HARRISONBURG – No. 8 James Madison and its players kept rewriting the record books.
Junior quarterback Bryan Schor set new career-best marks with 309 passing yards and five touchdown passes while leading the Dukes to a 84-7 blowout of visiting Rhode Island in Colonial Athletic Association action on Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium.
The 84 points set a school record for points in a game and a CAA record for points in a conference game. JMU’s 12 touchdowns also set a program record for scores in a game.
Madison had an opportunity to keep building on those record numbers following Rhode Island’s sixth turnover of the contest in the fourth quarter. The Dukes recovered a fumble inside the red zone with nine minutes remaining, but JMU coach Mike Houston had his offense snap the ball and take knees on four consecutive downs to give the ball back to the Rams without scoring again.
“As great as it feels to be on our sideline, I know [Rhode Island] coach [Jim] Fleming and I feel for them,” Houston said. “No one wants to go through that.”
Schor completed his first 12 passing attempts of the game and finished the day 21-of-22 to set a new school record for single-game completion percentage (95 percent).
“Going out there and not seeing the ball hit the ground, it’s something that I don’t even realize until someone points it out,” Schor said. “Having that happen to start off the game, it’s definitely a plus.
“I think our offense can feel when we’re not having incompletions and then we’re clicking on all cylinders.”
He had three first-half throws of 37 or more yards.
On JMU’s opening possession, Schor connected with senior wide receiver Brandon Ravenel for a 44-yard gain on a second-and-20. The successful deep ball from Schor led to senior running back Khalid Abdullah’s 11-yard touchdown run, which put JMU ahead 7-0.
Schor’s next long pass came on the next possession – a 37-yard completion to senior wide receiver Domo Taylor. The reception by Taylor set up junior running back Cardon Johnson’s five-yard touchdown run on play later.
JMU would go ahead 21-0 when Schor zipped a 58-yard throw for a touchdown to senior wide receiver Rashard Davis, who was streaking down the seam.
The three-score lead only ballooned from there.
Senior tight end Dan Schiele, who entered Saturday without a touchdown in his entire career, combined to catch three touchdowns from Schor in the second and third quarters.
“It was pretty crazy today,” Schiele said. “The first one I was pretty happy with and I was O.K. with that and then the second two came and it made me more happy.”
The three touchdowns for Schiele also set a school record for touchdowns in a single game by a tight end.
Madison also got in the end zone on two defensive touchdowns – senior safety Raven Greene had a 24-yard interception return for a score and junior Marcell Johnson recorded a 32-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Rhode Island freshman quarterback Jordan Vazzano threw five interceptions in the loss.
The Rams (1-8, 0-6) leave Harrisonburg to begin their bye week.
“It’s a extremely embarrassing loss for our football team and our university,” Fleming said. “As all football teams, coaching staffs and players do, you just pick yourselves up and go back to work.”
The win for JMU (7-1, 5-0) gives the Dukes sole possession of first-place in the CAA and the chance to control its own destiny with three games remaining. JMU plays back-to-back road games at Richmond and at Villanova in the next two weeks. Both the Spiders and Wildcats have only one loss in the league.
“I know we’ve had certain games circled on our schedule for a while,” Schor said. “Having a good game this week really will help us for the next weeks.”
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