CAA week 1

[ChickenMan]

My take on the first weeks action..

N'eastern - a 48-14 loser to Ball St.. a bad combination of not much offense and even less defense.. looks like another long year for the Huskies

Hofstra - a 35-3 loser at UConn.. Pride playing without the starting QB may explain the poor offensive performance.. but their defense was unable to slow down the UConn attack.

Villanova - 48-21 loser at West Virginia.. Nova played well.. much better than the score indicates and actually outgained WVU 399 to 354. Three turnover hurt.. but I expect Nova will contend for the CAA title this year.

UMass - a 28-16 winner at home vs Albany. UMass running attack looked good (215 yrds) but their passing game was very subpar (92 yrds). UMass lost some very good WRs and it may take some time for their passing game to click. Albany was able to move the ball 181 rushing and 171 passing.. but the UMass only gave up 14 points.

JMU - 31-7 loser at Duke.. 4 of11 passing .. for just 51 yrds won't get it done vs any decent competition. JMU will have to develope a passing threat to in order to get to the playoffs.

URI - 27-24 winner at home vs Monmouth.. URI's new offense (triple option is gone) produced 257 passing.. but only 93 rushing vs a modest opponent. URI will likely struggle vs CAA opposition again this year.

Towson - 41-13 loser at Navy.. like a lot of teams Towson had no clue as how to slow down Navy's triple option as the Mids rushed for a staggering 551 yrds. Towson was only able to generate 13 points vs a questionable Navy defense. Looks like TU will struggle to avoid the basement of the CAA South.

Maine - crushed 46-3 at Iowa.. no passing game for the Bears (just 83 yrds) and two INTs kept Maine from having have chance to keep the game some what competitive. Maine will have to have much better QB play to sucessfully compete in the CAA.

Richmond - 28-10 winner at Elon.. dominating performance by the Spiders..452 total offense (216 rushing - 236 passing) vs just 265 total yrds for Elon. Great game by UR QB Eric Ward as the Spiders lived up to their preseason hype.

Delaware - 14-7 loser at Maryland.. UD defense played as well as could be expected.. but the Hen's offense.. with a new QB.. just wasn't ready to successfully compete vs a tough ACC defense. A very conservative game plan protected the new Hen QB and kept the game close.. but didn't really give UD a real chance to win the game.

[Uncle Buck]

I can't comment about the other games, but the HU defense IMO wasn't horrible. There were some bad plays and missed assignments, but the offense and special teams put the defense in bad spots all night. They bent, but didn't always break. The offense and specials did that.

[GannonFan]

The Hens looked decent against Maryland. Defense will give up yards but not points. Surprisingly, the biggest question of the offseason, the offensive line, was answered very positively - the o-line looked great. QB needs some work, but the Hens looked good.

Elsewhere, Richmond showed why they are the preseason favorite in the conference. UMass struggled mightily against an underwhelming opponent - that schedule is going to catch up to UMass this year. JMU is the real eye opener - losing to Duke is one thing, they are FBS (sometimes in name only) but to get blown out is another thing altogether. Might be reading the press clippings too much in Harrisonburg. The other team that could contend, nova, we won't know about for awhile. It's one thing to talk about yardage, but when you're losing 48-14 before a garbage time TD against a 3rd string D the yardage is kinda a silly point. But WVU is real good so hard to glean anything from that game. Lehigh and Penn are weak OOC games so unless nova struggles we won't know about nova until conference time.

[Eight Legger]

Obviously I didn't see or listen to the Delaware game, but I'm pretty impressed with that result for you guys. I know Maryland is not a powerhouse or anything, but it is still impressive to hold them to 14 points in their own stadium. Keep that up and we'll be battling it out for top spot in the South!

[ChickenMan]

The other team that could contend, nova, we won't know about for awhile. It's one thing to talk about yardage, but when you're losing 48-14 before a garbage time TD against a 3rd string D the yardage is kinda a silly point. But WVU is real good so hard to glean anything from that game. Lehigh and Penn are weak OOC games so unless nova struggles we won't know about nova until conference time.

I saw the game and Nova did play better than the score indicates.. they moved the ball pretty well the entire game.. 28 1st downs.. a lot of yrds (133 rushing and 266 passing) but couldn't finish. Also turnovers really hurt.. an INT for a TD and a fumble return setting up another WVU score. My only question is.. is WVU as good as expected (preseason #8).. if they are.. then Nova performed very well.

[GannonFan]

I saw the game and Nova did play better than the score indicates.. they moved the ball pretty well the entire game.. 28 1st downs.. a lot of yrds (133 rushing and 266 passing) but couldn't finish. Also turnovers really hurt.. an INT for a TD and a fumble return setting up another WVU score. My only question is.. is WVU as good as expected (preseason #8).. if they are.. then Nova performed very well.


All nice stats, but ones that look a bit unimportant when nova's driving the length of the field late in the 4th quarter down 34 points. Turnovers matter, finishing drives with points matters. WVU is a great team because they take what they get and the score points in bunches. Since W's and L's are based upon points scored and points given up, I doubt WVU is moping around campus today because they lost the yardage battle. Look at UD and Maryland yesterday - Maryland had tons of yardage, but UD had the ball, 75 yards from the endzone, 3 minutes to go in the game, only down 7 points. You would have thought after we outgained JMU by 1000 yards in that '04 game but still lost that people would not overemphasize yardage.

With that said, nova will be a tough team this year, assuming they fix the turnover issue.

[Hoyadestroya85]

All nice stats, but ones that look a bit unimportant when nova's driving the length of the field late in the 4th quarter down 34 points. Turnovers matter, finishing drives with points matters. WVU is a great team because they take what they get and the score points in bunches. Since W's and L's are based upon points scored and points given up, I doubt WVU is moping around campus today because they lost the yardage battle. Look at UD and Maryland yesterday - Maryland had tons of yardage, but UD had the ball, 75 yards from the endzone, 3 minutes to go in the game, only down 7 points. You would have thought after we outgained JMU by 1000 yards in that '04 game but still lost that people would not overemphasize yardage.

With that said, nova will be a tough team this year, assuming they fix the turnover issue.

don't forget.. we led the CAA in TO differential last year.. and we dominated the time of possession even in the first half and would have had the yardage lead for the game anyway unless we completely stalled.. plus we were playing our second team offense the entire last drive.. don't expect for Louis Adeyemi to get a ton this season of carries (i believe he got 5 for the game)

[ChickenMan]

I can't believe that I'm advocating for Nova.. but I did see the game (PIP along with UD) and the fact is that Nova's offense was able to move the ball consistantly throughout the game.. with only two three and outs. Even if you discount that last Nova TD drive.. they still had a 73 yrd drive ended by a fumble (returned to set up a WVU TD) in the 1st quarter and 80 yrd drive for a TD in the 2d quarter. Now WVU's defense may not be all that strong.. but even so the Villanova offense looked pretty impressive to me.

[Hoyadestroya85]

are the seas boiling? because UD is getting a number one vote from me in the poll (if it ever works again)

[mcveyrl]

JMU is the real eye opener - losing to Duke is one thing, they are FBS (sometimes in name only) but to get blown out is another thing altogether.

I agree. I didn't mind that we lost nearly as much as how we lost.

Bad turnovers and abyssmal passing. The 51 yds was on 4 of 9 passing and a couple of those were late in the game when Duke was playing soft.

Hard to tell if Mickey was just being Mickey coaching against FBS, but a lot of the play calling puzzled me.

I will say that Duke looked better than I expected. They were much faster than I thought they'd be. Our defense did pretty good against them, but the offense didn't do them any favors (I think we ran 9-11 plays during the 3rd quarter).

Who knows? I'm still optimistic. Hoping we can get back on track next week and start to look like everybody thought we would.

[Tribe4SF]

With that said, nova will be a tough team this year, assuming they fix the turnover issue.

Delaware faces the same issue with Schoenhoft at QB. The Delaware o-line answered the call, and I believe they will be good again. Defense is clearly better than last year. RBs played well and will deliver another good ground game. The QB, however, was not impressive at all. Slow, awkward release that is a DBs dream. If Rittacco isn't better than this guy, I think the UD offense will suffer from lack of a vertical attack. Maybe he was off, but what I saw fit the weaknesses that UD fans have been citing since the Spring.

[aust42]

I thought Delaware could have won that game. Defense played great. The O play calling was way too conservative, I think Robby only threw two passes past 10 yards. Too many 3rd down situations where we threw the ball short of the 1st down marker and got stopped. Why we throw the ball short of the 1st down marker on 3rd down is beyond me. It was a very competetive game throughout. Time will tell if Delaware was that good or MD that bad.

[EmeryZach]

that schedule is going to catch up to UMass this year

You can say that again

[mainejeff]

Maine - crushed 46-3 at Iowa.. no passing game for the Bears (just 83 yrds) and two INTs kept Maine from having have chance to keep the game some what competitive. Maine will have to have much better QB play to sucessfully compete in the CAA.

I watched this game from beginning to end, and honestly Maine looked better than the score and stats indicate (at the end of the 3rd Q the score was 25-3).

Iowa was by far the best FBS team that Maine has played in their stretch of recent FBS games (Mississippi State, Nebraska, BC, UConn). Maine's O-line performed admirably against a MUCH bigger and more experienced Iowa defense. Fluellen (100 yards rushing) should be one of the top backs in the CAA this season. QB Farkas had a few hiccups but looked much improved from last season......the biggest problem were a couple of dropped passes that really hurt Maine drives. xmadx The other big issue was Maine's poor field position all day......some of that caused my Maine's horrible kick return coverage which allowed Iowa to start their drives inside the 50 numerous times.

Overall, I was encouraged by this game as Maine displayed a balanced offense (playcalling) and a never quit attitude. The game got away from them in the 4th Q........but the fatigue factor played a big part in that happening. I think that they have a good shot at having a decent season in the CAA this year. xthumbsupx

[JMU-MRD-DAD]

I would have to say that I was impressed with the UR win overall as they could be the real deal. UVA is next for them and UR could very well knocked them off.

I thought JMU would have played better against Duke but I'm expecting a good season.

Go Dukes

[DTSpider]

I was shocked at the JMU score. I really thought that JMU would beat Duke, or at least make it very close. It's got to be concerning as the JMU offense was supposed to be the strong suit of the team.

As for UR-UVA, we could use any CAA fans who are interested in coming. We had about 2000 at Elon last night, but we'll need more than that to make any noise inside Scott Stadium.

[furman94]

Yeah, I thought the Dukes would have kept up with Dook.

[DB_Atlantic10]

The Hens looked decent against Maryland. Defense will give up yards but not points. Surprisingly, the biggest question of the offseason, the offensive line, was answered very positively - the o-line looked great. QB needs some work, but the Hens looked good.

Elsewhere, Richmond showed why they are the preseason favorite in the conference. UMass struggled mightily against an underwhelming opponent - that schedule is going to catch up to UMass this year. JMU is the real eye opener - losing to Duke is one thing, they are FBS (sometimes in name only) but to get blown out is another thing altogether. Might be reading the press clippings too much in Harrisonburg. The other team that could contend, nova, we won't know about for awhile. It's one thing to talk about yardage, but when you're losing 48-14 before a garbage time TD against a 3rd string D the yardage is kinda a silly point. But WVU is real good so hard to glean anything from that game. Lehigh and Penn are weak OOC games so unless nova struggles we won't know about nova until conference time.

The game was a lot closer than the score showed.... the gameplan did not appear to be set to win this game. We ran up the middle pretty much most of the night. A bad interception after a 70 yard kick-off (score 14-7 at the time) and another fumble inside our 30 in the 3rd gave Duke two very short fields. I don't know why JMU never plays to win these games, but the offense was as boring as it gets....we really made Duke look good. I think we lost 40-3 to WVU the year we won it all...go figure. We also lost as bad to UNC last year. MM just does not coach to win FBS games...really sucks for the players and fans....

[Tribe4SF]

MM just does not coach to win FBS games...really sucks for the players and fans....

Seems that way, however Mickey, as usual, blames the players.

In addition to an anemic offensive performance (0-8 3rd down conversions), JMU defense produced no sacks, and let Duke hang onto the ball for more than 35 minutes, including more than 10 minutes in the second quarter.

[jmu_duke07]

As per the football game yesterday, all of the JMU faithful were very embarrassed by the performance. I'm not sure what the coach's expectations were, but, it seemed as though the players and the coaches didn't put 100% into the game. I think we may have 2 plays in our book (run or turnover), and if this is our 2008 football team then it's going to be one long season. As you can tell I'm very disappointed and disheartened and hope for a .500+ season.

xnonono2x

Please prove me wrong!

[Col Hogan]

I watched the Hens lose to the Terps...and I gotta say Delaware impressed me...

Yea, the QB didn't click like in the past....but it was his first game...

The "D" looked very good...

I think we're found one dangerous team in the CAA...

I listened to the UMass/Albany game...and was not overly impressed (except by Tony Nelson who ran for 172 yards)...

Hopefully it was first game gitters since the "O" line is a total makeover...I was disappointed by the Secondary, which has been touted as our real strength...they did not seem to dominate...

I'll get to see them in two weeks at JMU...

[umassfan]

I watched the Hens lose to the Terps...and I gotta say Delaware impressed me...

Yea, the QB didn't click like in the past....but it was his first game...

The "D" looked very good...

I think we're found one dangerous team in the CAA...

I listened to the UMass/Albany game...and was not overly impressed (except by Tony Nelson who ran for 172 yards)...

Hopefully it was first game gitters since the "O" line is a total makeover...I was disappointed by the Secondary, which has been touted as our real strength...they did not seem to dominate...

I'll get to see them in two weeks at JMU...


Why do you say the Secondary didnt dominate. If you listened then you would have known that two long pass plays were screen passes that were set up well by Albany. Cant say that was the DBs fault. Those two plays went for around 90 yards of their passing game.

[EmeryZach]

Yeah the DB's played pretty well last night. Lots of cramping though, need to fix that.

[Dane96]

Actually....your DB's were being burned all night except for one good series by your All-American. I blame coaching on that. When they finally allowed the DB's to be aggressive...a lot of things changed defensively (in a positive way) for UMASS.

If Esposito had been a better QB...it could have been much different. That...and UA guys dropping 5 of those 15 INC's.

[Eight Legger]

Yeah the DB's played pretty well last night. Lots of cramping though, need to fix that.

You guys should play Elon...they had at least 25 guys go down with cramps last night. The game might take 4 days if you were in the same shape they were!

[Maroon&White]

Actually....your DB's were being burned all night except for one good series by your All-American. I blame coaching on that. When they finally allowed the DB's to be aggressive...a lot of things changed defensively (in a positive way) for UMASS.

If Esposito had been a better QB...it could have been much different. That...and UA guys dropping 5 of those 15 INC's.

Not sure which game you were watching, but they certainly weren't being "burned all night." Definitely weren't being burned by the pass, maybe you mean they didn't do well enough stopping the run? And which All-American DB are you talking about?

Two well-executed screen passes went for 52 and 43 yards. That's 95 of Albany's 172 passing yards right there. Next longest pass was for all of 10 yards.


QB/WR play- Again, this may not rub some the right way...but I am calling it like I saw it...and like others who have played the game around me saw it: VINNY's numbers looked good...but the play wasnt really great today. He looked like a completely different QB that played Montana with poise. He missed a ton of open receivers...some seemed to be either his 2nd or 3rd check down...that were WIDE OPEN. One in particular was Jason Smith open in the middle of the field without a defender near 15 yards in any direction. A few times he should have dumped the ball out...and instead held it for huge losses. I will say this though: he had some unreal pressure on him from the blind-side in the 2nd half...but it really didnt matter at that point. He threw a really bad INT...and had the ball tipped one too many times at the line.

You don't think his lack of poise or great play could have something to do with the defense, particularly the DB's of UMass?

I get that you are excited about Albany's performance, but no need to exaggerate by saying things like the UMass DBs were burned all night.

[Dane96]

Not sure which game you were watching, but they certainly weren't being "burned all night." Definitely weren't being burned by the pass, maybe you mean they didn't do well enough stopping the run? And which All-American DB are you talking about?

Two well-executed screen passes went for 52 and 43 yards. That's 95 of Albany's 172 passing yards right there. Next longest pass was for all of 10 yards.



You don't think his lack of poise or great play could have something to do with the defense, particularly the DB's of UMass?

I get that you are excited about Albany's performance, but no need to exaggerate by saying things like the UMass DBs were burned all night.

I was watching the game about three rows up...with former UA and UMass players. We all commented how right before Brown unleashed your corners...UA had WIDE-OPEN WR's. People who didnt understand formations around us were moaning and groaning about the wide open players. It was pretty clear.

In the first half, Vinny had ALL DAY to throw. It was the second half when the pressure came.

Not an exaggeration...but the truth. Go watch the game again on film if you have an opportunity. I am not being a dick-- we were a group of about 15 guys from both sides who all happened to know each other. We all saw the same things I have posted.

And btw, Albany's next longest pass was for 25 yards up the seam. It was a 15 yard penalty that brought it back. Let's not also forget besides Josh Smith's wide-open play that Esposito missed completely on his check-downs, Tim Bush was WIDE-OPEN on a fly-route and Esposito over-threw him.

I am pretty confident on all-of this.

No matter...good luck.

[GeeWiz]

Overall, I was encouraged by this game as Maine displayed a balanced offense (playcalling) and a never quit attitude. The game got away from them in the 4th Q........but the fatigue factor played a big part in that happening. I think that they have a good shot at having a decent season in the CAA this year. xthumbsupx

Huh? xconfusedx

I'm sorry, but I watched a lot of this game as well and I definately didn't see it quite like you did.

Farkas looks just as inconsistent as he did last year. I mean your O-Line did a great job run blocking and did give Farkas time to throw, but he was very inconsistent.

I don't see how you can say Maine will have a decent season based on this game, at least not yet IMO.

[BDKJMU]

I had predicted over on the CAAzone JMU board for Duke to win 31-27. I certainly didn't expect this debacle.

JMU defense:
The Duke QB had come into the game with 4,564 yds passing in 2 seasons. Bring in Cutcliff, and I predicted Duke would throw for around 300 on JMU. Their QB Lewis ended up 17-28, 146 yds. Yes, as others have pointed out, the JMU DBs at times appeared to be playing very soft and there were some completions where the Duke players were wide open. Duke receivers also dropped a couple of passes. But I remember the JMU DBs breaking up a few passes, and all in all I thought the secondary did ok, esp considering the D line most passing plays wasn't generating much of a pass rush. JMU got a # of hurries and knockdowns on the Duke QB. I could be wrong here, but I thought most of those came off of blitzes.

I thought JMU would hold Duke to around 100 yards on the ground, since Duke didn't have a big (in weight) o-line (avg was about 6'5 1/2", 270), their starting tailback had gone down for the season, and Duke had a weak running game last yr. Giving up 218 yds rushing on 48 carries, 4.5 yds a carry, was disappointing to see. I remember on several 3rd and 4th and short Duke running through a decent hole off left tackle easily making the 1st down. Also remember seeing several failed arm tackles. In defense of the defense the offense often left them in a hole with the turnovers, the short punt, and the fact that 7 of JMU's 11 series were 3 plays or less. In a sense JMU's defense gave up 17 points and JMU's offense gave up 14.

JMU offense:
1st half wasn't too bad, but the play calling, as others have pointed out, left something to be desired. JMU moved the ball really well on their 2nd & 3rd possessions of the 1st quarter (66 yards including Rodney's 47 yard run and 7 plays, 54 yards). But by the 2nd qtr Duke was was clearly packing it in, going 8+ men in the box, creeping their safety up, and almost daring JMU to pass. Why only 2 pass plays called in the 2nd half? The 2nd qtr JMU recovers a Duke fumble at the JMU 48 yet can't take advantage of it and ends up punting the ball right back to Duke.

JMU rushed for 188 yds.
1st qtr: 13 running plays, 110 yds. 1 pass play, incomplete.
Next 3 qtrs only 78 yards rushing. Duke was totally stacking the box.
Rodney Landers 16 carries, 96 yards.
Eugene Holloman 13 carries, 55 yards.

After McGee's opening 2nd half ko return to the Duke 34, 2 plays later Rodney throws that god awful pass that was intercepted at the Duke 11 and run back all the way to the JMU 22 which lead to a Duke TD that puts Duke up 21-7. Thats probably a 10-14 pt swing right there.
-Then when JMU gets the ball back the very next play from scrimmage Rodney fumbles which Duke recovers at the JMU 34. That leads to another Duke TD, now 28-7.
-Next 2 JMU series are punt, punt, one of them a horrible 21 yarder to the JMU 46 that leads to a Duke FG, now 31-7. No excuse for a 2nd team all CAA punter to be giving the other team a short field to work with.
-Next Duke possession JMU recovers a Duke fumble at the JMU 22, finally gets a good drive going all the way down the field then Rodney fumbles again (3rd Lander's turnover in 5 possessions) at the Duke 8 yard line early in the 4th qtr, probably costing JMU 7 points.

JMU loses the turnover battle 3-2, opponent scores 2 TDs off 2 JMU turnovers, and 2 of those turnovers likely cost JMU 2 scores. JMU fails to capitalize on the 2 Duke fumbles. Damnit! It was like 07' all over agin. Take away the turnovers and its a close game. But good teams win the turnover battle and capitalize on the other team's turnovers.

Duke had 364 yards total offense (I predicted they'd have about 400), JMU had 239 (I also predicted JMU would have about 400). One problem is Duke had 79 plays to JMU's 48. JMU had 37 runing plays to 11 passing. Duke had the ball for over 35 minutes time of possession. JMU had it for less than 25. Yes, JMU needs to pass more than 23% of the time against most opponents, esp when they're totally stacking the box. JMU also needs to do a heck of a lot better than 0 for 8 on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 3 on 4th down so they can have the ball for 65-70 plays a game.

The one shining spot of this game was McGee's ko returns.

http://www.jmusports.com/fls/14400/stats/football/2008/duke.htm

Before the JMU game Duke was 2-33, 1-32 vs I-A the last 3 seasons, haven't won an ACC game since 04'. Duke the last at least 3 years may have been the worst BCS program, but certainly not the worst I-A. Heck, even last yr at 1-11 they were 89 of 120 I-As in the Sagarin.

Duke 08' with Cutcliff and 17 starters back is a far better team than they were last season. I saw JMU vs UNC and Duke the last 2 seasons, and Duke 08' looked about as good as UNC 07' (who finished 4-8).

UNC 07' was 4-8, beat JMU by 23
Duke 08' will be ?, beat JMU by 24

I wouldn't call Duke's overall talent level inferior to JMU as some JMU and non JMU fans were before the game. I saw Duke as about = to maybe slightly superior to JMU talent wise. No way JMU should have lost to Duke by 24, but that wasn't a Duke team that will go winless their other 11 games and finish 1-11. I think Duke will finish 3-9, maybe 4-8, go 1-7 or 2-6 in the ACC. At the end of the season the Duke loss will still look bad, but not as bad as it looks now.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/teams/schedule?teamId=150

[BDKJMU]

JMU the last 3 season openers:

06' Bloomsburg. JMU only beats the DII powerhouse 14-3. Unimaginative playcalling limited to a handful of plays. Many JMU faithful on caazone are calling for Matthews head, ready to committ Hari Kari. By the end of the season the Bloomsburg win still looks bad, but not as bad, as Bloomsburg reels off 11 straight wins before losing in the DII quarterfinals to finish 11-2. JMU goes on to have a good season, finishing 9-3 after losing @ YSU in the 1st round of the playoffs.

07' UNC. 1st quarter + included blocked punt (led to UNC TD), fumble (led to (UNC TD), INT (led to UNC FG). JMU goes down 24-0. Rest of the game despite another blocked punt plays UNC about even score wise and outgains them in total yds, losing 37-14. Unimaginative playcalling limited to a handful of plays. Many JMU faithful on caazone are calling for Matthews head, ready to committ Hari Kari. By the end of the season the UNC loss still looks bad, but not as bad. UNC finishes 4-8, 66th of 120 I-A teams in the Sagarin ratings. JMU goes on to have a good season, finishing 8-4 after 1st round playoff loss @ ASU.

08' Duke. Nightmare 3rd quarter to early 4th, 3 JMU turnovers plus horrible punt lead to 17 Duke pts and probably cost JMU 2 scores. Instead of what should have been a close game looks like a blowout. Unimaginative playcalling limited to a handful of plays. Only 2 passes in the 1st half, 11 for the game. Many JMU faithful on caazone are calling for Matthews head, ready to committ Hari Kari. Now will Duke go around 4-8, making the the JMU loss still look bad, but not as bad at the end of the season? Will JMU still have a playoff season?

I see a trend here.

[Hansel]

JMU the last 3 season openers:

06' Bloomsburg. JMU only beats the DII powerhouse 14-3.

Bloomsburg is not a DII powerhouse :)

[Col Hogan]

Why do you say the Secondary didnt dominate. If you listened then you would have known that two long pass plays were screen passes that were set up well by Albany. Cant say that was the DBs fault. Those two plays went for around 90 yards of their passing game.

The secondary played well...they did not dominate...I guess its a matter of perspective...

And listening does not get you the same perspective as seeing...

Tomato, tomahto...I dont think we're far off...xpeacex

I'll get to see them in two weeks at JMU...different perspective that I'm really looking forward to...:D

[JMU-MRD-DAD]

JMU the last 3 season openers:

06' Bloomsburg. JMU only beats the DII powerhouse 14-3. Unimaginative playcalling limited to a handful of plays. Many JMU faithful on caazone are calling for Matthews head, ready to committ Hari Kari. By the end of the season the Bloomsburg win still looks bad, but not as bad, as Bloomsburg reels off 11 straight wins before losing in the DII quarterfinals to finish 11-2. JMU goes on to have a good season, finishing 9-3 after losing @ YSU in the 1st round of the playoffs.

07' UNC. 1st quarter + included blocked punt (led to UNC TD), fumble (led to (UNC TD), INT (led to UNC FG). JMU goes down 24-0. Rest of the game despite another blocked punt plays UNC about even score wise and outgains them in total yds, losing 37-14. Unimaginative playcalling limited to a handful of plays. Many JMU faithful on caazone are calling for Matthews head, ready to committ Hari Kari. By the end of the season the UNC loss still looks bad, but not as bad. UNC finishes 4-8, 66th of 120 I-A teams in the Sagarin ratings. JMU goes on to have a good season, finishing 8-4 after 1st round playoff loss @ ASU.

08' Duke. Nightmare 3rd quarter to early 4th, 3 JMU turnovers plus horrible punt lead to 17 Duke pts and probably cost JMU 2 scores. Instead of what should have been a close game looks like a blowout. Unimaginative playcalling limited to a handful of plays. Only 2 passes in the 1st half, 11 for the game. Many JMU faithful on caazone are calling for Matthews head, ready to committ Hari Kari. Now will Duke go around 4-8, making the the JMU loss still look bad, but not as bad at the end of the season? Will JMU still have a playoff season?

I see a trend here.

Thanks for the recap.

A win would have been great but the turnovers killed us. I'm not too worried about the first game and maybe Duke is a much improved team.

Let's get home and get a win and go from there.

Go Dukes

[89Hen]

JMU - 31-7 loser at Duke.. 4 of11 passing .. for just 51 yrds won't get it done vs any decent competition. JMU will have to develope a passing threat to in order to get to the playoffs.
Has to be the surprise of the weekend.

[tribefootballfan]

Why is it that the only reason that JMU ever loses a game is becaues they fumble or have an INT?? Every team in America would be better if they old on to the ball. Just a question??

[mcveyrl]

Why is it that the only reason that JMU ever loses a game is becaues they fumble or have an INT?? Every team in America would be better if they old on to the ball. Just a question??

I'll be the first to admit that we would have had a hard time winning the game without the turnovers.

But, I definitely think the turnovers contributed to the blowout nature of the game (that and 9 pass attempts, only one of which was completed when the game was competitive), which is what surprised most people.

[Tribe4SF]

I'll be the first to admit that we would have had a hard time winning the game without the turnovers.

But, I definitely think the turnovers contributed to the blowout nature of the game (that and 9 pass attempts, only one of which was completed when the game was competitive), which is what surprised most people.

Turnovers go both ways. Duke lost two fumbles as well, both in JMU territory...one on the JMU 22. They could say that the margin could have been wider.

Mickey is the spin master, and he has spun this one to avoid discussing the failings of his game plan, and offensive strategy. He talked on the CAA interview yesterday about how they didn't know anything about Duke. That only flies for the first half, and that's when JMU had its best success.

What Mickey really wanted to talk about yesterday was the guys parachuting into the stadium. He brought it up twice, and went on about it both times. Sounded like it was the highlight of his night.

[mcveyrl]

Turnovers go both ways. Duke lost two fumbles as well, both in JMU territory...one on the JMU 22. They could say that the margin could have been wider.

Mickey is the spin master, and he has spun this one to avoid discussing the failings of his game plan, and offensive strategy. He talked on the CAA interview yesterday about how they didn't know anything about Duke. That only flies for the first half, and that's when JMU had its best success.

What Mickey really wanted to talk about yesterday was the guys parachuting into the stadium. He brought it up twice, and went on about it both times. Sounded like it was the highlight of his night.


I've said on here before that the playcalling confused me. I don't know that Mickey had much of a gameplan in this one. Definitely wasn't to open up the playbook. It was obvious by midway through the first quarter that they were faster than we had expected and were stopping the option pretty well. We needed to pass more than we did early on. Most of Landers passes were pretty good (except for the interception and one floater that was awful...okay, so he had 7 good passes, but 7 of 9 is pretty good!)

Time will tell, but I think this was just Mickey doing his normal FCS v. FBS coaching...which is to say, no coaching. I hope I'm right.

[EmeryZach]

JMU made me look really stupid. I had been telling everyone how they would dominate Duke. I even called a sports talk radio show and talked about it. Damn, I really thought JMU had this one in the bag, or atleast make it close.

I still think JMU is going to get to the championship game though.

[Cobblestone]

URI - 27-24 winner at home vs Monmouth.. URI's new offense (triple option is gone) produced 257 passing.. but only 93 rushing vs a modest opponent. URI will likely struggle vs CAA opposition again this year.



That's because Casey went down in the 1st quarter. From that point we spent more time going to the air.

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

I've said on here before that the playcalling confused me. I don't know that Mickey had much of a gameplan in this one. Definitely wasn't to open up the playbook. It was obvious by midway through the first quarter that they were faster than we had expected and were stopping the option pretty well. We needed to pass more than we did early on. Most of Landers passes were pretty good (except for the interception and one floater that was awful...okay, so he had 7 good passes, but 7 of 9 is pretty good!)

Time will tell, but I think this was just Mickey doing his normal FCS v. FBS coaching...which is to say, no coaching. I hope I'm right.

For your sake, I hope you're right too! Because with UMass, Richmond, App State, Delaware, a rivalry game with W&M and your beloved trip to Orono ahead of you, the Duke game could come back to haunt you. Could cost you a playoff seed, could cost you a playoff bid. Truly don't understand why MM wouldn't change his ways with this FBS game? xconfusedx xpeacex

[jmu_duke07]

For your sake, I hope you're right too! Because with UMass, Richmond, App State, Delaware, a rivalry game with W&M and your beloved trip to Orono ahead of you, the Duke game could come back to haunt you. Could cost you a playoff seed, could cost you a playoff bid. Truly don't understand why MM wouldn't change his ways with this FBS game? xconfusedx xpeacex

Well look at what happened with UNC and what we did to No. 5 UNH the following week... I thought Mickey would've done better against Duke this year but lets just hope this is just a reflection of the beginning of last year.

[bluehenbillk]

Puzzles me people being surprised with JMU's lack of a passing attack. Whether it be Landers injury or whatever, they haven't had one since early in the '07 season. They're a very one-dimensional team.

[mcveyrl]

Puzzles me people being surprised with JMU's lack of a passing attack. Whether it be Landers injury or whatever, they haven't had one since early in the '07 season. They're a very one-dimensional team.

Yea, but they normally like Landers to have at least 100 yds. passing. It was like they didn't even care.

I was at the game and it was worse than normal...

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

Well look at what happened with UNC and what we did to No. 5 UNH the following week... I thought Mickey would've done better against Duke this year but lets just hope this is just a reflection of the beginning of last year.

Wasn't trying to smack JMU. My point is that you have a tougher schedule this year. And UNC isn't viewed as historically as bad as Duke. Much better chance for negative connotation from the Duke loss compared to any of your other FBS losses. Your margin for error in the CAA has diminished IMHO. xpeacex Just win and it won't mean squat.

[jmu_duke07]

Puzzles me people being surprised with JMU's lack of a passing attack. Whether it be Landers injury or whatever, they haven't had one since early in the '07 season. They're a very one-dimensional team.

It's not that we aren't surprised about the lack of passing, it's just surprising because we expected more passing this year than last. From the interviews and press conferences, Mickey Matthews has stated that Rodney would pass more this year. It seems from last game this isn't the case. However, there has only been one game and you can not base a season on just this game.

[BDKJMU]

Why is it that the only reason that JMU ever loses a game is becaues they fumble or have an INT?? Every team in America would be better if they old on to the ball. Just a question??


I'll be the first to admit that we would have had a hard time winning the game without the turnovers.

But, I definitely think the turnovers contributed to the blowout nature of the game (that and 9 pass attempts, only one of which was completed when the game was competitive), which is what surprised most people.

Was actually 11 pass attempts (of only 48 plays). Rodney was 4 of 9 for the 51 yds, Dudzick was 0 of 2.

Without turnovers I think JMU has at least 17 and Duke has no more than 17.

Tribe, its not just the turnovers, its the ratio. Going back the last 4 big games (all losses) UR, @ UD, @ ASU and @ Duke its 13 JMU turnovers to only 6 for the opponents. Bottom line is going against playoff caliber I-AA or weak BCS teams JMU (or probably any other I-AA for that matter) won't win those games being on the bad end of a more than 2-1 turnover ratio.

[BDKJMU]

Wasn't trying to smack JMU. My point is that you have a tougher schedule this year. And UNC isn't viewed as historically as bad as Duke. Much better chance for negative connotation from the Duke loss compared to any of your other FBS losses. Your margin for error in the CAA has diminished IMHO. xpeacex Just win and it won't mean squat.

I was at both the UNC and Duke games. Duke 08' is as good as UNC 07' was. (UNC went 4-8 last year). Thats twice in a row JMU has gotten an ACC with the 1st game under a new coach playing inspired in their home opener under their best home crowd in years. And both times JMU has bungled its chances of if not winning at least keeping the games close by having a horrendous qtr+ (1st qtr+ against UNC and the 3rd qtr+ against Duke.

[BDKJMU]

It's not that we aren't surprised about the lack of passing, it's just surprising because we expected more passing this year than last. From the interviews and press conferences, Mickey Matthews has stated that Rodney would pass more this year. It seems from last game this isn't the case. However, there has only been one game and you can not base a season on just this game.

I wouldn't expect to see mch passing against CCU, because even with 8+ in the box CCU shouldn't be able to stop the run. It will probably be run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, pass, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, pass.

[LacesOut]

I wouldn't expect to see mch passing against CCU, because even with 8+ in the box CCU shouldn't be able to stop the run. It will probably be run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, pass, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, pass.


You forgot to add a few 'fumbles' in that sequence of plays.

[elon77]

I was shocked at the JMU score. I really thought that JMU would beat Duke, or at least make it very close. It's got to be concerning as the JMU offense was supposed to be the strong suit of the team.

As for UR-UVA, we could use any CAA fans who are interested in coming. We had about 2000 at Elon last night, but we'll need more than that to make any noise inside Scott Stadium.

the visitors side at Elon only holds 1500 and it wasn't full, so you might have had a 1000 there, not 2000. But, from my side of the field you looked good and sounded like 2000. Richmond is very good and I think they will win most of their games.xnodx