TOWSON, Md. – It halted any positivity Towson could’ve entered the locker room with.
James Madison defensive end John Daka’s late first-half pursuit of Tigers quarterback Tom Flacco forced a fumble that Dukes corner Jimmy Moreland recovered to stop a Towson drive past midfield with less than a minute to go in the second quarter.
A Towson field goal would’ve cut JMU’s lead to a touchdown and a Tigers touchdown would’ve cut it to less than seven points.
“It was very critical at that point,” Daka said. “I think they had some big plays at that time, so I just tried my best to make a play out there for my team while playing within the defense.”
The forced fumble highlighted Daka’s strong day and encounters with Flacco. Daka had five tackles and two sacks in the contest.
“[JMU junior defensive end] Ron’Dell Carter actually did a good job on the forced fumble of tracking Flacco down,” Daka said. “And they always talk about running to the ball, so I just tried to run to the ball and I tried to get the ball out and that’s what happened.
“[JMU coach Mike] Houston always preaches that if you’re running to the ball and having good effort that good things will come.”
Flacco said the Dukes’ defensive linemen and linebackers bothered him throughout the contest.
“They were bringing the ends up and they kind of sat there and had a spy,” Flacco said. “That fumble, it was a draw play and [Carter] was a spy, and I was kind of surprised to see him there, but they were good and they were obviously athletic and they’re big.
“A lot of times I feel like people slip off me and those guys weren’t slipping off me. [JMU linebacker Landon Word] was long and he was able to get to me a couple of times.”
Houston said JMU’s entire defensive game plan revolved around slowing Flacco.
The Dukes offense capitalized on Daka's forced fumble turning it into a field goal of their own and a 14-point halftime edge.
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- Houston said he noticed urgency in his team after its loss to New Hampshire earlier this month. He said, “This is a young team and they haven’t been through everything the teams the last couple of years had, so I think the last two weeks are tremendous confidence builders for this team not only for this year, but for the foreseeable future … You talk about it with Elon, a painful loss and the way we gave it away at the end, and then the New Hampshire performance. You never say that a loss is a good loss, but that pain and that hurt, it gets your attention and it gets everybody’s attention. So I think it was probably a turning point.”
- JMU junior linebacker Dimitri Holloway passed the 100-tackle mark in a season for the first time in his career. His 14 tackles on Saturday put him at 106 total tackles for the season.
- Quarterback Ben DiNucci, running back Cardon Johnson and running back Trai Sharp’s became the first trio to run for 100 yards apiece in the same game since Johnson, Sharp and former quarterback Bryan Schor did it against Morehead State in 2016.
- Maine clinched the Colonial Athletic Association’s automatic qualifying bid its home victory over Elon. The Dukes’ run of consecutive outright league titles ends at two straight as the Black Bears claimed their first sole-possession championship since 2013. If JMU is included in the FCS postseason, it will with an at-large berth.
