His introduction to college football came against the same bunch he’ll face on Saturday in the final game of his career.
James Madison senior center Mac Patrick certainly knows North Dakota State very well.
The noon kickoff pitting the Dukes against the Bison for the FCS national championship marks the third time in the last four years the two with a stranglehold on the subdivision will meet in the postseason, and Patrick played in the first clash even when it was not expected.
“It’s molded who I am as a player now,” the 6-foot-2, 288-pounder said.
He was a freshman then, when the Dukes needed anything but a wide-eyed rookie’s effort at the FargoDome in the 2016 national semifinals.
That night the team’s fifth-year senior center, Kyle Rigney, got hurt in the second quarter and Patrick replaced him. Patrick had appeared in seven games as a true freshman prior to the semifinal at North Dakota State, but those snaps weren’t meaningful, weren’t with the first-team offense and wasn’t inside a deafening dome.
“Seeing Kyle Rigney go down, there was nothing really going through my head,” Patrick recalled. “It’s, ‘All right, coach. I’m in.’ That was my initial reaction and that I’m going to do what I’ve been coached to do.
“And then you go in for halftime after the second quarter, because I went in at the end of the second quarter, and at halftime everyone is coming up to you with ‘You can do it! We believe in you! We got you and we’re right there with you.’ And that’s when the nerves really set in.”
No one could tell though, according to former Dukes quarterback Bryan Schor, who threw for three touchdowns in that 27-17 win for JMU.
“It’s funny because I almost didn’t even think about it,” Schor said. “It’s almost more of a credit to how impressed we were with Mac and how good of a football player we thought he was and how good he is now.
“He came in and it was just like, ‘OK, Mac is just going to snap the ball now and we’ll keep things going.’ So it’s a big credit to Mac, because he replaced Kyle Rigney, who was a really good center and he really commanded the offensive line and told people where to go and what blocks to make. But Mac came in and didn’t have to do anything special, just did his role and continued to let us thrive that night.”
Patrick, who will start for the 44th time at the position Saturday, said he can remember how loud it was on the Bison’s home turf and that no one on JMU’s roster thought the game was secured until the clock hit zero.
“It took me a little bit to calm down in that second half,” Patrick said. “But it never really dawned on me about how big that moment was. When you’re a freshman, you don’t know any better, but playing in the FargoDome in the semifinals, that’s a huge moment so I’m honestly glad that I didn’t know that because I probably would’ve freaked out.”
Patrick said in the 2017 championship game when North Dakota State beat the Dukes, NDSU was a smarter, more experienced group than the year before and didn’t make mistakes.
He said this season’s version of the Bison is similar.
“That experience of being in that moment and not having it be too big, that was awesome for them at least [in 2017] and not for us,” said Patrick, from Hanover High near Richmond. “But I think this time, experience will help you, but our team is too determined and we have a lot of experienced guys that have played. Maybe not two years ago, but a lot of guys who have played recently, came back and I don’t know if we can be denied right now.”
JMU coach Curt Cignetti called Patrick ‘a rock’ for the Dukes.
“He’s so mentally tough,” Cignetti said. “He’s a good player and he’s so dependable.
“Throughout his career, he’s played through various injuries but hasn’t missed time and that’s such a valuable position at center. It’s kind of like having a quarterback play for four years.”
