FIELD NOTES: Bison DC Could've Been At JMU
North Dakota State defensive coordinator David Braun would’ve been coaching in this game one way or another, according to James Madison coach Curt Cignetti.
The top-seeded Bison and No. 2-seed Dukes play Saturday in the FCS national championship game at noon in Frisco, Texas.
“Interestingly, the coordinator [Braun] is a guy I brought into interview when I got the [JMU] job,” Cignetti said Monday during his weekly press conference, “for another position. Not a coordinator position.”
Braun, who was on staff at Northern Iowa the past two seasons and worked last year as the Panthers’ special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach, has assimilated nicely to Fargo, N.D.
The Bison lead the FCS in scoring defense (11.8 points allowed per game) and are second for total defense (269.9 yards allowed per game) entering Saturday.
“He was about ready to take the job,” Cignetti said. “And during the interview he was offered the coordinator job at North Dakota State. And he’s done a very nice job.”
Braun played defensive line at Winona State for North Dakota State coach Matt Entz when Entz was the defensive coordinator for the Division II program.
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- Cignetti said the team’s practices last week went well after the Dukes had eight days off for Christmas following the national semifinal win over Weber State on Dec. 21.
- The first-year JMU coach said with three weeks to prepare, coaches have to balance how much they put into a game plan. “That’s kind of the trick right there,” Cignetti said. “… You have certain things that have gotten you to this point, but the more film you watch, you start to see a lot of things that look pretty neat and you’ve got to make sure you don’t get away from who you are and that you don’t have too much volume on offense, defense and special teams.”
- JMU won time of possession against Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals and against Weber State in the semifinals by a drastic margin. The Dukes controlled time of possession for more than 42 minutes against Northern Iowa and for more than 38 minutes against Weber State. “It’s not something we shoot for,” Cignetti said. “It’s not a goal, but it is something that has happened when we’ve had the lead and been able to sort of run it at the end of the game and shorten the game quite a bit. [North Dakota State does] something very similar.” JMU ranks seventh in FCS for average time of possession (33:21) and North Dakota State ranks 14th in the same category (32:08).
- Saturday’s game will be televised on ABC. The broadcast crew for ABC is Mark Jones (play-by-play), Dusty Dvoracek (color) and Olivia Dekker (sideline).
- About having his team appear on network television, Cignetti said: “I think it’s huge. We have great brand recognition and this will just strengthen that. And it’ll really help if we put on a good show.”