Field Notes - 9.17.16 - DukesofJMU: James Madison Dukes Football & Basketball Recruiting

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Published Sep 17, 2016

Field Notes - 9.17.16

Greg Madia

Publisher

James Madison suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, falling to FBS North Carolina, 56-28 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill.

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- The two teams combined for 11 touchdown drives. All 11 drives covered at least 72 yards and nine of the 11 drives went at least 75 yards. JMU’s four scoring drives went 82, 75, 75 and 75 yards.

- JMU and North Carolina combined for 1130 yards of offense.

- UNC quarterback Mitch Trubisky threw for a career-high 432 yards while completing 24-27 throws.

- Dukes coach Mike Houston said he was happy with his team’s effort, but disappointed with the amount of “self-inflicted” mistakes on defense. He added penalties and a dropped interception helped UNC’s offense in the few situations JMU could’ve made stops.

- On Trubisky, Houston said, “I think he is a great football player.” Houston pointed out earlier in the week that he thought Trubisky was the key. Houston said he didn’t know if Trubisky isn’t better than Marquise Williams, who played the position for UNC last fall before graduating.

- The teams traded touchdowns into the second quarter. Houston said he was concerned about his team’s depth if the game went into a “track-meet” type deal. The first-year Madison coach said that if JMU could correct some of the problematic mistakes, he wouldn’t had to worry about depth.

- Once again, Houston made sure to identify JMU’s offensive line as an area of strength. JMU ran 50 times for 209 yards.

- Junior quarterback Bryan Schor said JMU was focused to keep executing in the first half after UNC scored to tie the game over and over again. He said, “We just played our game.” Schor threw for 218 yards and a touchdown on 14-22 passing. He also scored on a three-yard rushing touchdown.

- Schor said JMU can take plenty away from the experience of the game. He said at times JMU saw how good it could be, which is exciting.

- Senior running back Khalid Abdullah said UNC made adjustments on defense after the first quarter. Abdullah said UNC opted to bring more pressure by blitzing and stunting its defensive linemen after the first 15 minutes of the game.

- Senior cornerback Taylor Reynolds said North Carolina hit too many big plays. He said the biggest issue was that the momentum swings were too much for JMU to handle. Reynolds added that its something the defense could bounce back from.

- UNC coach Larry Fedora gave credit to Houston and JMU during his press conference. Fedora said, “They came in here and battled. No matter what people say they are a really good football team and they are going to win a lot of football games…We are fortunate and happy to get the win, probably wasn’t the way we drew it up or wanted it, but winning is hard these days.”