It is easy as fans to get caught up in cumulative stats because that's how most record books record statistics. However a closer look provides clarity in the age of no huddle offenses and 85 snaps per game.

This year JMU is averaging 5.3 yards per running play and 6.5 yards per passing play. (that is skewed a little because the NCAA charges sacks against rushing yardage, but all teams keep stats by the same set of rules). Just for reference, last year's team averaged 4.0 yards per running play and 7.3 yards per passing play.

Only 25 of 121 FCS teams average more yards per carry in 2014.
62 out of 121 FCS treams average more yards per pass.

This offense's strength is the running game and it needs to rely on it more. That's right, this years team is significantly better running the ball than Mickey's team last year.
Run more, pass less.

We're scoring plenty of points.

But not enough points to win the games.

I thought that EW made an interesting comment on the pregame show with Curt/Schik. He said that most spread offense teams with a fast paced offense "struggle on defense". WTF is he talking about ? To me that's saying that it is mutually exclusive to have an adequate Defense all because we run around quickly and fail to execute on Offense ?


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things may change as conference play heats up, but JMU is actually scoring less points per game than last year. 27 vs 28.
The Dukes are snapping it 9 more times per game than last year. 84 vs 75

I do think EW expected our defense to be high risk/high reward, he made comments this spring and summer about how quickly we'd either give up points or create big plays to get the ball back to our offense. In the first half we got glimpses of what I think he envisioned, but you can't rely on 3 TOs a half to keep you in games.

(09-21-2014 10:20 PM)South Carolina Duke Wrote:  But not enough points to win the games.

I thought that EW made an interesting comment on the pregame show with Curt/Schik. He said that most spread offense teams with a fast paced offense "struggle on defense". WTF is he talking about ? To me that's saying that it is mutually exclusive to have an adequate Defense all because we run around quickly and fail to execute on Offense ?


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I don't think EW was making excuses for JMU's D, but was pointing out that teams who run an explosive spread offense and who score faster put their defense on the field for potentially more plays, and tha's B-A-D.

If that D is facing a team that also runs an explosive spread (as was the case with JMU against Nova), you're more likely to give up more points. It's kind of a run-n-gun philosophy in basketball where you try and out score the other guy and the points against become almost meaningless (so long as at the end of the game your team has scored the most points). It's entertaining, but purists are always gonna question what appears to be poor defensive alignments and play.

Blame Hal Mumme and his disciples for bringing this very exciting brand of O and lousy D to the forefront...but the fans also are playing a part as they love and demand these type of fast paced and high scoring games.

I also think that if you look at last Saturday's games as a sample, there were a very large number of unusually high scoring games, and many of them lopsided wins if there was a dramatic mismatch between the two teams (like A&M over SMU or Wisconsin over Bowling Green). This trend (IMO) will only accelerate.

JMU losing to Nova last week fell into the category of a good spread team playing a great spread team...rather like Florida playing Alabama (and with similar results).

As a fan, if you don't like high scoring games that make the defenses look silly you're not going to like where the game is headed right now. Eventually defenses will catch up with this new brand of O, they always do (as they did against the Wishbone when it ran roughshod over defenses in the late 60s to early 70s), but in the meantime we're witnessing the full-on fast break Os rule the day, and Ds are not going to look so hot.

Saturday as the game went on, we were down to our 5th string running back #20 Taylor Woods, another freshmen with a burnt redshirt, who I believe had not played previously. RB injuries and the scoreboard made our options essentially Vad and Vad, allowing Villanova to tee it up on D. I am sure Vad is very sore.

FWIW I have Abdullah, Johnson, Miller and Latney as the first 4.

During the spring Johnson was vying for #1 status until his Achilles tear IMO.

Have at it.........

(09-22-2014 08:43 AM)jmuroadwarrior Wrote:  Saturday as the game went on, we were down to our 5th string running back #20 Taylor Woods, another freshmen with a burnt redshirt, who I believe had not played previously. RB injuries and the scoreboard made our options essentially Vad and Vad, allowing Villanova to tee it up on D. I am sure Vad is very sore.

FWIW I have Abdullah, Johnson, Miller and Latney as the first 4.

During the spring Johnson was vying for #1 status until his Achilles tear IMO.

Have at it.........

Yes I agree -Lee took a lot of hits Saturday. I saw that Miller went out, and I guess Abdullah is still recovering. We need Abdullah back. Hill didnt look very solid at all on Saturday.... Just basically leaned into the hole and fell down. If we dont get some solid running back play, then I think any offensive gains we have seen will backslide.

(09-22-2014 08:38 AM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(09-21-2014 10:20 PM)South Carolina Duke Wrote:  But not enough points to win the games.

I thought that EW made an interesting comment on the pregame show with Curt/Schik. He said that most spread offense teams with a fast paced offense "struggle on defense". WTF is he talking about ? To me that's saying that it is mutually exclusive to have an adequate Defense all because we run around quickly and fail to execute on Offense ?


Posted from my mobile device using the CSNbbs App

I don't think EW was making excuses for JMU's D, but was pointing out that teams who run an explosive spread offense and who score faster put their defense on the field for potentially more plays, and tha's B-A-D.

If that D is facing a team that also runs an explosive spread (as was the case with JMU against Nova), you're more likely to give up more points. It's kind of a run-n-gun philosophy in basketball where you try and out score the other guy and the points against become almost meaningless (so long as at the end of the game your team has scored the most points). It's entertaining, but purists are always gonna question what appears to be poor defensive alignments and play.

Blame Hal Mumme and his disciples for bringing this very exciting brand of O and lousy D to the forefront...but the fans also are playing a part as they love and demand these type of fast paced and high scoring games.

I also think that if you look at last Saturday's games as a sample, there were a very large number of unusually high scoring games, and many of them lopsided wins if there was a dramatic mismatch between the two teams (like A&M over SMU or Wisconsin over Bowling Green). This trend (IMO) will only accelerate.

JMU losing to Nova last week fell into the category of a good spread team playing a great spread team...rather like Florida playing Alabama (and with similar results).

As a fan, if you don't like high scoring games that make the defenses look silly you're not going to like where the game is headed right now. Eventually defenses will catch up with this new brand of O, they always do (as they did against the Wishbone when it ran roughshod over defenses in the late 60s to early 70s), but in the meantime we're witnessing the full-on fast break Os rule the day, and Ds are not going to look so hot.

It's not the way to win championships. Bama and NDSU have shown this. They:
-huddle
-use a fullback (esp NDSU)
-have smash mouth running game
-good to great defense (Bama's slipped last season hence why they didn't win a 4th NC in 5 seasons).

Even Auburn last season had a suspect defense, but they huddled and had a smash mouth running game.

Everyone needs to settle down a little. The offense played well enough to win. You score 31 points you should win the ball game. The defense really needs some work and is no different than the defense was last year (with Stephon Robertson) — the defense was really bad last year too. Vad produced 450+ yards of total offense against a damn good Villanova team – the best team in the CAA. JMU played with the #4/#5 RBs as someone pointed out above.

JMU is standing 2-2 and I think exactly where most fans (even the coaches) figured JMU would be after 4 games. I think the remainder of the schedule sets up nicely and the next 4 games are all very winnable before W&M at home.

The new staff cannot just waive a freaking magic wand and fix the defense over-night which was awful last year. It does not matter how many returners you have on a unit when it was not good last year.

(09-22-2014 09:27 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  Everyone needs to settle down a little. The offense played well enough to win. You score 31 points you should win the ball game. The defense really needs some work and is no different than the defense was last year (with Stephon Robertson) — the defense was really bad last year too. Vad produced 450+ yards of total offense against a damn good Villanova team – the best team in the CAA. JMU played with the #4/#5 RBs as someone pointed out above.

JMU is standing 2-2 and I think exactly where most fans (even the coaches) figured JMU would be after 4 games. I think the remainder of the schedule sets up nicely and the next 4 games are all very winnable before W&M at home.

The new staff cannot just waive a freaking magic wand and fix the defense over-night which was awful last year. It does not matter how many returners you have on a unit when it was not good last year.

Yeah people expected 2-2 at this point, and a win is a win and a loss is a loss, but there is a difference in a close loss and having the doors blown off and vice versa.
-competitive vs MD (14-28, not 45)
-a comfortable win vs Lehigh
-a blowout win over StFU
-a close loss to VU.

The secondary was awful last yr, not the whole defense. The defense was #1 in the CAA against the run and #1 in sacks last yr. It was last against the pass.

(09-22-2014 09:37 AM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(09-22-2014 09:27 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  Everyone needs to settle down a little. The offense played well enough to win. You score 31 points you should win the ball game. The defense really needs some work and is no different than the defense was last year (with Stephon Robertson) — the defense was really bad last year too. Vad produced 450+ yards of total offense against a damn good Villanova team – the best team in the CAA. JMU played with the #4/#5 RBs as someone pointed out above.

JMU is standing 2-2 and I think exactly where most fans (even the coaches) figured JMU would be after 4 games. I think the remainder of the schedule sets up nicely and the next 4 games are all very winnable before W&M at home.

The new staff cannot just waive a freaking magic wand and fix the defense over-night which was awful last year. It does not matter how many returners you have on a unit when it was not good last year.

Yeah people expected 2-2 at this point, and a win is a win and a loss is a loss, but there is a difference in a close loss and having the doors blown off and vice versa.
-competitive vs MD (14-28, not 45)
-a comfortable win vs Lehigh
-a blowout win over StFU
-a close loss to VU.

The secondary was awful last yr, not the whole defense. The defense was #1 in the CAA against the run and #1 in sacks last yr. It was last against the pass.

I could care less about run defense vs pass defense the only defensive number I really care about is Points Given up/game and so far they are still giving up a lot of points/game. You are correct the run defense was good last year, but at some point the other teams just stopped trying to run much and threw against us which also hepled the run defense #'s. I look at it collectively and they must play together good against both pass/run to have an effective defense.

Also the loss of Stanton/Snow/Robertson has a HUGE impact on the run defense not being as good this year. They were all very good FCS players on the front 7.

The debate shouldn't be run versus pass, but what does JMU need to do to improve on defense (that's been the issue with this team)? Our offense has been very promising. The points per game versus last year probably isn't valid at this point because one of our four games this year was versus Maryland, a game in which the Dukes didn't put up many points. In a four-game stretch, that will skew the numbers. This year's offense is much, much better than last year's in my opinion (and I would bet that the numbers with respect to yardage and points will bear that out as the season unfolds). We weren't running the ball that effectively versus Villanova. I felt like in that game we should have thrown more. It's going to be different probably from week to week. Of course, it's important to establish the run because it opens up the passing game, but you can't always do that. Last year, we could never seem to sustain a good passing game, which makes you much easier to defend, obviously.

In the relatively early going, I'm optimistic about the team's offense. I think it can be really good. Deane Cheatham is starting to develop as an H-back/tight end, that kid that transferred in from Kansas can be really good in time, plus there's Daniel Brown, Brandon Ravenel and the Chase kid, not to mention a slew of running backs. And by the way, I like Vad Lee. I think he's good and will get better. O-line is extremely experienced to boot. You can say JMU's talent level has dropped, but our lines have produced three NFL players the last couple of years or so (two on offensive side and one on defensive).

LH I realize that, however, if all you want to do is score points, EW's failing in that quest as well. Last time I checked, the team that scores the most wins.

EW is or was a co defensive coordinator, correct? Use the tools that you are given and find a way to win.

I really don't know who looked worse last Saturday, JMU or CLEMSON in their losses!!

I don't get why there are so many threads about our offense? It's JUST FINE

Our defense is what blows... worst tackling jmu team I've seen in as long as I can remember

(09-22-2014 12:58 PM)JMUPride Wrote:  I don't get why there are so many threads about our offense? It's JUST FINE

Our defense is what blows... worst tackling jmu team I've seen in as long as I can remember

This a million times over!