James Madison finally got over its playoff hump Saturday, dominating New Hampshire 55-22 in the second round at Bridgeforth Stadium. The Dukes advance to host Sam Houston State next week in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
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- The 55 points Madison scored set a school record for points in a postseason game.
- The win for JMU was its first in the playoffs since 2011. The Dukes reached the postseason in 2014 and 2015, but were knocked out in their first games in each year.
- Junior quarterback Bryan Schor set a career-best mark for passing yards with 371 against the Wildcats. His five touchdown throws also tied a career-best, which he set earlier this season against Rhode Island.
- Schor, who was injured and hadn’t played since JMU’s win on Nov. 12 at Villanova, said he felt like he’d be ready to be play going into the game. The signal-caller admitted he was a little nervous, but that since he hadn’t missed too much practice, he thought he’d ultimately be able to play well.
- New Hampshire stacked the box against JMU’s offense and throughout the game Schor and his receivers beat the packed-front by throwing the ball over the top of the defense. Schor said he wasn’t surprised UNH planned to stop the run, since the Wildcats did so earlier this year when JMU won in Durham.
- JMU coach Mike Houston said New Hampshire really gambled to stop the run aggressively as it tried to. Houston said UNH decided to play mostly man coverage on the perimeter, which led Schor to take shots down the field. Houston added, “I’ll take our guys one-on-one in man coverage against just about anybody.”
- Offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick said he thought Schor’s time off actually helped the quarterback. Kirkpatrick said occasionally throughout the course of a long season, quarterbacks tend to lose a little velocity off their throws because of how much they’ve thrown in games and practices. Since Schor missed two weeks of practice with the injury, Kirkpatrick said Schor not only got healthy, but regained arm strength. Kirkpatrick said he though Schor “had a lot of zip” on his passes Saturday.
- Senior wide receiver Brandon Ravenel racked up 263 all-purpose yards, which set a career best and a JMU school playoff record for all-purpose in a single game. Ravenel had eight catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns. The 155 receiving yards was also the most Ravenel has had in a single game in his career.
- Kirkpatrick said Ravenel had a slow start to the season, but “is playing lights out right now.”
- Ravenel said he was happy just to get a win in the postseason and contribute on both offense and special teams. Ravenel’s 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown came right after a New Hampshire touchdown and pushed JMU’s lead to 38-15. Ravenel said him and the other guys on kickoff return wanted to grab momentum right back from New Hampshire at that point.
- Houston said he thought winning the special teams battle played a huge role in winning the game. Between Ravenel’s return, Rashard Davis’ 40-yard punt return and long snapper Brett Siegel's fumble recovery a muffed punt, the Dukes managed to get a touchdown and setup two touchdowns via special teams.
- Defensively, JMU limited the Wildcats to 268 total yards of offense. Linebacker Gage Steele had an interception and defensive tackle Martez Stone had a sack. New Hampshire coach Sean McDonnell said JMU was much better Saturday than when New Hampshire scored 39 points against JMU in October. McDonnell said JMU is playing much more downhill now.
- JMU defensive end Andrew Ankrah agreed with McDonnell and said, “we’re not the same defense that we were when we played them last.”
- Ankrah said JMU got word just before the game Saturday that Trevor Knight would start at quarterback for UNH. Ankrah said it didn’t matter who the quarterback was for the Wildcats because JMU’s game plan was similar for both of them.
- McDonnell and UNH hold the longest consecutive playoff appearance streak in the country at 13 years. When he was asked how JMU compares to other great teams UNH has played in the past, he said JMU compares well. “We’ve played a really good Montana team, we’ve played North Dakota State, we’ve played Illinois State,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ve ever played an offense explosive as those guys [JMU] with what they’ve got.”
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