HARRISONBURG – Maine stunned James Madison 25-24 in overtime Saturday with a well-crafted and daring 2-point conversion to win the game. And the loss left lingering questions, both about the Dukes' execution on that final play and its defensive effort all game long.
With a night to sleep on Saturday’s thrilling and entertaining finish, here is this week’s Upon Further Review.
1) Should JMU have called a timeout before the game-winning 2-point conversion?
Legendary Indiana (and later Texas Tech) basketball coach Bob Knight used to say, he didn’t like to call timeouts late in games because he believed his players were better prepared than his opponents.
Saturday, JMU had the option – and the time – to call timeout before Maine’s 2-point try, but coach Mickey Matthews and his players were confident they had the situation under control.
On the play, Maine had seven players lined up to the left, six bunched as an offensive line and one – running back Pushaun Brown – lined up behind the cluster. To the far right, the team had a wide receiver and its kicker lined up.
In the middle, tight end Justin Perillo was at center, with backup quarterback Chris Treister behind him.
JMU’s defensive scheme ruled out a direct snap to Brown – which is a fake Maine used last year against the Dukes out of a punt formation. The wide receivers were all covered – including Perillo and Brown, who ran curls into the end zone as the play developed.
The only thing left was for Treister to run the ball. JMU’s Vidal Nelson and Dean Marlowe both rushed up to hit Treister short of the goal line. But Treister leapt for the end zone and the impact of Nelson’s hit sent him spiraling through the air before crashing down for the game-winning score.
“In my eyes, it just happened in slow motion,” Robertson said.
But would a timeout have changed the outcome? Matthews didn’t think so.
“When you’re spread out like that, there are so many different things that they can do,” Matthews said. “We had time to call timeout, but we lined up correctly. Just the kid made a great play.”
Maine coach Jack Cosgrove agreed.
“They were lined up right,” the Maine coach – long known for gadget special teams plays – said. “They had everybody covered. The only alternative was the one he took.”
Second down: While passing on the final timeout wasn’t a mistake, playing its cornerbacks so far off of Maine’s wide receivers was.
JMU spent much of the week focused on stopping the running of Maine’s Pushaun Brown, who had torched Delaware for 193 yards and three touchdowns the week before.
But Saturday, it was the Black Bears’ quarterback – Warren Smith – who took apart JMU’s defense. Smith passed for 295 yards and two touchdowns, going 28-for-40.
The Dukes’ defensive backs were leaving 5- and 6-yard cushions between themselves and Maine’s receivers, and Smith was all too happy to fire out quick passes. Of his 28 completions, 24 were for 15 yards or less and 18 were for 10 or less.
“We’re really struggling pass-defense wise,” JMU coach Mickey Matthews said. “We’ve struggled all year. Our secondary’s not playing real well. We can’t make any plays."
So why not have the corners come up and bump the receivers, throwing off Maine’s timing and taking away the quick throws?
“We were trying to get them up there,” Matthews said. “We just couldn’t. I don’t really know why. It’s a great question. I think it’s a confidence thing.”
Huh? When a coach tells a defensive player to play bump-and-run coverage, doesn’t he just listen. Not to go all “A Few Good Men” here but, can JMU players decide which orders they’re going to follow?
“We’re just not very confident in the defensive backfield right now,” Matthews said when pressed. “Any time you’re not confident you don’t get up there.”
For good reason. Despite returning all but one starter in the secondary, JMU is now sixth in the 11-team Colonial Athletic Association in pass defense, giving up 225.8 yards per game through the air.
“If we don’t start playing better pass defense, we won’t win another game,” Matthews said.
Maine backup tight end Justin Perillo had a career day, catching nine passes for 101 yards and the Black Bears’ touchdown in overtime. (Perillo caught eight passes all of last season and his most this year was six against Albany.)
It’s understandable that he wasn’t a focal point of the defense coming in, but by the second half, it’s inconceivable that JMU couldn’t adjust to what he was doing. (Which was mostly running delayed crossing routes over the middle.)
“I think it was some new plays,” Matthews said. “I don’t think he caught that many going into this game.”
Third down: Lost in all the commotion of the furious finish, there were some encouraging performances from the Dukes.
Running back Jordan Anderson picked right up where he left off from the Richmond game. Anderson, a sophomore, took his first carry of the game against Maine up the middle for an 80-yard touchdown.
Anderson, who got all the work in the offensive backfield after Dae’Quan Scott – playing after dislocating his shoulder last week against Richmond – fumbled. Anderson finished with 212 yards – the most for a JMU player since Curtis Keaton ran for 237 in 1999.
Anderson is now sixth in the CAA in rushing despite not playing in two games after fumbling, himself, in the win over Central Connecticut State.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Jace Edwards was accurate throwing the ball Saturday, going 13-for-17 for 98 yards and hitting six receivers. More impressively, Edwards led the Dukes on a 13-play drive for the go-ahead field goal with 2:06 to play, the scored a diving 1-yard touchdown in the overtime (setup by six straight Anderson runs.)
Also of note, redshirt freshman defensive tackle Anthony McDaniel had four tackles, all behind the line of scrimmage, and was in on all three of JMU’s sacks.
PUNTS: The Dukes have now lost their last three overtime games – Saturday against Maine, last year at Richmond and 2009 at Maryland. … Senior defensive tackle Nick Emmons re-injured his left knee. His status is not known. … Next week’s opponent, Villanova, lost 47-17 to New Hampshire.
That stuff about not calling a timeout before that 2 point conversion is a cop-out. They may have still gone for two but I can almost guarantee they do not run that play if you at least call timeout to talk about it. More than likely they just lineup and kick the ball at that point. The way the secondary was covering all game long if they choose to ignore direction to play bump coverage then I bet I could find some guys on the side-line that would get up there like they were told. And why do you get 'cute' on the goaline with the play-calling and try an end-around with a player that it appears has never taken a hand-off. As successful as the running game had been there is no need to get 'cute' with the play calling.
ReplyDeleteAgree with all of the fist post. And how does a TE that looks like he would run about a 10 sec 40 run wild in the secondary all day long?
ReplyDeleteI can understand that lineman sized TE surprising us in the first half, but would have figured that would be a halftime adjustment....isn't that what halftime is for???
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