Friday, October 23, 2009

GAMEDAY EVE Report: JMU Football vs. William & Mary

#5 William & Mary Tribe (5-1, 2-1) vs.  
JMU Dukes (2-4, 0-3)
Oct. 24, 2009 - 12:05pm - Williamsburg, VA


Televised on Comcast SportsNet


Weather Report
Tailgating
8am
68°
40% (precip)
Mid-tailgate
10am
71°
50%
Getting into the stadium
11am
74°
50%
Kickoff
12:05pm
77°
50%
Game over
3pm
80°
50%

Line for the game

William & Mary by 11.5

Friday, October 16, 2009

GAMEDAY EVE Report: Villanova vs. JMU Football

#6 Villanova Wildcats (2-1, 5-1) vs.
#16 JMU Dukes
(2-3, 0-2)
Oct. 17, 2009 - 3:30pm - Harrisonburg, VA


Watch the game on Madizone
or the Comcast Network (previously CN8)

Weather Report
Tailgating
8am
37°
40% (precip)
Mid-tailgate
11am
42°
30%
Getting into the stadium
2:30pm
43°
30%
Kickoff
3:30pm
43°
30%
Game over
6:30pm
42°
30%

Line for the game

Villanova by 3.5

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Around the CAA: 10/15

To quell some worries and concerns about not making it into the playoffs, let's look at the conference. Given our current condition of having a 2-3 record, the only way to guarantee our way into the playoffs is to win out. If we lose one more, we're potentially out, but not completely. The past two years the CAA has gotten 5 teams in. So if we look at that statistic, and combine it with the fact that at 2-3 we're still ranked at #16, we've been to the playoffs 4 out of the past 5 years, and made it to the semifinals last year, they would likely put us in over other teams (even though the selection committee likes to put us in the worst position possible). Other likely CAA playoff teams, in general order of predicted finish (teams like NE, URI, and TU were left out because I don't view them as real quality wins):

Monday, October 12, 2009

Richmond Recap

First things first, we'll cover the Dudzik controversy, since that's what all the rest of the media wants to cover. Thorpe was named the starter, but Dudzik came in during the second quarter and did indeed provide a spark on offense. Then, after he had already driven for a touchdown and was possibly on his way to a second one, he went to throw the ball away. But, when he planted his foot, something went wrong. A stress fracture that had previously bothered him finally gave way to a break. He stayed in through the next couple plays, but then hobbled off to the locker room. This injury, for awhile, seemed to get into the heads of the JMU team as it took awhile to get back into the swing of things, but was also showed why there has been a "QB battle" going on for so long. Dudzik had been struggling with a stress fracture for quite some time. Drew knew it and the coaches knew it. Dudzik had also suffered a concussion during the Spring Game and got another minor concussion during the Hofstra game. That's two fairly serious injuries that were on the brink of getting much worse.

Knowing that your "game-changing" quarterback that the media and fans had proclaimed the #1 was one bad step or hit from going down for the season...what would you do as a coach? Choice one: play that partially-injured quarterback until he gets fully injured, then have a redshirt-freshman QB step in with absolutely no experience. Choice two: rotate QB's to keep the offense upbeat with Drew and also get Thorpe some experience in case the worst happens. Plus, resting Dudzik every other drive and not having him play for long stretches at a time would have helped extend the time that he could play with the stress fracture. The safer choice is obviously two. This wasn't planning for the future; this was covering your bases for this year so that if Dudzik goes down, Thorpe has had in-game experience to go off of.

Friday, October 9, 2009

GAMEDAY EVE Report: Richmond vs. JMU Football

#1 Richmond Spiders (4-0, 2-0) vs.
#12/13 JMU Dukes
(2-2, 0-1)
Oct. 10, 2009 - 12pm - Harrisonburg, VA


Watch the game on Madizone


Weather Report
Tailgating
8am
62° 40% (precip)
Mid-tailgate
10am
62°20%
Getting into the stadium11am
63
20%
Kickoff12pm63°10%
Game over3pm64°10%

Line for the game

Richmond by 14 (or 54 points if you listen to Mickey Matthews)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Thorpe to Start Against UR

JMU has officially announced that Justin Thorpe will be the starting QB for Saturday's game against the University of Richmond. Drew Dudzik and Thorpe have been in a QB battle since the Spring for the starting position and neither one had made their way to the forefront until now. Some suspect that it may have something to do with Dudzik suffering a minor concussion in last Saturday's game against Hofstra, but Dudzik is still practicing and still plans to get some snaps against the Spiders.

Thorpe: 158.8 efficiency
Passing - 13-19 (68.4%); 189 yards. 1 TD and 1 INT
Rushing - 43 attempts; 225 yards (5.2 avg); 2 TD

Dudzik: 162.4 efficiency
Passing - 25-44 (56.8%); 404 yards, 5 TD and 2 INT
Rushing - 33 attempts; 155 yards (4.7 avg); 1 TD

It will be interesting watch the number of snaps that Drew still gets. If it's not too many, hopefully Thorpe will flourish with the increased experience and will get into a rhythm.

Friday, October 2, 2009

GAMEDAY EVE Report: JMU Football vs. Hofstra

Hofstra Pride (2-2, 0-1) vs.
#6/7 JMU Dukes
(2-1, 0-0)
Oct. 3, 2009 - 3pm - Hempstead, NY


Watch the game on Madizone


Weather Report
Tailgating
12pm
70° 50% (precip)
Getting into the stadium
2pm
70°40%
Kickoff3pm70°40%
Game over6pm69°30%

Line for the game

JMU by 14