{"id":7963,"date":"2015-09-13T23:22:56","date_gmt":"2015-09-14T03:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7963"},"modified":"2015-09-13T23:22:56","modified_gmt":"2015-09-14T03:22:56","slug":"dukes-dominate-lehigh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7963","title":{"rendered":"Dukes Dominate Lehigh"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The Madison battle station is approaching fully operational status!<\/p><\/div>\n

The Dukes Death Star is nearly fully operational and it’s only Week 2! On a wet Saturday afternoon, the Dukes rode a relentless offense and some special teams magic to an enormous 55-17 rout<\/a> of Patriot League foe Lehigh.<\/p>\n

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

Fans! – for a second straight week, the fans made themselves a factor. While there weren’t many of them (I’m sorry but there’s no getting around the overall down attendance from previous years), they were into the game and it certainly seems like we’re all getting that feeling about this squad and starting to buckle up for the ride!<\/p>\n

The Attack – So I was worried about the offense falling out of rhythm after former Offensive Coordinator and play caller Drew Mehringer followed old buddy Tom Hermann to Houston over the offseason. But in case you haven’t noticed, apparently this particular offense is plug n’ play. New OC has picked up right where the Dukes left off last year and for the second straight week, the Dukes just hung half-a-hundred on someone. Deane Cheatham is coming along on his way back from injury and could be a real difference-maker again for this team. Vad is Vad. Cardon Johnson impressed again, and Brandon Ravenel is providing the type of “slash” player that mixes up the attach just right. Pretty tough to complain about much when that’s the case. By the way, have you seen the Houston attack the first two weeks? Looks a heckuva lot like another Death-Star-in-the-Making at the next level.<\/p>\n

Gage Steele – So good to have him leading an improving Defense and you always have to love when your linebackers are leading the team in tackles instead of the secondary.<\/p>\n

Field Hockey – Oh, have we mentioned this is STILL our favorite non-football, non-hoops squad on campus. We may have lost our favorite coach, but many of the kids she brought in are still producing, in particular redshirt senior Taylor West (#TeamTaylor!) and junior Bailee Hubert. Plus the new coach is the old coach that won the title when we were in school and one of her stud assistants is all-around bad-ass and friend of JMUSB Karen Zarchin (wise move Coach Morgan!). And like the football team, they are rolling to start the year<\/a>. We may even have to learn the new players like freshman sensation Miranda Rigg. And students – yeah you – Field Hockey still has the most underrated sneaky friends-of-the-program tailgate on campus. And it is just that, on campus. Get yourselves over there, it’s right by E-Hall.<\/p>\n

@KlinesDairyBar is now following us (@JMUsportsblog) on Twitter. Pretty sure we should call it a day and retire as there’s really nowhere to go but down from here on out.<\/p>\n

Just wanted to share this tweet from a Lehigh fan just before the game: “The @LehighFootball players have to be jacked up right now. Place is electric, FBS atmosphere. Will see how they control their emotions.” I’m leaving this in The Good because that makes us happy and points to the great job by our fans and the in-game production staff. Needless to say, it’s bittersweet because an FBS atmosphere deserves an FBS conference despite the well-written and thoughtful guest post last week.<\/p>\n

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

This isn’t really bad, just somewhere in between good and bad, more like confused. But we’re really not sure what to make of the Dukes’ onside kick up 30 in the third quarter. On one hand, we love it because it sends a clear message of “hammer down” no matter the situation and because there should be more onside kicks in any case (like we should be going on 4th even more). But on the other hand, it had at least enough whiff of unsporting that we’d of been complaining were we on the losing end. Tough one, so we’re gonna go with “it’s cool.”<\/p>\n

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

The Breeze tweeting breathlessly about the UVA\/Notre Dame game. It’s bad enough when stupid freshmen and overly sheltered Herbs from Brambleton and the West End and Cox just do what their daddies want and continue to follow other state schools, but really, we have much higher expectations from the paper of record at JMU. Remember, you write about James Madison, not THE University of Moral Victories and their tear-stained khakis and puke-stained boat shoes.<\/p>\n

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