They could’ve continued sputtering.

The empty venue made for a stale environment and No. 2 James Madison’s usual swagger was non-existent in the middle of its worst first half in years.

“My greatest fear happened,” Dukes coach Curt Cignetti said, “and that was that the other team would come out and play with more energy than we would.”

Fortunately, for Cignetti and company, they were able to overcome their own sleepwalking start and miscues. The Dukes closed the second quarter with a scoring drive and opened the second half with another to propel themselves past visiting Robert Morris en route to a 36-16 victory in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon at Bridgeforth Stadium.

JMU dominated the second half, outscoring the Colonials 20-0 over the final 30 minutes.

“We just knew we had to play our brand of football,” JMU slot receiver Kris Thornton said. “We were making a lot of mistakes, self-inflicted wounds and making mistakes on our own with turnovers and penalties.”

Said senior safety MJ Hampton about Cignetti’s halftime message to the team: “[There are] some things I can’t say. I’ll leave it at that, but it was mostly about coming out, punching ‘em in the mouth and doing your job.”

Dukes running back Percy Agyei-Obese’s 7-yard touchdown run capped a 75-yard drive to start the third quarter. It broke a tie and gave JMU its first lead since holding a 2-0 advantage after scoring on a safety in the opening quarter.

“A real critical time in the football game is the last two to three minutes of the first half and the first two to three minutes of the second half,” Cignetti said. “And good things happened for us in those spans.”

The touchdown for Agyei-Obese came on the heels of quarterback Cole Johnson’s 21-yard scoring strike to wide receiver Antwane Wells Jr. with 28 seconds left in the first half. Johnson led a six-play, 66-yard drive lasting 59 seconds to even the game at 16.

Robert Morris coach Bernard Clark Jr. said JMU’s late first-half score allowed the Dukes to capture the momentum they needed. He said ahead of that JMU touchdown drive, he should’ve called to punt instead of letting his offense try on a fourth down in Dukes territory and failing.

The Colonials had a fourth-and-10 from the JMU 34, and while attempting to expand on their 16-9 lead, Robert Morris quarterback George Martin threw an incomplete pass to turn the ball over on downs.

“And that hurt us a little bit with them getting the ball right back to start the second half,” Clark said.

JMU had trailed twice by a touchdown over in the first two quarters, with Johnson’s three interceptions providing Robert Morris ample opportunities to succeed against the Dukes in a contest many would assume could turn lopsided. Just three years ago, JMU routed RMU, 73-7.

But the Colonials (0-1) held JMU (2-0) without first-quarter touchdown, marking Saturday’s game the first for the Dukes since their 2018 first round FCS playoff game against Delaware in which they didn’t score a touchdown in the opening quarter.

Cignetti said he considered pulling Johnson following his third interception in favor of backup Gage Moloney, but opted not to after conferring with offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery. Cignetti and Montgomery thought, Cignetti said, that with the situation being late in the half and a two-minute drill coming, the timing wasn’t right to make the move. Johnson has also taken the majority of first-team reps in practice over the last three weeks.

“But [Johnson] bounced back,” Cignetti said. “And the thing you’ve got to remember about him is he’s been here a long time, but he hasn’t played a lot.

“And just like there’s valuable lessons for our team in this game – and I’ll tell you there’s great lessons for our football team and we need to heed them – there’s great lessons for Cole in this football game.”

Johnson finished with 192 yards and two touchdowns through the air.

In the third quarter, Hampton helped extend JMU’s edge when he darted toward Robert Morris running back Alijah Jackson and placed a jarring hit on Jackson, who fumbled. Hampton recovered it and the Dukes capitalized on the turnover with a 26-yard field goal from kicker Ethan Ratke to gain a two-score lead.

“We were in a blitz,” Hampton said about knocking the ball out of Jackson’s hands. “Basically, I was supposed to fit inside of [Jackson], but I went outside and then folded in. He didn’t see me and he fumbled.”

Hampton had seven tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, the forced fumble and the fumble recovery. The Dukes held RMU to 24 total yards on 24 plays in the second half.

Agyei-Obese, who tallied 55 rushing yards on 17 carries added another rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the once-close contest out of reach.

“We can’t think we’re unbeatable,” Cignetti said. “We’re not. There are a lot of teams in America that could beat us if we don’t have the right mindset. … The biggest deal is, will we learn the lesson from it?”

BOX SCORE

Robert Morris 3 13 0 0—16

James Madison 2 14 10 10—36

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

JMU—Team safety, 8:41

RMU—Bisceglia 32 field goal, 2:37

Second Quarter

RMU—Jackson 1 run (2-point fails), 14:54

JMU—Thornton 33 pass from Johnson (Ratke kick), 8:49

RMU—Hanks Jr. 37 pass from Martin (Bisceglia kick), 5:34

JMU—Wells Jr. 21 pass from Johnson (Ratke kick), 0:28

Third Quarter

JMU—Agyei-Obese 7 run (Ratke kick), 10:41

JMU—Ratke 26 field goal, 3:12

Fourth Quarter

JMU—Ratke 26 field goal, 12:46

JMU—Agyei-Obese 12 run (Ratke kick), 3:13

Individual Stats

RUSHING—RMU: Jackson 25-49, Marin 4-(-12). JMU: Hamilton 9-74, Agyei-Obese 17-55, Black 6-29, Johnson 7-21, Palmer 4-10, Thornton 1-7.

PASSING—RMU: Martin 15-30-0-165. JMU: Johnson 17-24-3-198.

RECEIVING—RMU: Hicks 8-67, Robinson 2-31, Houser 2-12, Hanks 1-37, Smith 1-10, Charles 1-8. JMU: Thornton 5-65, Dean 3-45, Wells 2-29, Bracey 2-24, Cheatham 2-18, Agyei-Obese 2-17, Hamilton 1-0.