their careers than they normally would. That could pay off over the next few seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, I&#8217;m definitely drinking more Kool Aid then most right now. This season has been a complete downer since the Tech win. Let&#8217;s try to have a little perspective though. Things probably aren&#8217;t as bad as they seem. Plus, the Dukes get to knock off William &amp; Mary this weekend, which is nice.<\/p>\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fjmusportsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D1644&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>Alright folks, this is getting depressing. Yeah, the Dukes obviously are not living up to the expectations many of us had for them. Reading crap like my wrap-up of the Richmond game (worst post ever) makes it sound like JMU&#8217;s best option might be to halt the construction of the new stadium and fold the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[456],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4168,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4168","url_meta":{"origin":1644,"position":0},"title":"JMU Football Practice Kicks Off Without a QB Controversy","date":"August 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU had its first football practice of the 2012 season today. Before we get to anything else, let me be the first to say \"Thank God.\" Coming up with things to write about during the football season is pretty easy. And it's fun. Coming up with things to write about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/thorpe-j.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4308,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4308","url_meta":{"origin":1644,"position":1},"title":"JMU vs. Alcorn State Preview","date":"September 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Week one of the 2012 football season is in the books. On Saturday the Alcorn State Braves make the long trip up from Mississippi to face the Dukes in Bridgeforth Stadium. The Dukes will look to move to 2-0 on the season and carry some momentum into the big clash\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/QJAKGCTBDLPIRDD.20120907011509.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4829,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=4829","url_meta":{"origin":1644,"position":2},"title":"Old Rivals &#038; Unfamiliar Faces on 2013 JMU Football Schedule","date":"December 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU officially announced its football schedule for the 2013 season today. There are 6 home games on the slate and a whopping 2\/3 of them might actually be worth attending. We kid, we kid, but there is likely a significant portion of the Dukes' fanbase that isn't overly excited about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/streamers-J.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11647,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=11647","url_meta":{"origin":1644,"position":3},"title":"Dukes Beat VMI to Survive and Advance","date":"April 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU opened up the 2021 FCS Playoffs (Spring Edition) with a 31-24 win over VMI. Let's repeat the last part. JMU picked up a win. And now the Dukes are moving on to the quarterfinals to face North Dakota. VMI proved to be a very tough out. The Keydets were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/100519_SBU_128.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8313,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8313","url_meta":{"origin":1644,"position":4},"title":"Mike Houston Reportedly Set to Become Head Football Coach at JMU (Updated)","date":"January 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Sources tell FootballScoop Mike Houston is expected to accept the head coaching position at JMU https:\/\/t.co\/sNnVtycOD5 \u2014 FootballScoop Staff (@FootballScoop) January 18, 2016 Update: Maybe Football Scoop jumped the gun a bit. Second Update: It's official\u00a0and he plans on running the spread offense apparently.\u00a0 According to FootballScoop.com Mike Houston\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3450,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3450","url_meta":{"origin":1644,"position":5},"title":"Maybe JMU Should Hire That Paterno Guy","date":"January 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"No. Not that Paterno, his son. And not the \"lawyer\" who tries to coordinate impromptu press conferences via Twitter. We're talking about Jay Paterno who announced this week that he was leaving the Penn State program after 17 years on the coaching staff. Jay was the quarterbacks coach for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Jay-Paterno.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1644"}],"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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1644"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1651,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1644\/revisions\/1651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}