{"id":8156,"date":"2015-11-01T23:03:19","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T04:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8156"},"modified":"2015-11-01T23:03:19","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T04:03:19","slug":"dukes-lose-shootout-with-tribe-44-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8156","title":{"rendered":"Dukes Lose Shootout with Tribe 44-41"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Bryan Schor – The kid is slick. He’s a better athlete than many of us realized, a judicious runner, and for at least his first outing, throws one of the prettiest balls we’ve seen from a JMU QB. The way he puts the ball in exactly the right spot for the receivers to do the best with it after the catch is more reminiscent of Mike Cawley or Greg Maddox than many of our more recent QB’s. Seriously, the kid was almost flawless, and even the one interception he threw was understandable and should NEVER have happened had Ish Hyman simply caught what should have been a beautiful, and game-clinching, TD on the previous play. When the offense scores 35 points against the best defense we’ve faced all year, it’s clearly not on them.<\/p>\n

Marcell Johnson – The sophomore safety is seeing more and more action and beginning to flash some real talent. He got caught out of position a few times yesterday, but was in on a ton of plays and it’s nice to see some folks stepping up. We can complain all we want about the defense, but there was\u00a0some<\/em> progress yesterday. They got off the field a few times and obviously did the one thing we thought would make the difference by making a huge play with the Raven Greene pick six. You could also see a big difference in the interior line vs. the run up the middle from having Simeyon Robinson back in there.<\/p>\n

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

Normally most of these would be worthy of the Ugly section but we’re saving that for a group that’s really earned it the last two weeks.<\/p>\n

White Helmets – throw ’em in Newman Lake and never speak of them again.<\/p>\n

The high snaps. – The O-Line has been an absolute rock for this team and remains potentially the most important thing for keeping the offense humming, and it stands to reason that R-Sr. Dominick Richards has been an integral part of that success, but damn, this is killing the offense.<\/p>\n

Special teams – So let’s see, JMU lost by three. Three point swing on just the first blocked XP alone. Difference in the game. Enough said.<\/p>\n

Andy Gresh – This is the assclown who does color commentary for NBCSN’s C-game each Saturday and there are no words, only yelling, to properly describe his mouth vomit.<\/p>\n

The CAA – well, specifically the referees. As noted by the special teams comment above, the refs aren’t the only reason JMU lost this game, but that “knee was down” on what should have been a fumble\/touchback in the first half was as big of a difference in the game as one referee mistake can possibly be. It was awful, but in no way unexpected. We know all conference complain about officiating in their league, but the stunning consistency of incompetence across every CAA game ever week, has gone so far beyond just officiating that we’re left with no alternative but to turn the blame on the Crumbling Athletic Association itself.<\/p>\n

Defensive Scheme – Our problem at this point isn’t with particular players. The kids we have are the kids we have and we’re fairly certain they’re working their tails off and we should shut up and say thank you. Man does this team miss a Sage Harold\/D.J. Bryant\/Arthur Moats type pass-rushing force off the edge though. But what bugs us is that it seems fairly obvious we can’t just line up, play read and react, and have any hope of even slowing good teams down. We do have some developing athletes in the back of the defense though and at some point, don’t you send more pressure and hope the guys in the back can make a play or two even if they’re more exposed?<\/p>\n

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

The following JMU\u00a0fans\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0fan phrases<\/em><\/p>\n

Withers Sucks Fans – Are you freaking kidding?! Have you already forgotten the three-play attack and 7-5 seasons and seven years of Justin Thorpe? Get a grip people. This program’s been on upward trajectory every single day since Withers was hired. Two close losses to the two other good teams in the conference is no reason to act a fool.<\/p>\n

“We’re not ready for FBS because we lose to CAA teams” fans – How many times do smart people need to say this to dumb people? The on-field product you see today will have next to nothing to do with the on-field product you’ll see if (and we realize that’s a huge if) JMU ever announces a move, goes through the transition years where you’re adding schollies and using tons of redshirts while trying to weather a couple lean years, and ultimately makes it out the other side to full membership\/bowl-eligible status. Even App. St., who of the recent move ups that has made the fastest jump to top-tier team in their new conference, struggled mightily during the transition years compared with their usual high standards. Also, program and institutional infrastructure are 1o times more important than short-term success. If it was any other way, NDSU would be FBS already. But that’s not the way it works. So just stop it – and you know who you are. If you’re anti-FBS that’s absolutely your right and you can probably come up with at least two good reasons for that position, but the fact JMU lost two games by a combined 13 points to the two best teams in the CAA while also suffering a season-ending loss of an all-time great player is not one of them. Just shut your stupid piehole. And that’s to say nothing of the fact that JMU, UR, and W&M would all be respectable RIGHT NOW in most of the conferences being discussed. You saw SMU (AAC). Have you not seen North Texas (CUSA), Tulsa (AAC), Georgia St. (SB), Idaho (SB), Miami (OH) (MAC), and EMU (MAC)? Consider yourself lucky, but don’t for one second think JMU with 22 additional scholarships of depth wouldn’t immediately be at least respectable.<\/p>\n

“Season’s over we’re going 7-4 fans” – Again, in case you didn’t notice, Richmond and William & Mary were good. That’s hard to say, harder to admit, and annoying as hell. But it’s also true. But if you think the bye week isn’t coming at the PERFECT time this week or that Delaware and Villanova are their usual tough selves, you haven’t been paying attention. These two teams are garbage. Delaware has scored a grand total of ZERO points in shutout losses to Rhode Island and Towson. Villanova has a left-handed backup QB that makes Payton look like he’s got a cannon and they’ve lost to Towson and Penn and got blown off the field by Richmond. So just settle the hell down. While JMU has likely blown a first-round bye, the 9-2 record most fans were predicting preseason is very much still on the table as is hopefully another home playoff game. So settle the hell down, go hiking, see your family, enjoy the bye week, and be ready to root on the 14th.<\/p>\n

\"Spring<\/a>

Spring Fest or Special Teams?<\/p><\/div>\n