DURHAM, N.H. – For the second straight week, a slow start by the defense and even slower finish by the offense left James Madison trekking home with a loss.
The Dukes fell behind 25-10 early in the second quarter and were shutout again in the second half as New Hampshire moved into a three-way tie for first place in the Colonial Athletic Association with a 28-10 win in front of 4,466 fans at Cowell Stadium on Saturday on an unseasonably warm November day in New England.
And now Madison is on the brink of missing the playoffs for the third straight year.
“We just got stopped,” said JMU coach Mickey Matthews, whose team has managed just three second-half points in its three CAA losses.
No. 9 New Hampshire (7-2 overall, 5-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association) got two big kick returns and scored on its first four possessions to win its third straight.
The No. 13 Dukes (5-4, 3-3) killed themselves with eight penalties for 73 yards, including a critical holding call on left tackle Matt Cunningham – playing for the injured A.J. Scott – that erased a 17-yard touchdown pass from redshirt freshman Jace Edwards to junior tight end Brian Barlow in the third quarter.
“I don’t know if we would’ve beat them if we had that touchdown, but we sure would have made it interesting,” JMU coach Mickey Matthews said.
Neither team scored a touchdown in the second half as what looked to be a shootout in the first quarter turned into a snooze-fest. UNH added only a late field goal.
JMU got 111 rushing yards from Dae’Quan Scott, playing after dislocating his left shoulder for the second time in last Saturday’s loss to Old Dominion.
The Dukes’ defense sacked New Hampshire quarterback Kevin Decker five times and held the CAA’s top passer to just 186 yards and a touchdown and picked him off in the second half.
“We knew what they were defensively,” UNH coach Sean McDonnell said. “They’ve got guys who can really run to the football. Their front four are good and their two linebackers are unbelievable.”
But New Hampshire’s defense, statistically one of the weakest in the league this year, turned in a huge second half against the beat-up JMU offense. The Dukes were playing without both its starting tackles, and quarterback Jace Edwards – who also dislocated his shoulder earlier this year – rolled his ankle in the first quarter.
Edwards finished 18-for-31 for 159 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked five times. It was the touchdown pass he threw to Barlow that didn’t count that may have been the biggest play of the day.
“I didn’t even see the flag until after the touchdown,” Edwards said. “That’s a tough one. I definitely thought we were about to get back in the game right there.”
For UNH, running back Dontra Peters rushed for 87 yards and two touchdowns.
The Wildcats got off to a great start Saturday thanks to shoddy kick coverage by the Dukes.
R.J. Harris returned the game’s opening kickoff 23 yards and UNH got an additional 15 tacked on thanks to a facemask call on JMU’s Jakarie Jackson. That gave the Wildcats the ball near midfield.
Five plays and 51 yards later, Peters rushed in from three yards out with the day’s first score. New Hampshire added a two-point conversion to go up 8-0 just 1:36 into the game.
UNH’s next scoring drive was even shorter. It started at JMU’s 25-yard line – after a 55-yard return by Harris and an offsides penalty on the kickoff. New Hampshire’s Mike MacArthur hit a 36-yard field goal to put UNH up 11-3 with 7:38 left in the first quarter.
“We were in tough positions with the field position,” senior defensive end D.J. Bryant said. “They have a great quarterback, a great offense. We just can’t give them 35 yards to score a touchdown.”
JMU got itself back into things with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to Barlow, making it 11-10 UNH with 3:39 left in the opening period.
But as fast as JMU scored, the Wildcats answered. Decker hit Sean Cullen for a 19-yard touchdown to go up 18-10 with 54 seconds left in the first.
In the second quarter, Peters scored his second touchdown of the game on a 9-yard run to make it 25-10.
The defense seemed to settle in after that and JMU went to the half down 25-10. In the second half, the Dukes defense turned dominant. New Hampshire managed just 94 yards of offense after the break.
“They brought some different blitzes,” Decker said. “They changed from a four-down to a three-down front. When they got confidence you could tell they’re a real good defense. We were fortunate to get up on them in the first half because they were playing very, very hard in the second half.”
But New Hampshire’s defense was equally effective, and JMU’s offense equally inept.
A week after managing just 77 yards and no points in the second half against ODU, the Dukes totaled 136 yards and no points after the break Saturday.
“I think they got a little embarrassed and a little bit ticked off and then played,” McDonnell said of his defensive players. “As the game grew, I think their confidence grew.”
While UNH will battle the final two weeks with Maine and Towson for a CAA title, the Dukes must beat Rhode Island and Massachusetts just to become playoff eligible.
And there’s no guarantee that at seven wins JMU would receive an at-large bid to the tournament, despite playing in the always-tough CAA.
“The committee always says Division [I-A] losses do not count against you,” said Matthews, whose team opened the year with a 42-10 loss at North Carolina. “So I think if we win the next two we’ll be in. We’re certainly not a shoe in.”
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