{"id":6058,"date":"2013-10-06T21:47:03","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T01:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6058"},"modified":"2013-10-06T21:47:03","modified_gmt":"2013-10-07T01:47:03","slug":"dukes-win-big-keep-season-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=6058","title":{"rendered":"Dukes Win Big, Keep Season Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, the single most important piece of news is the Dukes bounced back from the Delaware debacle and picked up a “W,” thus keeping all of our hopes that they’ll go and have themselves a season alive for at least another week and setting up a make or break game at home against the hated Poormond Ticks next week. \u00a0Beyond that, let’s just say it could’ve, and should’ve been easier and this one didn’t do much to clear up the lingering concerns.<\/p>\n

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

The Dukes won by 27, and threw up the points and yardage expected against a terrible Albany team (could be wrong, but certainly looked like Albany was even worse than STFU or CCSU – they simply didn’t have a single player that was athletically capable of scaring the Dukes).<\/p>\n

\"Kid<\/a>

Kid is unstoppable right now!<\/p><\/div>\n

Both Mike’s, Birdsong and O’Cain, have unlocked the secret that is Daniel Brown. \u00a0Right now there’s simply no covering him at the FCS level and it’s nice to be running an offense that seems capable of exploiting the matchup nightmare he creates.<\/p>\n

Freshman RB Khalid Abdullah is turning out to be a hell of a compliment to Dae’Quan Scott in the backfield. \u00a0Speaking of DQS, he broke former PK David Rabil’s all-time JMU career scoring record and with good health could extend it out to untouchable heights throughout the rest of the season. \u00a0By the way, tough to break a PK’s scoring record.<\/p>\n

RFreshman LB Gage Steele is all over the field and combined with Stephon Robertson, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better LB duo anywhere in FCS.<\/p>\n

Jeff Bourne’s halftime interview on MadiZone. \u00a0The entire thing was about the Carr Report and to us it sure sounded like all systems go a little kabuki with the naysaying constituencies and of course, awaiting a desired invitation to an FBS conference. \u00a0Another highlight of the interview, and the report (full Carr brief from us coming Tuesday) is that JMU apparently is in really great shape already from a Title IX standpoint and may not necessarily have to add as many scholarships as originally thought.<\/p>\n

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

Special Teams (and special teamsish things – e.g. 2-pt. conversions). One missed Extra Point. \u00a0One missed Field Goal. Beaten for a first down on an Albany fake punt. Missed another 2 point conversion on a first quarter score. Allowed another 2 point conversion. \u00a0Two good returns negated by holding penalties. \u00a0Wow.<\/p>\n

MM admitted (or covered for) after the game that PK Cameron Stark has been dealing with an injury. \u00a0He’s a senior with a great track record, but we were glad to see the backup Graham Sharples in there on the last two extra points. Better to be reliable from a known, but shorter distance than to wonder every time you attempt a place kick.<\/p>\n

On JMU’s missed 2-pt conversion try early, count me as one who supports the idea, but the problem we’ve seen all season is that it runs smack into JMU’s identity problem we discussed at length last week. \u00a0If you’re an up-tempo team that’s never going to let off the gas, why not go for it, set a tone, and pressure the other team early. \u00a0But if you’re going to clam up and go ultra-conservative after the half, then you’ll be the one missing that point as the game moves on.<\/p>\n

JMU didn’t do a whole lot to inspire confidence in this one. \u00a0In fact, Albany seemed to run the right plays for the most part to attack the Dukes, but simply didn’t have the athletes to execute.<\/p>\n

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

“Halftime adjustments” and the 3rd quarter. \u00a0This is taken straight from the CSN BBS Message Boards and full credit to “JMUSteeler” but this explains the point about in-game adjustments, identity, and coaching questions better than more drivel from us. \u00a0Now you can add last week’s two-score halftime lead and three-point second half to the list. \u00a0Just keep this in mind when hear someone say another JMU fan is reaching when they say the Dukes have more talent and don’t maximize it. \u00a0You can read into this what you want, but this list is REALLY hard to ignore:<\/p>\n

2009
\n6-5, 4-4
\nvs. teams > .500
\n2-4
\nWins vs Liberty & UD (6-5)
\nvs. top of CAA
\n0-3
\nKey Loss: UR – led 17-14 at half, lost 21-17<\/p>\n

2010
\n6-5, 3-5
\nvs. teams > .500
\n3-5
\nWins – VT, Liberty, W&M
\nvs. top of CAA
\n1-5
\nKey losses:
\nUD – led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10
\nUNH – led 14-10 at half, lost 28-14
\nUMass – led 14-3 at half, lost 21-14
\nUR – led 10-7 at half, lost 13-10<\/p>\n

2011
\n8-5, 5-3
\nvs. teams > .500
\n2-4
\nWins: Liberty, Eastern Kentucky
\nvs top of CAA
\n0-3
\nKey loss: ODU – led 20-14 at half, lost 23-20<\/p>\n

2012
\n7-4, 5-3
\nvs. teams > .500
\n1-3
\nWin: Towson
\nvs top of CAA
\n1-3
\nKey Loss: ODU – led 21-10 at half, lost 38-28<\/p>\n

So, over that time we are a cumulative 30-21 to this point. In the CAA, we are 17-16. Through 2012, we are 8-16 vs teams with winning records (not counting this year yet, we don’t know how it will turn out). Of those 8 wins, 3 are against Liberty and 1 against Eastern Kentucky. Also, I didn’t count the 3 FBS losses against us (as teams with a winning record) but did count the VT win. We are 2-14 vs the top of the CAA during that time, not including UD this year. We have 8 losses where we led at halftime, and either failed to score in the 2nd half or scored only once.<\/p>\n

I have no idea where CCSU, ST. Francis, Morehead St., etc finished during that time. We aren’t seriously going to count those as quality wins, I hope.<\/p>\n