JMU Defense Leads The Charge

HARRISONBURG — The objective is simple.

“We want to do whatever it takes to win,” second-year James Madison coach Mike Houston said Monday.

So far, it’s been with the defense.

In its first six games this season, JMU’s defense has dominated its opponents.

The Dukes boast the nation’s second-best scoring defense, yielding only 11 points per contest. No opponent has tallied more than 14 points in a single game against JMU this year, and no Colonial Athletic Association foe has scored more than 10 points.

The unit fills the box score with more gaudy stats each week it plays, too.

This past Saturday against Villanova, JMU sacked the opposing quarterbacks six times and forced three turnovers. The Wildcats were limited to 2.29 yards per play. And in three of the past four weeks, the opposition was held to 89 passing yards or fewer.

But Houston said he doesn’t set statistical parameters for the defense to reach each time it takes the field. He wants them to play for the big-picture outcome.

“We used to do that stuff years ago, but I really got away from it because I saw some teams, maybe in a loss when they were celebrating each statistical goal, and that’s not the point,” Houston said. “Certainly, we want to force as many turnovers as we can and we want to hold teams to a low yardage, but we want to win.

“The only goal we got is that we hold the opponent to one less point than what we score.”

And since the start of CAA play, the defense has been forced to be stingy since the offense isn’t scoring as much as it did during non-conference play.

JMU averaged 53.6 points per game in non-league play, but has averaged 26 points per game since.

The Dukes have faced two of the better defenses in the league in their last two times out with Villanova having posted two shutouts this season and Delaware sitting second in CAA for scoring defense behind JMU.

And the three opposing league defenses — Maine, Delaware and Villanova — each ran a different scheme, making preparation more difficult for the offense. Maine uses a 4-3, Delaware uses a 3-4 and Villanova uses a 3-3-5.

“We’ve had some really sturdy tests early in conference play,” Houston said. “You just cannot take time to breathe almost. It’s very taxing on you, but I do think that it makes you better because you have to fight, scrap and compete so hard and at such a high level in order to be successful.”