No. 2 Dukes Open CAA Slate At No. 24 Elon

“It’s been in the back of our minds,” James Madison senior defensive end Ron’Dell Carter said. “Obviously, we feel like they got away with one last year.”

The Dukes’ Colonial Athletic Association opener is anything except routine.

No. 2 JMU (3-1, 0-0) travels to No. 24 Elon (2-2, 1-0) for a 2 p.m. conference contest at Rhodes Stadium where the Phoenix are waiting to greet their former coach, Curt Cignetti, and five former assistants who led them to a win in the same matchup a year ago, but are now in charge of the Madison program.

“It’s like a brotherly competition,” Elon senior cornerback Greg Liggs Jr. said.

Liggs Jr.’s fourth-quarter fumble recovery led to Elon’s game-winning drive in the 27-24 decision last season.

“At the end of the day, it’ll probably be all love,” Liggs Jr. said, “but you don’t want to lose to your brother or somebody that you really know. So it increases the competitive juices, because nobody wants to lose to somebody they have a relationship with or they know. And that’s whether it’s your own pride, you don’t want them to have bragging rights or any of those type of things, so it creates a competitive edge whether it’s said or just displayed throughout the game.”

The gut-punch loss of Cignetti to a league foe for Elon players has festered since he took the JMU job in December. The aftermath of the on-field loss to the Phoenix for members of the Dukes in October has accompanied them for way too long.

“That can obviously add motivation for both sides,” Carter said. “They can feel like that we have their staff and we can feel like they took a game from us last year, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. It matters who is going to bring their game [today] and who’s going to come out on top.”

Said Elon junior quarterback Davis Cheek: “You have to hold back and suppress some of those feelings of excitement and anxiousness of stuff, so that way when 2 p.m. comes and kickoff hits, that’s when you get to peak level of letting everything loose.”

Slowing Cheek will be top priority for JMU’s defense while the Madison offense will try to play without mistakes.

The Dukes turned the ball over twice in last year’s get together. And through a third of this season, Elon is on the right side of the turnover margin while JMU isn’t. For the year, Elon has forced four turnovers and only given the ball away once. The Dukes have forced four turnovers as well, but have given the ball away five times.

“We know they’re going to be a hardworking team,” JMU running back Percy Agyei-Obese said. “We know that even though we may have a little more talent, that they’re going to be playing every single snap of the game. So we have to bring our game every single play.”

The Coaches: Cignetti was 14-9 and led Elon to consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in school history during his two years as coach there. He’s 70-27 overall in his ninth season as a head coach.

When Cignetti departed, Elon didn’t hesitate and elevated his defensive coordinator, Tony Trisciani, to head coach. Before the promotion, Trisciani had never been a college head coach, but was one at Whitehall (Pa.) High School from 2007 through 2011 and had numerous stops as an assistant across the CAA — New Hampshire from 1998 through 1999 and again from 2001 through 2004 and then Villanova from 2012 through 2016.

The Quarterbacks: Both Cheek and JMU signal-caller Ben DiNucci have started to make their cases for an All-CAA selection this season.

“They’ve got a dual-threat quarterback in DiNucci,” Trisciani said, “who can extend plays. He’s a tough guy to get on the ground.”

Cheek has thrown 209 straight passes without being intercepted dating back to last year, and this year he’s completed 58 percent of his throws for 736 yards and eight touchdowns. DiNucci ranks third in FCS for completion percentage (74 percent) and fourth nationally for passing efficiency (181.00 rating) as he’s thrown for 881 yards and seven touchdowns with one interception.

Series History: Up until last season, the Dukes had never lost to Elon.

“It kind of showed how gritty we were to play 100 percent through the game and all four quarters,” Liggs Jr. said. “So that was a positive, to know that we’re capable of playing in big games with big opponents.”

JMU is 6-1 against the Phoenix all-time and 2-0 at Rhodes Stadium while outscoring Elon 82-3 there at the venue that seats 11,250.

On The Wrong End Of That Fumble: Liggs Jr. rightfully gets the glory for the play that changed the outcome of the last meeting between the two sides by recovering the ball.

But JMU tight end Dylan Stapleton let the ball loose when he was hit as the Dukes tried to extend their lead while marching with ease into Elon territory.

Thankfully, for Madison’s sake, Stapleton never let the play impact him or the team negatively beyond that moment and has turned into a valuable asset in his second year with the program.

“One of our most consistent players and does a really good job in the run game,” Cignetti said. “Has good hands, can run. We’ve been able to utilize him on some play-action passes and out-of-pocket stuff. Most of his catches go for pretty nice chunks and really would like to find more ways to get him the ball.”

Through four games, the 6-foot-5, 242-pounder is the third-leading receiver for JMU with eight catches for 101 yards, averaging 12.6 yards per catch.

Stacking Up Against The Stack: Figuring out Elon’s 3-3-5 stack defense is no easy problem to solve.

“We don’t see it a lot,” Agyei-Obese said. “So there’s a lot of tricks to hide different blitzes in that type of defense and so you’ve got to keep your eyes and keep your head on a swivel for this one, because they can bring anything.”

Trisciani learned the defense when he was an assistant at Villanova and brought it to Elon when Cignetti hired him prior to the 2017 season, so Elon defenders are well schooled on the system that they’re comfortable playing in.

Senior cornerback Daniel Reid-Bennett leads the Phoenix with 31 tackles and two interceptions while senior defensive end Marcus Willoughby has tallied 26 tackles and a sack.

Cignetti said his familiarity along with offensive line coach Damian Wroblewski’s familiarity coaching against the defense — from their time in practice at Elon the past few years — should provide JMU with a strong plan to counteract the stack.

“They’ve got multiplicity in their scheme,” Cignetti said. “They’ve been in that scheme for three years. The people running that scheme have been in it for a long time. They blitz a lot and move the line a lot, so they can create a lot of problems for you. … We’ll have a good plan, but you got to execute the plan and block the right guy.”

The Dukes averaged only 2.6 yards per carry against Elon last season.

Positive Signs For Rashad: JMU senior cornerback Rashad Robinson dressed for last week’s non-conference finale at Chattanooga, but did not play in the game after suffering an injury the week before during a win over Morgan State.

All signs point to Robinson taking the field for today’s game.

“He was out there practicing [Tuesday] full speed, so he feels great,” Cignetti said.

Already Tested: Though this is the first meeting this season for JMU against an FCS Top 25 opponent, Elon has already had two games against ranked foes.

“I don’t know if anyone has played the caliber of teams that we have week in and week out,” Cheek said.

Current No. 17 North Carolina A&T beat Elon on a 52-yard field goal as time expired, but the Phoenix bounced back to top No. 25 The Citadel the week after and before the Bulldogs knocked off FBS Georgia Tech.

Don’t Be Surprised If: JMU continues to lean on Agyei-Obese as part of a three-man rotation at running back.

Agyei-Obese became the first Madison rusher to top 100 yards in a game this season when he went for 114 yards and two touchdowns against Chattanooga.

“I felt like I got back on my feet last week,” Agyei-Obese said. “The offensive line and the chemistry was great. Receivers were blocking their tails off, too.”

His 19 carries were also the most any JMU running back has earned in a single game this year as the majority of touches were split between him, Jawon Hamilton and Solomon Vanhorse last Saturday. In the first three weeks, Austin Douglas was also part of that mix.

More Than Anything: Even with all the storylines that surround this meeting, JMU just wants its first conference win of the year.

“Everyone is excited we’re finally in conference play,” Agyei-Obese said. “We’ve been waiting and every week, we were like, ‘It’s almost here. It’s almost here,’ so we’re ready to play, ready to see our rivals and get back to it.”

JMU hasn’t dropped a CAA opener since 2014.