If you're like me, THIS is the game I've had circled on the calendar all summer. Not Virginia Tech. Not NC State. Not App State. It's the Dukes coming in with their pomp & circumstance, regaling us with their streamers and pinky fingers out.
Contrary to popular belief, this team CAN be had if you stick to your plan and play disciplined assignment-sound football. Yes, their rush defense numbers look impressive - and some of that is by design - they have no qualms about selling out to stop the run on every down and distance. Some of that has came back to bite them as not only have they given up a lot of passing yards but the pass efficiency defense is rather ordinary. What we've seen nearly every game is teams deciding to abandon the run without really giving it a chance. Ex. - against Troy in a close game throughout. Despite Troy having one of the country's best running backs that already has two 200 yard rushing days, they decided to run him a total of 11 times for 27 yards. Instead, they dropped Gunnar Watson back 52 times. He was sacked 6 times for -44 yards and threw a costly interception.
Their pass rush has been relentless - 26 sacks in 6 games. End Jalen Green is third in the country with 8 sacks. Ten different members of the defense have at least one sack.
Offensively, we're going to have to be patient with the run game but also win some battles downfield. JMU wants us to play the whole game offensively within 5-7 yards of the line of the scrimmage....and if you've seen our offense, that's pretty much our bread and butter.
Defensively, we're going to have to be gap sound and have no assignment mistakes on the perimeter. We've been bludgeoned the past 3 games with technique and mental errors and now we have depth issues at the first two levels.
Can we beat this team? Absolutely. Is it going to take our best game so far to do it? You're darn right. They had 5 turnovers in one game and 1 total turnover in the other 5 games combined. Their due to give it to us a few times Thursday. We just can't return the favors.
Contrary to popular belief, this team CAN be had if you stick to your plan and play disciplined assignment-sound football. Yes, their rush defense numbers look impressive - and some of that is by design - they have no qualms about selling out to stop the run on every down and distance. Some of that has came back to bite them as not only have they given up a lot of passing yards but the pass efficiency defense is rather ordinary. What we've seen nearly every game is teams deciding to abandon the run without really giving it a chance. Ex. - against Troy in a close game throughout. Despite Troy having one of the country's best running backs that already has two 200 yard rushing days, they decided to run him a total of 11 times for 27 yards. Instead, they dropped Gunnar Watson back 52 times. He was sacked 6 times for -44 yards and threw a costly interception.
Their pass rush has been relentless - 26 sacks in 6 games. End Jalen Green is third in the country with 8 sacks. Ten different members of the defense have at least one sack.
Offensively, we're going to have to be patient with the run game but also win some battles downfield. JMU wants us to play the whole game offensively within 5-7 yards of the line of the scrimmage....and if you've seen our offense, that's pretty much our bread and butter.
Defensively, we're going to have to be gap sound and have no assignment mistakes on the perimeter. We've been bludgeoned the past 3 games with technique and mental errors and now we have depth issues at the first two levels.
Can we beat this team? Absolutely. Is it going to take our best game so far to do it? You're darn right. They had 5 turnovers in one game and 1 total turnover in the other 5 games combined. Their due to give it to us a few times Thursday. We just can't return the favors.
| Marshall 4-2 | James Madison 6-0 | |
| PPG | 30.3 (55th) | 34.5 (28th) |
| Points Allowed | 28.5 (87th) | 21.0 (41st) |
| Total Offense | 420.8 (48th) | 399.0 (64th) |
| Rush Offense | 156.0 (63rd) | 154.5 (67th) |
| Pass Offense | 264.8 (43rd) | 244.5 (54th) |
| Offensive Pass Effic | 138.91 (57th) | 160.2 (25th) |
| 3rd Down Offense | 31% (120th) | 29% (127th) |
| Total Defense | 370.3 (62nd) | 353.0 (53rd) |
| Rush Defense | 191.8 (116th) | 42.8 (1st) |
| Pass Defense | 178.5 (15th) | 310.2 (127th) |
| Defensive Pass Effic | 107.03 (11th) | 129.08 (56th) |
| 3rd Down Defense | 28% (6th) | 34% (35th) |
| Turnover Margin Per Game | -0.33 (90th) | +0.67 (24th) |
| Penalty Yards Per Game | 57.5 (89th) | 47.3 (48th) |
