No. 1 JMU Knows Defense Will Be Tested Vs. No. 11 UR

The Dukes lead the country in total defense, yielding 169.5 yards per game. They are second nationally against the run, giving up only a stingy 38 yards on the ground per game. And they are fourth in FCS for scoring defense with 10.7 points allowed per game.

Most would consider that smothering.

“Statistically, we’re really good on defense,” Cignetti, the second-year JMU coach, said. “But I don’t know if we’ve been challenged yet.

“We played Morehead State. We played Robert Morris,” he said. “We went down to Elon and they had a freshman quarterback, and we didn’t play very well in the first half at all. We went to William & Mary. The quarterback didn’t play. The running back didn’t play. And there’s things, when you put the tape on, that need to be corrected.”

Whether or not the unit has encountered an adequate test really doesn’t matter anymore, though, because the Dukes are going to get one today.

No. 1 JMU (4-0, 2-0 Colonial Athletic Association) hosts No. 11 Richmond (3-0, 3-0 CAA) for a 2 p.m. kickoff to close the regular season at Bridgeforth Stadium. The winner claims the CAA South Division title and remains in play for the league’s automatic qualifying bid into the FCS postseason. On Sunday, the 16-team national playoff field will be unveiled.

“And then it being against a conference rival to end the season, it’s a big game for us,” Dukes senior defensive lineman Mike Greene said. “It’s definitely like a playoff game.”

The Spiders boast an offense with the capability of providing problems in a variety of ways to that stout JMU defense.

“A lot of different formations, motions,” Cignetti said. “They’ll use wide sets, tight sets and the passing game has been extremely effective. The [run-pass option] game is also really good for them.”

Said Greene: “They’re really good.”

Richmond features an offensive line with a combined 84 career starts across the front protecting senior quarterback Joe Mancuso and blocking for dangerous running backs Aaron Dykes and Savon Smith. Mancuso is completing 60 percent of his throws this season and has accounted for seven total touchdowns without an interception. Dykes has three rushing scores and two more receiving.

Mancuso, Dykes and Smith are all carrying the ball between 10 and 13 times a game.

“It makes it hard for defenses to scheme us at times,” Dykes said. “Because when we run the option stuff where [Mancuso] can pull or hand it, it puts defensive ends in hard situations where they have to pick if they want to tackle the running back or the quarterback. So, it opens up running lanes for both of us for sure and we complement each other well.”

Cignetti said readying for the amount of different looks in which Richmond can show — and use its run-pass option out of — hasn’t been the easiest to prepare for this week. He said his staff went back and studied Richmond’s offense in the Spiders’ three games from earlier this spring as well as in JMU’s 48-6 win over UR in 2019.

The two sides had already planned for each other twice this season before their previously scheduled meetings were postponed.

“It’s difficult,” Cignetti said. “It’s kind of like when people used to talk about preparing for the wishbone at Oklahoma. … You couldn’t simulate it in practice because they had such great speed.

“With Richmond, the multiplicity and the tempo of the running back is so much different. You know, they’re really kind of a walk-jog-run tempo with the RPOs, and there are different formations and bunches and clusters and quarterback runs, and then he’ll pull up and throw the ball which you don’t see every day. It’s hard to simulate.”

Greene, the standout who has racked up 13 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and two sacks through four games, said, “It’s a whole bunch of everything, but we got to stick to our fundamentals and play smart.”

JMU hasn’t given up a play longer than 37 yards and has allowed only eight plays of 20 yards or more this spring. Richmond coach Russ Huesman attributes the Dukes’ success against explosive plays to one key trait.

“Team speed,” Huesman said. “It seems like they never run out of that. They lose nine or ten guys on the defensive side of the ball and the guys they plug in can run and are physical on defense.

“They have a great player [Greene] up front who is an All-American and playing like an All-American, but I’d say the big thing is they can run and chase you down. They don’t give up big plays and part of that is if you can run, you got a chance to get a guy down for an eight-yard gain on the back side and for some teams that may be a 48-yard gain. But James Madison can run. They do a great job of limiting big plays and they make you work for everything you get.”

Linebacker Kelvin Azanama leads JMU with 29 tackles.

The Coaches: Cignetti and Huesman have squared off in every season since they both landed head gigs in the CAA in 2017. Cignetti is 3-0 against Huesman, but said this Richmond squad is the best he’s seen.

Cignetti is 18-2 in his time as the Dukes’ coach and 85-28 in 10 seasons overall as a head coach. Huesman 18-19 at Richmond and 77-56 in his 12 seasons overall as a head coach.

Huesman has JMU alums and ex-Dukes assistants on his Richmond staff. Jeff Durden, the former JMU offensive coordinator during its 2004 national championship season, is in the same job at UR. Jeff Hanson, who was part of former JMU coach Mike Houston’s staff, is Richmond’s defensive ends coach. Sam Daniels, who played for the Dukes and recently coached at Bridgewater College, is the Spiders’ defensive tackles coach.

The Quarterbacks: Mancuso will take most snaps for UR, but former Air Force transfer Beau English, who has 11 carries and a touchdown of his own this spring, could make a cameo appearance or two to give Mancuso a rest.

For JMU, the situation isn’t as simple. Dukes’ quarterback Cole Johnson started all four games so far and performed his best in their 38-10 rout of William & Mary last time out when he threw for 220 yards and a score. But Johnson only started against the Tribe because Gage Moloney was unavailable on the heels of JMU’s coronavirus issues. So either one could take the majority of reps today, though, it’s hard to envision Cignetti going away from Johnson after a performance like the last one.

Series History: JMU holds a 19-18 edge in the longtime series with Richmond. The Dukes have won the last four and they’ve taken the last two with a 47.5-point average margin of victory.

Fans Are Back: Bridgeforth Stadium will welcome back around 7,000 fans for Saturday’s contest. It’ll be the most highly attended event of any kind in The Valley since the pandemic prevented large crowds from gathering last year.

JMU was limited to 250 fans for homes games in February against Morehead State and Robert Morris.

“We haven’t a heard a ‘Go Dukes’ or a first-down chant all year,” Greene said. “I can’t remember the last time I heard a first down chant, so it’s huge for us.”

Can’t Keep Up: Cignetti said he’ll take his quick slot receiver Kris Thornton in a matchup against any defender.

The VMI transfer has fit in extremely well with the Dukes, notching a team-best 14 catches for 257 yards and two scores this spring.

“Dynamic guy that’s faster than you think and has a real knack for playing the game,” Cignetti said about Thornton.

Odds are JMU will try to get the speedster involved early against the Spiders.

Always Makes A Play: One member of the Dukes’ secondary is emerging as a regular playmaker. JMU safety Que Reid leads the team with two interceptions and also has racked up 15 tackles and a pass breakup.

“Last year when he got in, it seemed like every time he was in the game he made a play,” Cignetti said, “whether it was a big tackle, a forced fumble, an interception or what have you and he’s had a number of big plays this year, too. He’s in his third year, so he’s not a young guy anymore and I think the experience he got early in the year has really helped him.”

Reid began the year in a platoon role with Sam Kidd, but Kidd got hurt and Reid has started and rarely come off the field since.

Don’t Be Surprised If: JMU puts an emphasis on trying to slow Richmond’s pass rush when the Dukes have the ball.

Spiders defensive linemen Darius Reynolds and Kobie Turner have made it difficult on opponents this spring. Reynolds has five sacks in three games and Turner has 1.5 sacks.