Dukes Use Strong Second Half To Beat East Carolina

It was supposed to be when the depth of 85 scholarship players dwarfed and took a toll on the 63 James Madison brought with it to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday.

But the reigning FCS champion Dukes used a 27-point second half to separate from and beat the FBS Pirates 34-14 in front of 40,169 faithful ECU fans in Greenville, N.C., on Saturday.

No. 1 JMU (1-0) put together three rushing plays of 70 yards or more in the final 30 minutes to power past its overmatched opponent.

“We had a very physical and a very challenging preseason camp,” second-year JMU coach Mike Houston said. “And that I thought was the difference in tonight’s ballgame.

“I thought just with the way we were able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football, running for 400 yards or whatever it was, and then holding them to 80 yards rushing, to me, that’s the difference.”

Fifth-year senior running back Cardon Johnson set the tone for the Dukes on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter.

Johnson, playing in his first game back since suffering an Achilles injury late last season, took a handoff, made one cut and outran every defender for an 85-yard touchdown to give his team a 14-0 advantage.

The only time the game got close again was when ECU (0-1) scored after the teams traded turnovers. Pirates running back Darius Pinnix crossed the goal line on a 6-yard run to cut JMU’s lead to just one touchdown again with about 10 minutes to go in the third quarter, but that’s all the Dukes’ defense would allow until the final minute — when the game was already decided.

JMU’s defense forced four turnovers, including junior cornerback Rashad Robinson’s third-quarter interception in the end zone. ECU quarterback Thomas Sirk tried to connect with Biletnikoff Award watch list wide receiver Jimmy Williams, but Robinson ripped the ball out of the air and away from the senior pass-catcher.

“Coach [defensive coordinator Bob] Trott always preaches we need to create the key turnovers,” said JMU senior safety Raven Greene, who recovered a fumble late in the third quarter. “Because putting the offense in a great position is always going to be a great benefit.”

Greene’s recovery came on a fourth-and-2 stop when Pinnix lost the ball trying to fight for a first down inside Dukes territory.

The ensuing possession resulted in points for the JMU offense. Quarterback Bryan Schor threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end Nick Carlton to cap a 10-play drive.

JMU forced two more turnovers than ECU did and had 14 points off of turnovers.

Schor’s touchdown throw put JMU ahead 21-7 entering the final 15 minutes.

“I think we went into the game pretty confident,” Schor said. “We’ve had success in the past and we felt like we were returning a core group of guys and I think with our team, we expect to put in the work during the week and come out here and expect to win.”

In the fourth quarter, Johnson had an 80-yard touchdown run and Georgia Tech transfer Marcus Marshall had a 70-yard rushing score. Marshall’s touchdown gave JMU a 34-7 lead with 2:34 to play.

Johnson finished with a career-high 265 rushing yards, becoming the first player to run for at least 200 yards against ECU since Maryland’s Da’Rel Scott did it against the Pirates in the 2010 Military Bowl.

As a team, the Dukes ran for 422 yards and a staggering 9.6 yards per carry, in an effort to outgain ECU 614 total yards of offense to 372 total yards of offense.

“You get outgained 600 yards-plus to 350 yards-plus, and you look at the score sheet and you see time of possession is the same, and you see you ran more plays than the other team, it lets you know you weren’t doing anything with the ball when you had the ball,” ECU coach Scottie Montgomery said. “That’s what happened.

“I thought our offense didn’t give our defense any energy in the first half. The defense I felt wore a little bit at the end once they continued to put up points on the board. If you play like that together, you end up losing the football game the way that we lost.”

ECU paid JMU $300,000 for making the trip.

JMU’s win was its sixth-ever and second in the last three seasons against an FBS opponent. JMU knocked off SMU in Dallas in 2015.

For ECU, the loss snapped a 25-game winning streak against FCS foes.

“They say FBS, FCS and that it might be a different competition level,” Johnson said. “But I think we prove that it’s not.”

James Madison 7 0 14 13—34

East Carolina 0 0 7 7—14

First Quarter

JMU—Schor 4 run (Gray kick), 5:11

Third Quarter

JMU—Johnson 85 run (Gray kick), 14:41

ECU—Pinnix 6 run (Verity kick), 10:11

JMU—Carlton 17 pass from Schor (Gray kick), 0:06

Fourth Quarter

JMU—Johnson 80 run (kick failed), 11:36

JMU—Marshall 70 run (Ratke kick), 2:34

ECU—Scott 1 run (Verity kick), 0:23

Individual Stats

RUSHING—JMU: Johnson 17-265, Marshall 10-88, Schor 10-48, Sharp 4-11, Woods 1-11, Miller 1-1, Team 1-(-2). ECU: Scott 12-45, Williams 1-12, Sirk 4-7, Pinnix 3-7, Howe 4-7, Grayson 1-4, Minshew 3-3, Team 2-(-5).

PASSING—JMU: Schor 15-22-1, 192. ECU: Sirk 21-35-2, 210, Minshew 7-18-1, 82.

RECEIVING—JMU: Miller 4-42, Eldridge 3-51, Hyman 3-49, Carlton 3-38, Johnson 2-12. ECU: Grayson 7-86, Farrier 7-68, Brown 4-43, Williams 3-41, Johnson 3-28, Deans 2-18, Baggett 1-5, Scott 1-3.