James Madison won its season opener, 80-7 over Morehead State on Saturday night. JMU set a school record for points in a single game during its blowout victory.
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- To begin his postgame press conference, Dukes coach Mike Houston said he "was very happy” with the way his team approached the game Saturday. The first-year coach said he was pleased with how JMU was able to execute on offense, defense and special teams throughout the entirety of the contest.
- Houston also made a point to credit his assistant coaches. Bob Trott’s defense produced five takeaways, which led to four touchdowns. JMU scored 28 points off of the turnovers. Donnie Kirkpatrick’s offense rolled up more than 600 yards of total of offense, including 498 rushing yards. JMU also set a school record for rushing touchdowns with ten against the Eagles – the mark also sits No. 2 in the history of FCS football.
- Junior quarterback Bryan Schor ran for 129 yards and three touchdowns and also passed for 109 yards. “Bryan showed tonight why he won the job,” Houston said.
- South Carolina transfer Connor Mitch entered the game in the second half. The ex-Gamecock ran for 16 yards on two carries, but also didn’t complete a pass and threw an interception.
- Schor was one of three 100-yard rushers along with Trai Sharp and Cardon Johnson. The trio became the first set to individually break the 100-yard mark since last fall when Johnson, Khalid Abdullah and Vad Lee did it, also against Morehead State.
- JMU ran the ball 74 times and only attempted 13 passes. Houston said, “It was a product of how the game was going…we could have thrown it around a lot, but there was really no need to.” Houston added with the way his offensive line and running backs were playing, the staff didn’t have a reason to stray away from the run.
- Schor said his confidence entering the game “was pretty up there.” He said he knew the pressure would come off of him because of how many great players he has around him.
- Schor said the offense ran the ball more than he thought it would, going into the game. The Milford Pa., native added that JMU executed well, especially in the first half.
- Junior running back Cardon Johnson said the offensive line played at a high level because they practiced really well throughout the week.
- Senior safety Raven Greene recorded two takeaways – he had a fumble recovery and an interception. He said that he could credit the interception to Trott because throughout the week of practice Trott “harped on” the exact play that Morehead State ran when Greene made the play.
- Morehead State coach Rob Tenyer said it was a “very ugly” game for his team, but added that he knows JMU is a “really good football team.”
- Tenyer said the game plan for his defense was to make JMU throw the football. That didn’t happen. Tenyer said he was very surprised with the “escapability” shown by Schor.
- On giving up 498 yards rushing, Tenyer said, “we didn’t defend anything well in the run game.”
