HARRISONBURG — Today, Donnie Kirkpatrick might have to divert from what’s worked for his dominating offense all season long.
The first-year James Madison offensive coordinator and play-caller has leaned on the Dukes’ rushing attack to move the ball efficiently and help win games. JMU ranks second nationally in rushing offense, averaging more than 339 yards per game. Senior running back Khalid Abdullah sits within the top six nationally in every major rushing category – yards, touchdowns, yards per game and yards per carry.
“I like the way that our offensive line is playing. I like the way we’re knocking people off the ball. I love the way our running backs are running with the ball,” Kirkpatrick said. “What’s happened is, and this is a good thing, we’ve been able to get ahead. When you get ahead, you can the run ball successfully and put games away to keep your defense off the field. Obviously that’s the formula we’d like to continue to use, but the one big thing that I probably have looked at hard this week is that we haven’t thrown the ball as deep as I’d like to.”
And this afternoon, No. 7 JMU (5- 1, 3-0) may have to throw beyond the opposing secondary at New Hampshire (4- 2, 3-0) to continue its winning ways in a game pitted between two teams unbeaten in Colonial Athletic Association play.
The Dukes and Wildcats are tied with Villanova atop the CAA standings.
Kickoff at Wildcat Stadium in Durham, N. H., is set for noon.
New Hampshire boasts the top run defense JMU has seen to this point in the season. The Wildcats are yielding only 128.5 rushing yards per game for the year and only 108 rushing yards per game since the start of league action.
Kirkpatrick said JMU needed to develop a vertical passing game anyway, but this particular matchup with New Hampshire provides more reason to go to it than any of the previous six games.
“New Hampshire is really a good run-defensive team,” Kirkpatrick said. “They put a lot of emphasis on it. They’re 3-0 in the league and they’ve won three in a row. They probably figure that the philosophy is working and I do think with so many guys up there playing so close to the line of scrimmage, that we have to take advantage of the deep ball.”
No wide receiver on the JMU roster has a catch longer than 39 yards. The longest passing play came on a swing pass quarterback Bryan Schor lofted to running back Cardon Johnson for a 68-yard catch-and-run touchdown at North Carolina in Week 3.
Schor and his receivers — Terrence Alls, Rashard Davis, Brandon Ravenel and Domo Taylor — have the ability to connect on long throws, Kirkpatrick said.
New Hampshire freshman safety Pop Lacey leads the team with 40 tackles. He’s often hovering near the line of scrimmage before the snap.
Eighteenth-year New Hampshire coach Sean McDonnell said his team’s 3-0 start in league play is partly due to its success against opposing running games.
“We’ve been able to hold on against the run. We’ve really done a decent job against the run in most of our games,” McDonnell said. “And then we’ve made some plays when we needed to make plays in the fourth quarter of some games.”
To beat Elon last Friday, New Hampshire got two fourth-quarter field goals in a 13-10 victory. The Wildcats used two fourth-quarter touchdowns to separate from both Rhode Island and William & Mary in the two weeks before the Elon game.
“They do the things that teams need to do in order to win,” JMU coach Mike Houston said. “That’s a sign of a veteran team that has a lot of self-confidence.”
Under McDonnell, New Hampshire has reached the FCS playoffs in each of the last 12 years. The streak is the longest in the nation.
The Wildcats best player — senior Dalton Crossan — resides in the backfield. The running back leads the CAA in all-purpose yardage and is fourth in the league in rushing yards. Using an offense system with roots tied to 49ers coach Chip Kelly, who was the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire 10 years ago, Crossan has touched the ball on 32-percent of the team’s total snaps this season.
“They have a good offensive scheme,” Houston said. “But he’s a physical runner. He can run around you or run over you.”
