HARRISONBURG — With 22 days between its win in the semifinals last week over North Dakota State and its appearance in the FCS championship game against Youngstown State on Jan. 7, James Madison has time to spare.
For coach Mike Houston, aside from season openers, it’s the longest amount of time he’s ever had to prepare for one game.
But for members of his staff, the situation is a little more familiar.
JMU has seven assistant coaches who held jobs or were graduate assistants on the FBS level in the past — all seven have coached in bowl games.
The time span between the end of the FBS regular season and bowl games is about the same length of time the Dukes (13-1) have in preparation for the Penguins (12-3).
“I think that’s definitely a great analogy right there because it’s very much what we’re treating it like,” Houston said. “We’re treating it like a bowl game because you have a little bit of a break, practice without school in session and a remote location you’re going to.”
Houston has given his players off through Tuesday to go home for the holidays. The team will reconvene in Harrisonburg to resume practice Wednesday for a week before flying to Frisco, Texas — the site of the title game — Jan. 4.
The Dukes will practice Jan. 5 and hold a walk-through on Jan. 6 in Frisco.
JMU run-game coordinator and tight ends coach Bryan Stinespring spent the last 26 seasons at Virginia Tech working for Frank Beamer. In that time, the Hokies appeared in 23 bowl games.
“I feel like I’m finally back on a bowl schedule,” Stinespring said. “In the playoffs, it’s like you’re still in season. I like everything about it, but it’s different other than this championship game because, in my previous life, the bowl game was the finale.
“You had all this build up to that one game. Here, you’re one-and-done or one-and-advance. That’s exciting, that element of it, but make no mistake, it’s difficult. The regular season is a grind in of itself and with the playoffs, you have to manage to keep going with the stakes getting bigger and bigger and bigger one week to the next toward the ultimate prize.”
Houston said he consulted those assistants with vast bowl experience early this week when he was outlining Madison’s schedule leading up to the showdown with Youngstown State.
Before joining Houston’s staff, offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick helped East Carolina reach eight bowl games in the last 11 seasons as an assistant.
Defensive coordinator Bob Trott went to bowl games in his time as assistant at Arkansas and Air Force.
Special teams coordinator John Bowers was on the Ohio State staff in 2013 when the Buckeyes appeared in the Orange Bowl.
“You bounce stuff off your staff like, ‘How does this compare to whatever bowl you’re going to?’” Houston said. “I think that experience was good to have just from a reinforcing factor.
“You just have so many factors like from when you’re shipping equipment out even though you still have to practice here a little bit after the equipment goes out. Fortunately, we have several helmets here at JMU, so the helmets are on the truck and headed to Frisco before we are, but there’s just lots of logistical stuff with the whole deal that you have to plan out and that is so different from anything else.”
After JMU beat New Hampshire in the second-round of the FCS playoffs, Kirkpatrick said it was easier to prep for a bowl game than gear up for each next step in a postseason tournament.
“The bowls are much easier because you only have to play one time and you practice a long time for it,” Kirkpatrick said. “There’s a lot of fun involved for this, but it seems like more work.”
Youngstown State coach Bo Pelini has readied for bowl games. In his seven seasons as coach at Nebraska, he led the Cornhuskers in six bowl appearances. A few of his assistants — defensive coordinator Carl Pelini, offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery, wide receivers coach Brian Crist and defensive backs coach Richard McNutt — also have experience on the sideline in bowl games.
