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Another Week, Another Stout CAA Defense Awaits JMU

James Madison coach Mike Houston runs to celebrate the Dukes' win with his players this past Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg.
James Madison coach Mike Houston runs to celebrate the Dukes' win with his players this past Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg. (Daniel Lin/DN-R)

HARRISONBURG — Like James Madison’s first three conference foes, William & Mary is better on defense than it is on offense.

The Tribe, despite a 2-4 record, is in the top 20 nationally for both scoring defense, allowing 17.7 points per game, and total defense, yielding 291.5 yards per contest.

Top-ranked JMU travels to Williamsburg for a 3:30 p.m. showdown with William & Mary on Saturday.

“The defensive line has been playing out of their minds,” William & Mary leading tackler Nate Atkins said. “There’s nothing a linebacker wants more than to have a dominant defensive lineman in front of him every play, so I can’t give them enough credit.”

The sophomore linebacker has racked up 52 tackles this season and did admit the defensive players could end up pressuring themselves week after week in order to compensate for its offense.

William & Mary is scoring only 15.8 points per game and coach Jimmye Laycock has turned the offense over to true freshman quarterback Shon Mitchell.

“I think there very well could be [pressure], but our focus has been trying to do what we do,” Atkins said. “We know what our defense is capable of and we’ve been able to show that this year.

“When you try to do too much, that’s when things can go wrong. So the thing we’ve been trying to stress is to trust ourselves to do the job. Our part is our part.”

The trend is across the Colonial Athletic Association.

Entering Week 8, the league has five teams — JMU, Albany, Villanova, William & Mary and Delaware — in the top 20 nationally for both scoring defense and total defense. None of the league’s 12 teams are among the nation’s 20 worst for scoring defense or total defense.

But only two CAA squads — JMU and Richmond — are in the top 20 nationally for both scoring offense and total offense. And the league has two teams — Towson and William & Mary — sitting in the bottom 20 nationally for both scoring offense and total offense.

“I don’t know why so many [defenses in the CAA] are playing at a high level this year, but it is a fact,” JMU coach Mike Houston said. “We’ve seen three in a row that have been very solid, especially compared to what we see in non-conference play.

“But I think it kind of fits this conference. This is a blue-collar conference and one that’s always been the rough-and-tumble, beat-each-other-up conference, so I think most of the teams in our league have that identity of being a strong defensive team.”

Houston said defensive coaches could be catching up on how to defend spread offenses, and used defensive coordinator Bob Trott’s game plan for Sam Houston State as an example.

Sam Houston State entered last year’s FCS quarterfinal in Harrisonburg averaging better than 53 points, 570 total yards and 385 passing yards per game. JMU played as many as five cornerbacks on the field at the same time to take away the Bearkats’ passing game and held them to a season-low seven points, 270 total yards and 158 passing yards.

Houston also noted rosters throughout the league have similar players as another possible reason for why the defenses are ahead of offenses more than halfway through the season.

“The recruiting areas,” Houston said. “Maybe the northeast and Virginia lend itself to being a little more hard-nosed … but the fact is that in the CAA you have some of the top defenses in the country.”

William & Mary junior linebacker Josh Dulaney said he could only speak for the Tribe’s defense and not the rest of the league, but added that he believes experience, coaching continuity and chemistry helps develop an elite defense.

“We’re a super close-knit group and that relationship was built this summer,” Dulaney said. “I just know going into a game I can trust anyone in front of me or behind me and everyone will do their job.”

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