No. 2 Dukes Travel To Face Tribe

No. 2 James Madison (6-1, 3-0 Colonial Athletic Association) will try to make it four in a row over Commonwealth foe William & Mary (2-4, 0-2 CAA) when the two sides meet at Zable Stadium in Williamsburg for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday afternoon.

“We know what happened and dissected the psychology of what happened,” first-year Tribe coach Mike London said. “People will write about it and talk about it, but we’ll talk about that every year is a new opportunity.”

The last two get-togethers have gone the Dukes’ way without any issues. JMU blanked William & Mary 51-0 last year in Harrisonburg and demolished the Tribe 46-14 two seasons ago at W&M. Both contests featured interceptions returned for touchdowns for former Dukes cornerback Jimmy Moreland and JMU combined to outgain the Tribe 833 total yards to 430 in the games.

“But it’s homecoming here and I believe the game is supposed to be sold out,” London said. “There are stakeholders here and they understand the importance of competing and playing well. So the challenge is a very, very good James Madison team coming in and us playing our best football to date.”

William & Mary lost its last three games before its bye week while JMU has won six straight entering today, but those streaks nor the lopsidedness of recent encounters have the Dukes any less engaged on their weekly task of finishing each Saturday with a victory.

“They’re a much-improved team,” JMU senior defensive end John Daka said after acknowledging all the upgrades London made to William & Mary’s offense.

The Tribe already scored more points through six games this season (151) than they did all of last year (136) when they ranked last in the CAA for scoring offense, rushing offense and total offense. This season, they’re eighth in the league for scoring, fifth for rushing and 10th for total offense.

“It’s not the same William & Mary as last year and we definitely realize that,” Daka said. “We know they’re going to bring their A game against us. It’s their homecoming and it’s an in-state rival, so we have to bring our A game.”

JMU coach Curt Cignetti said: “It’s an in-state rival, so it’s a very important game. They’re a much-improved football team. All you’ve got to do is look at the scores, look at the tape and they’ve had a week off. It’s their homecoming game and they’ve had a lot of time to prepare, so we can’t afford to let our guard down.”

And the Dukes’ greatest advantage likely comes with their offense on the field. Just like William & Mary has, JMU has upped its offensive output from last season.

JMU tops the CAA for scoring offense (40.7 points per game), rushing offense (252.4 yards per game) and total offense (477.4 yards per game). In 2018, the Dukes ranked second, fourth and second in those respective categories.

“The numbers are nice and everything, but I think there are a lot of things to clean up and fix,” JMU junior right tackle Liam Fornadel said about the offense. “We haven’t reached our peak at all and we’re still building to where we want to be, and that takes everybody. It’s not just a couple of guys do great. We got to get everybody on the same page to really try to achieve and get to where we ultimately want to be, and that’s that peak.”

William & Mary senior cornerback Corey Parker said the large number of JMU players that threaten to score on any given snap is what makes the Dukes so tough to defend.

JMU quarterback Ben DiNucci, wide receiver Brandon Polk, wide receiver Riley Stapleton and running backs Percy Agyei-Obese, Solomon Vanhorse, Jawon Hamilton and Latrele Palmer all have multiple touchdowns this season.

“But JMU is obviously always a great opportunity for us to play a historically better team,” Parker said. “So we’re always looking forward to the opportunity to make a statement.”

The Coaches: Cignetti and London took recent success they had at other FCS institutions to land the jobs they have now.

London, who had coached Richmond and Virginia previously, went to W&M after a two-year stint at Howard. He went 11-10 there and led the Bison to an upset win over FBS UNLV in his first season leading the squad. Cignetti, of course, took Elon to the FCS playoffs in consecutive seasons after the Phoenix had struggled to be competitive in the CAA in years past.

Cignetti is 73-27 overall in his ninth season as a head coach and London is 64-65 overall in his 11th season as a head coach.

The Quarterbacks: DiNucci’s 13 total touchdowns to two interceptions have stabilized the Dukes offense and put it in a position to score often this season.

William & Mary has used their quarterbacks differently, with both freshman Hollis Mathis and Coastal Carolina transfer Kilton Anderson seeing action. Mathis was the starter to begin the year, but Anderson played and threw for three touchdowns in W&M’s loss to Villanova earlier this month with Mathis sidelined due to injury.

“It looks like he’ll be back and have a chance to play after healing up,” London said.

Cignetti said the Dukes are prepared to see both Mathis and Anderson.

“The freshman is a little bit better runner and the older guy is a more polished passer,” Cignetti said.

Series History: JMU is 24-17 all-time against the Tribe, and as highlighted already, recently this series belongs to the Dukes.

In addition to winning the last three meetings, JMU has won 12 of its last 15 against the Tribe dating back to the Dukes’ 48-34 victory in the 2004 I-AA national semifinals.

Can’t Miss Assignments: William & Mary offensive coordinator Brennan Marion is considered one of the up-and-coming bright coaches in college football, and the go-go offense he installed for the Tribe is more innovative than anything they’ve done in recent years.

“They have an offense that wants to hurry you up and they’re spread as well,” Daka said. “They do different things [offensive-line] wise like pulling and they read the defensive ends. So especially me and [JMU defensive end] Ron’Dell Carter, we have to be locked in on our keys. This is the week we have to really do our job and hone in, because one mistake can be six.”

Thriving On Third Down: Third-down conversion rate is one of the reasons why the Dukes’ offense is finding success week to week.

JMU is fourth nationally while converting 56 percent of its third-down tries.

“It’s unheard of, really,” Cignetti said. “We were 9-for-16 last Saturday against Villanova and a lot of the credit goes to Ben. I thought he had an outstanding game. He escaped trouble a number of times and delivered the ball where it had to be and we caught the ball, so I think a lot of that was quarterback-generated this past Saturday. But we’ve been very good.”

DiNucci connected twice with Stapleton in the red zone on third down for touchdowns. Wide receiver Jake Brown, Vanhorse and Hamilton caught passes from DiNucci on third downs that went for first downs against the Wildcats, too.

“It’s everybody,” Fornadel said. “It’s the running backs, whether it’s a third-and-long and catching a pass out of the backfield and making a guy miss or being a vital role in pass protection. The wide receivers have been huge this year in making big plays each and every game. It’s a team effort.”

Douglas To CB: The emergence of freshman running back Palmer gave Cignetti the luxury of moving another freshman, Austin Douglas, from running back to cornerback ahead of the Villanova game.

Douglas hauled in a touchdown catch against St. Francis and earned carries in each of the first four games, but hasn’t played since.

“We’ve had some injuries at corner and our depth hasn’t been great,” Cignetti said. “And we felt like he had the skills to help us over there and worked all week at corner and will continue to do so.”

Cignetti said Douglas’ move to cornerback isn’t for the long-term yet.

Don’t Be Surprised If: Last week’s hero for the Dukes, safety MJ Hampton, has an increased role on defense.

His 83-yard interception return for a touchdown against the Wildcats proved he’s a reliable backup and can give starters Adam Smith or D’Angelo Amos a breather when they need it.

More Than Anything: JMU must keep pushing forward like it has until the bye week during the first week of November, according to its coach.

“We play nine straight weeks before we’re off,” Cignetti said. “That’s not easy to do. It’s hard. It’s not easy to go on the road three straight times against quality opponents and come back and play the fifth-ranked team in America.

“... Now you’re playing on the road again and we’ve got to play again the following week before we get a chance to get a little bit of rest, but hey, it’s football and we’ve got to strap [it] up and get-r done.”