HARRISONBURG — Friday was no different for Mike Houston and his players.
The first-year James Madison coach kept the same expectations for his team that he had all season, despite a more daunting task.
“Certainly we expected to come in here and win this ball game,” Houston said after JMU snapped North Dakota State’s 22-game postseason win streak. “Our kids believed firmly that we would do what we did, but to actually do it — for however many games in a row it’s been here for five years — it’s a special achievement for our program.”
Dethroning North Dakota State and putting an end to its dynastic run of five consecutive FCS titles was the culmination of what JMU built toward throughout the fall.
The Dukes play for a national championship against Youngstown State, which beat No. 2 Eastern Washington 40-38 on Saturday, on Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas — about 30 miles north of Dallas — at Toyota Stadium, the home of Major League Soccer’s Dallas FC.
With each week came more and more belief from Houston’s players that the team could achieve both goals it started the season with — winning a Colonial Athletic Association title and a national championship.
“I do feel like this team is special,” junior quarterback Bryan Schor said last week. “I don’t know what that looks like. I can just feel it.
“When our offense comes off the field after we score, the most excited people in the stadium is our defense and when the defense comes off the field after making a big play, the offense has the most excited people in the stadium. You don’t have that everywhere.”
Houston tabs JMU’s 43-20 win over Delaware and 47-43 win at Richmond as turning points.
Schor called his go-ahead touchdown pass to tight end Jonathan Kloosterman late in the fourth quarter at Richmond the team’s “signature moment.” The signal-caller added he thought the first indication of toughness from JMU was grinding out a win at Maine after losing at North Carolina the previous week.
“The transformation really happened during the Maine game,” Schor said. “We didn’t have a great game offensively, but our defense really won the game for us.
“Then I think we really clicked in that drive at Richmond when we scored. The offense went back to the sideline and there were a few minutes left. We had that eerie feeling that they would drive the field and not leave the offense anytime on the clock, but our defense made a stand. Once they did that, from that point on, we had a lot of faith in each other.”
Senior cornerback Taylor Reynolds said during Madison’s October bye week, he could feel the team coming together even though the Dukes were just seven games into the year with a new coaching staff for the second time in three years.
“I definitely sense something special with this team and this coaching staff,” Reynolds said in October. “This staff has a lot of experience and they’ve come in and adapted to their players. We’ve adapted to them and together it’s really been a great mix.”
Defensive coordinator Bob Trott managed to get individually talented players on the same page for the first time in their careers with his 4-2-5 defense.
JMU is giving up less than 16 points per game in the playoffs.
On the other side of the ball, offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick blended his air-raid roots with Houston’s push to emphasize a run game in addition to read-option schemes that run-game coordinator Bryan Stinespring used during his time at Virginia Tech.
JMU has the second-best scoring offense nationally, averaging 48 points per game.
“Our coaches are growing as coaches and getting to know their players,” Reynolds said. “We’re growing as players and getting to know what they want. We’re learning to trust each other and that’s the big step with this team that we’ve had this year.”
Houston also never let his players believe they weren’t good enough to win.
Before the playoffs began, defensive end Andrew Ankrah said JMU would be up to any challenge no matter what opponent it would meet in the second round, the quarterfinals or semifinals.
“I believe we can get that far,” Anrkah said on Nov. 22. “There are really good teams like Sam Houston State and North Dakota State with great players, but I look at us and we have great players and a great team also.”
