{"id":9130,"date":"2016-12-08T07:00:39","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T12:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9130"},"modified":"2016-12-08T07:01:54","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T12:01:54","slug":"guest-post-time-to-talk-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9130","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Time to Talk Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

JMU Salerno won last week’s prediction contest by coming closest to nailing the JMU over UNH score (only 2 total points off!). Here’s his guest post to get you pumped up for tomorrow night’s playoff game.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

First off I\u2019m freaking pumped and if I hadn\u2019t used all my vacation for paternity leave, I\u2019d probably be home pacing until Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the biggest game in the modern era of JMU football (the number of TV games, Madizone, renovated BFS) and I\u2019m both humbled and terrified to be able to bring the JMU Sports Blog, and it\u2019s fans, my ramblings. I personally hold myself responsible for pumping up our already rowdy group of alumni who still hold onto the memories associated with the magical place we all call Virginia’s Disneyworld, ok that’s just me. <\/span><\/p>\n

We all saw the writing on the wall when the selection committee gave us a place in the bracket to eventually meet Sam Houston State and at halftime of last week I began to look at their stats and their schedule. For fun I decided to look at their schedule to determine why a team previously ranked #1 by one poll before the playoffs was moved down to #5 by the selection committee. I mean their QB has thrown for 57 TD’s which is incredible, but considering I recently controlled the 2016 New York football Giants on Madden 2017 and used the better Manning to throw 86 regular season TD’s, it’s really not that impressive – the difficulty was on easy but pay no mind to that. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is the direction I’m going when looking at this team – honestly who is it that they have really played to put up that record and those statistics. <\/span><\/p>\n

With the power of the Interwebs let’s go ahead and take a look at the schedule:<\/span><\/p>\n

Oklahoma Panhandle State (59-21)<\/b> – no, I’m not googling that<\/span><\/p>\n

Lamar (44-31)<\/b> – finished 3 -8, with a 5 game losing streak in conference<\/span><\/p>\n

Houston Baptist (52-16)<\/b> – finished 4 – 7, with 3-5 in conference <\/span><\/p>\n

Stephan F. Austin (63-28)<\/b> – that beast from the NCAA basketball tournament wasn’t playing, this game doesn’t count<\/span><\/p>\n

Incarnate Word (63-48)<\/b> – finished 3 – 8, with 3-6 in conference<\/span><\/p>\n

Ok enough\u2026 you get the point they had the settings on easy. <\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

Their last two games were the best teams they played all season – Central Arkansas and Chattanooga. I watched some of the Chattanooga game after the JMU\/UNH game was done and what I saw was a team that despite throwing the ball well didn’t seem to run the ball <\/span>that well<\/span> (correction at all) and wasn’t successful in stopping the run (236 yards allowed). It stands to reason that with it being extremely cold in the Burg Friday night, both stopping the run and establishing the run \u201cmay\u201d be important. JMU is a team that rushed for 209 yards against UNC, a school you don’t have to Google, and averaged 285 yards a game on the season in arguably one of the best conference in FCS. I\u2019m not even going to mention the balance of JMU and what they have done in the passing game and on defense recently \u2013 I\u2019m going all Sam Houston and just ignoring what I want to.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to say this first off as my selections Friday:<\/span><\/p>\n

Beer of the week \u2013 All<\/span><\/p>\n

Whiskey of the week – All<\/span><\/p>\n

So now for a little bit of crazy talk \u2013 for those that know me, \u201cbut Nick you\u2019re already crazy\u201d, that\u2019s fair but not relevant. How in the world does a team that the selection committee and fans (see North Dakota State\/Eastern Washington) believe was over rated at #1 start to attack the credentials of a higher ranked team that played tougher teams and put up similar numbers. In fact their own sports information website believes they are still number 1; despite the rankings and the fact that well\u2026they\u2019re not.\"road-warrior\"<\/span><\/p>\n

I tell you how they do it; they haven\u2019t been punched in the mouth all year because someone that runs their mouth the way their fans and program do needs to be shown a certain kind of treatment. Unless Animal and Hawk plan on coming to the East Coast this week they need pump their brakes and give props where props are due because I\u2019m sure Gage Steele and the gang \u00a0have access to all this garbage . Friday night they plan to come into our house, with a stadium full of what happens to be 5 times as many people as their recent attendance? On a colder night than some of their players have ever experienced? Trying to air the ball out when it’s deflated at Tom Brady levels…nah bruh.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being that I am a new father, I asked my son (shameless plug) how to look at people that speak to us and that disrespect us and want a piece of us?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"salerno-kid\"<\/p>\n

They want the Dukes they got the Dukes. Shut your mouth and LOCK THE DAMN GATE!<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to go to work\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n