{"id":7099,"date":"2014-10-05T21:15:53","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T01:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7099"},"modified":"2014-10-05T21:18:41","modified_gmt":"2014-10-06T01:18:41","slug":"quick-thoughts-on-jmu-over-albany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7099","title":{"rendered":"Quick Thoughts on JMU Over Albany"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JfRfvBF3FlE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Ryan Maglio picked a hell of a time to make his first collegiate field goal. The redshirt-junior kicker calmly nailed a 34 yard kick with 4 seconds left to secure the Dukes&#8217; 31-28 victory over the Albany Great Danes. Inserted into the lineup after Connor Arnonne was benched, he might not have been given the opportunity to be a hero if not for a heads up play by Blaine Stewart. Everett Withers had the Dukes line up for the kick on second down, giving them a redo in case any thing went wrong. Something did go wrong as the snap was bobbled. Stewart, who was holding for Maglio, wisely spiked the ball to give JMU another chance. After the mulligan, the Dukes lined up again and executed perfectly. The ball split the uprights and JMU won.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been watching football for a long time, and have seen countless coaches execute the late game field goal attempt in the same manner. They try to\u00a0kick before fourth down to provide a safety net. Until last night, I don&#8217;t recall ever seeing it work. It was pointed out to me that Georgia Tech benefited from the same strategy in the early 90&#8217;s, but it was still pretty remarkable to see things play out so well for JMU. And it was exciting.<\/p>\n<p>The Dukes were in position to take the kick, thanks to another clutch late drive from Vad Lee and the offense. Last weekend we saw the Dukes rally for a couple late scoring drives with their backs against the wall against Delaware. JMU fell short against the Blue Hens, but last night&#8217;s efforts were enough to get the W over Albany.<\/p>\n<p>Since the game wasn&#8217;t televised, I was forced to watch via the stream. To be precise, I watched on my laptop that I dragged over to the home of our friends who invited us over for dinner. As a result, I obviously wasn&#8217;t able to pay attention as closely as I normally would. And perhaps more obviously, I&#8217;m probably not someone you want to invite over to dinner. Anyway, here are some quick thoughts on the exciting win.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Run-Pass Mix<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Vad Lee only threw the ball 23 times yesterday. He completed 14 of them, which equated to a 61% completion rate. The Dukes rushed the ball 46 times. We&#8217;re still early into Withers&#8217; New Era, but that sort of rush-pass mix seems to be closer to optimal. Lee continues to improve, but having him throw it 40+ times a game (as he did against UD), isn&#8217;t ideal. The offense still is rounding into form and lacks consistency, but when it clicks, it&#8217;s fun to watch. And it&#8217;s very effective.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Big Plays and Long Drives<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As long as we&#8217;re talking about the offense, it&#8217;s nice that it could strike quickly and also execute long drives. Lee&#8217;s 57 yard scamper for a TD was exciting and it was only one of a number of big plays for JMU. The Dukes also managed to \u00a0grind out a17 play 99 yard TD drive. It was JMU&#8217;s second 99 yard scoring drive of the season. Like we said, the offense is still finding its way in the new system, but there are definitely signs of encouragement.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some Old, Some New for the Defense<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Defense is also still finding its way in a new system. Yesterday, we saw many of the slip ups and mistakes we&#8217;ve been seeing all season. The Dukes still aren&#8217;t tackling well and they let Albany march down the field for a touchdown to tie the game in the final minutes. That&#8217;s unfortunately, the same old stuff we&#8217;ve seen all season. On the bright side however, they got to the QB and recorded 4 sacks. And despite the fact that Albany&#8217;s Omar Osborne went over 100 yards rushing, the Danes were limited to 3.2 yards per carry. That&#8217;s a good sign for a JMU defense that has really struggled against the run.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Around the CAA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If the loss to Delaware hurt last week, it might have been a little more painful yesterday. The Blue Hens lost 10-7 to Sacred Heart. It appears that Delaware is not a very good football team. That loss was one JMU really couldn&#8217;t afford. \u00a0Because JMU did lose however, the Dukes have a razor thin margin of error if they want to make the playoffs. JMU avoids UNH, a team that should battle with Nova for the CAA title. Richmond and William &amp; Mary look like strong teams as well, and should be tough match-ups for JMU. The rest of the teams on the schedule are very beatable. But then again, if this season has taught us anything, so are the Dukes when they don&#8217;t bring their A game.<\/p>\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fjmusportsblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D7099&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>Ryan Maglio picked a hell of a time to make his first collegiate field goal. The redshirt-junior kicker calmly nailed a 34 yard kick with 4 seconds left to secure the Dukes&#8217; 31-28 victory over the Albany Great Danes. Inserted into the lineup after Connor Arnonne was benched, he might not have been given 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":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7968,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7968","url_meta":{"origin":7099,"position":0},"title":"JMUSB Game #3 Preview: Albany @ JMU","date":"September 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"And just like that, conference play is here with the Albany Great Danes coming to town for an early-season test before the big road trip to Texas next week. The Basics Match-up: #10\u00a0JMU Dukes (2-0) vs. Albany Great Danes (1-1), unranked Kickoff: 3:00 in Bridgeforth Stadium Weather: Perfect. 84 degrees,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7073,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7073","url_meta":{"origin":7099,"position":1},"title":"Game Preview #6: Dukes Hope to Upset to CAA Power Albany","date":"October 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Hahhahahhaahahhah. Seriously, this is what it's come to. We have to title our preview thusly. The Basics Match-up: unranked JMU Dukes (2-3, 0-2 last place CAA) vs #23 SUNY Albany Great Danes (4-0, 1-0 CAA against an Ivy, two NEC's, and URI) Kick-off: 6:00 PM Saturday, October 4 at Bob\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8183,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8183","url_meta":{"origin":7099,"position":2},"title":"JMU Salvages Win, Playoff Berth With Last Second Victory at Delaware","date":"November 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Good Men's Hoops! Let's just start here before we get to football. Such a sweet, sweet morsel of revenge against the tourney-hopeful Ticks to start the men's hoops season Friday night. Now let's hope we get a shot at the main course somewhere down the line in the postseason\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/BQYPKL9CYAA1R0E.jpg-large-225x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7268,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7268","url_meta":{"origin":7099,"position":3},"title":"Dukes Pick Up Another Road Victory Over Stony Brook, 27-24","date":"November 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow! Five in a row for the Dukes and the swagger is back after another huge 2nd half comeback propelled the Dukes to their fourth road victory of the year at Stony Brook on Saturday. And now.... It's Tick Week and the main reason we want to get this gamer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7985,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7985","url_meta":{"origin":7099,"position":4},"title":"The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from JMU 42 &#8211; Albany 28","date":"September 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"JMU played Albany to kick-off the 2015 CAA football season yesterday. The Dukes overcame a miserable first half, to defeat the Great Danes 42-28. The win moved JMU to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the CAA. Albany fell to 1-2 and 1-1 in league play. As they say, it was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"albany","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/5251dc7e72c01.image_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7096,"url":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7096","url_meta":{"origin":7099,"position":5},"title":"Gameday Open Thread: JMU vs. Albany","date":"October 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dukes will play their first game at Bob Ford Field against the Albany Great Danes tonight. JMU is looking for its first CAA road win in nearly two years. The \u00a0Dukes last defeated a conference opponent on the road all the way back on November \u00a03, 2012 when they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;JMU Football&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"gameday flag","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/jmusportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/gameday-flag-768x1024.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\/7099"}],"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=7099"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7108,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099\/revisions\/7108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}