HARRISONBURG — Despite graduating a starting running back and three offensive linemen from its national championship squad, James Madison’s identity remained the same and its smashmouth spread offense worked just fine last week with some new personnel.
The Dukes ripped off three scoring runs of 70 yards or more in a season-opening 34-14 rout of FBS East Carolina.
“What I liked for us was our physicality,” senior left guard A.J. Bolden said. “Our physicality brought us everything as far as our success being able to run the ball, pass the ball and setting the pass up off the run.”
Today, FCS No. 1 JMU (1-0) welcomes East Tennessee State (1-0) to Harrisonburg for the Dukes’ first home game at Bridgeforth Stadium since last year’s postseason.
Led by coach Carl Torbush, East Tennessee State knows exactly what it’s up against.
“They’re good enough athletically right now and coaching-wise to play on the FBS level week after week,” Torbush said. “They just proved it against East Carolina.
“I think [JMU] coach [Mike] Houston and [offensive coordinator Donnie] Kirkpatrick have done a great job getting them in position to be successful. And everywhere he’s been, they throw the ball extremely well, but the name of the game is being able to run the ball.”
Torbush said the Buccaneers must limit JMU’s rushing attack if they want a shot at staying in the game.
In the 16 games JMU has played under Houston, the Dukes as a team have registered eight 300-yard rushing performances including two 400-yard rushing efforts. Nineteen individual rushers have eclipsed the 100-yard mark.
Kirkpatrick said JMU was aided last week by a rotation of seven offensive linemen. JMU used its five starters and two off the bench to keep the legs of the unit fresh. Those linemen helped fifth-year senior running back Cardon Johnson carry 17 times for a career-high 265 yards and two touchdowns.
Through one week of the season, Johnson leads the FCS in rushing yards and yards per carry (15.59).
“Cardon Johnson was there when I was there,” ETSU offensive coordinator Mike O’Cain said. O’Cain was on staff at JMU under former Dukes coach Mickey Matthews in 2013.
“He was on the scout team,” O’Cain continued. “But the one thing you saw from him in high school is that he possessed very, very good speed, so you felt like he had a chance to be very good. It was a matter of how he’d develop.”
The Dukes plan on continuing to use a rotation of linemen moving forward. Last season, they simply stuck with five starters.
The group’s toughest matchup might be keeping East Tennessee State defensive lineman Nasir Player out of the backfield. Player led the team with 10 tackles last week in ETSU’s 31-10 win over Division II Limestone College.
“He would start on our defense,” Houston said. “He would start on most teams, I’d say, at the FCS level and probably the mid-major level. He’s a special player.”
Dating back to last season, ETSU hasn’t allowed an opponent to score more than 16 points in its last three games. That includes a 15-14 win over Samford in last year’s finale.
“Billy Taylor, the defensive coordinator, I’ve gone against him a lot,” Kirkpatrick said. “When I was at Chattanooga, he was at East Tennessee State the first time.
“We had battles and they were always so well prepared defensively. Their scheme is challenging. It’s a slant-and-angle 3-4-type defense. It’s very multiple and it can cause you a lot of problems.”
Bolden said knowing the challenge JMU had, it didn’t take the team long to move on from its win at ECU.
East Tennessee State is in just its third season of playing after restarting its program in 2014.
“That was a big concern coming into this week with going back into FCS play,” Bolden said. “You don’t want to sidetracked by an FBS win.
“The thing with us is we want to continue to be ourselves and continue to maintain what we have going on. The thing is we stay tight and we don’t overlook anybody.”
JMU holds the longest active winning streak in all of Division I at 13 games.
Torbush said even though his team has shown steady improvement since the program’s reboot, it’d still be a bigger upset for the Bucs to top the Dukes than the Dukes knocking off ECU last week.
“Absolutely. I think that was a big win against East Carolina,” Torbush said. “But quite honestly, knowing both teams, I thought it was a close ballgame. I’m not sure that I thought James Madison would win, but I knew they’d have a chance to win.
“Other than our coaching staff, our players, our fans and our parents, there’s probably nobody else that thinks we’re going to go into JMU and beat them except us.”
