HARRISONBURG — Don’t tell Khalid Abdullah there’s no place like home for the holidays.
The James Madison senior running back said he isn’t ready for another Christmas at home — he would rather be playing football.
In each of the past two years, JMU was eliminated abruptly from the FCS Playoffs. In 2014, the Dukes lost in the first round to Liberty, and last fall, after earning a first-round bye, were upset by Colgate in round two.
“We have a great group of seniors that have played through those two early exits,” Abdullah said. “We just want to go out there and finish. We want to cement our legacy.
“When you do get that early exit, it’s hard to sit on your couch and enjoy Christmas break. I don’t want any Christmas gifts. I don’t want to be at home for Christmas or in early January. Hopefully we’ll be at Frisco, Texas instead.”
The quest to reach Frisco, the site of the FCS national championship game, continues this afternoon for the Dukes. Fourth-seeded JMU (10-1) welcomes New Hampshire (8-4) to Bridgeforth Stadium for a 2 p.m. kickoff in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
JMU went unbeaten in Colonial Athletic Association play and won the league outright to earn a first-round bye. New Hampshire finished tied for second in the conference and beat Patriot League member Lehigh last week to continue its season.
JMU hasn’t won a playoff game since 2011 when it beat Eastern Kentucky in the first round.
The good news for Madison is that it’ll have quarterback Bryan Schor to help get over its early-exit hump. Schor, who was injured in the Nov. 12 win at Villanova and missed the season finale against Elon, practiced all week with the first-team offense.
“He’s going to start,” JMU coach Mike Houston said.
Schor, the CAA’s Offensive Player of the Year, threw for 264 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 70 yards and a score in JMU’s 42-39 regular-season win over New Hampshire.
“We had success running the ball going into that game and they did take some things away from us, so we did jump into the passing game,” JMU offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick said. “Schor got hot, [junior wide receiver] Terrence Alls got hot and [senior wide receiver] Brandon Ravenel got hot and that was our coming-out party as far as throwing the ball.”
Alls had four catches for 95 yards and two touchdowns and Ravenel had three catches for 55 yards and two scores in the game, but New Hampshire limited Abdullah to his least productive day of the season.
Abdullah went without a touchdown and ran for just 57 yards on 12 carries. For the year, the All-CAA first-team selection averaged 118 yards per game and scored 17 rushing touchdowns.
New Hampshire coach Sean McDonnell said the Wildcats must do a better job containing all of Madison’s skill players in this rematch.
“These guys are the most explosive team on offense that we have seen,” McDonnell said. “Lehigh did some similar things and they were really good, but as I’ve told the team, that’s just the lead up to what we’re seeing. When you look at guys like Abdullah, Schor, [Rashard] Davis, Ravenel, Alls and [Domo] Taylor — they’re all great skill guys.”
New Hampshire, which set a program record for points in a postseason game with 64 in its win over Lehigh, will lean on senior running back Dalton Crossan to help match JMU’s offensive attack. The 5-foot-11, 204-pounder scored three times in the first-round win for New Hampshire.
“We just control what we can control and that’s us putting points on the board,” Crossan said. “We’ll definitely have our hands full, but we’re excited for the challenge.”
JMU’s offense ranks second in the FCS for scoring offense, third for total offense and fourth for rushing offense, but none of the gaudy stats matter unless the Dukes can bury their playoff woes.
“I remember the day after both of those losses the last two years and it sucks,” Ravenel said. “When you go through something like that and form the bonds that you form with some of these guys, and the season ends when you don’t think it’s supposed to, it hurts a lot.
“We have a tremendous opportunity and have to take advantage of it. The thing about the past is that you learn from it. We have to take from those experiences and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
