FOOTBALL!: JMU Postgame

Virginia Tech won its second game of the 2003 season Saturday, 6 September in a 43-0 drubbing of I-AA James Madison University at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg.

The play everyone will be talking about occurred early in the second quarter, as Tech marched down the field. JMU DL Demetrius Shandley pursued Kevin Jones out of bounds on a left-side run from the JMU 24. As Jones went out at the JMU 16, he was running perpendicular to the sideline. Instead of releasing and backing off, Shandley followed for about 5 yards and used both hands to throw Jones into the wall by his shoulders, as he reached the white 2-yd warning track around the wall. (This play occurred directly below my seats, 10 rows from field level; unfortunately, the height of the wall hid the actual push and collision, but the push was replayed multiple times on the Jumbotron.) Jones broke his fall with his hands, leading to initial fears that he had broken both wrists. X-rays were negative, but for about 20 minutes, Lane Stadium was a very unhappy place.

JMU was decidedly part of that unhappiness, as that play woke up what until that time had been a fairly lackadaisical Tech team and crowd. (VT actually allowed a 73-yard drive on JMU’s first series before K Burke George hurried a 23-yard field goal attempt and yanked it wide left.) After a Cedric Humes fumble gave JMU the ball back, Michael Crawford sacked JMU QB Matt LeZotte for a 9-yd loss, JMU took a delay of game penalty on the next play due to the noise of a very angry crowd, and then after two meaningless plays punted to DeAngelo Hall, who returned the punt 49 yards. The rout was on.

The lesson, of course, was that an underdog shouldn’t do something stupid to wake up a sleeping favorite, especially on the road. Granted, this game wasn’t really in much doubt. But home upsets like Miami-Ohio ‘97 and Temple ‘98 occur because Tech players come in thinking they just need to show up, Tech fans figure they don’t need to make any noise, and the team only wakes up about an hour after it’s become a national laughingstock.

Now for the positives.

• Before his injury, KJ was running hard inside, and running well. I strongly suspect that the first half was scripted to this end — the coaching staff wanting to hammer it into his head that brute-force, short-to-medium-gain inside running is every bit as valuable to the team as SportsCenter scat-back plays. He’s perfectly capable of doing it, he just has to reset his priorities a little.
• But if he reverts to type, Cedric Humes is ready, willing and able to be that inside runner, with three TDs (although he needs to work on the two fumbles he gave up). Humes said after the game that he feels he’s competing with KJ for the starting spot. Some of that is certainly just bravado, but given the Tech staff’s historic affinity for two-back systems, his feeling may not be entirely unfounded. And that, in turn, is motivation for former national #1 recruit KJ to do what the coaching staff says if he wants to be the superstar he thinks he already is, and to parlay that status into a first-round slot in the NFL Draft next year (most Hokie fans expect he will declare).
• The defense — once someone gets them angry, they’re pretty darn scary. Cols Colas is an absolute beast. Alex Rouse filled in admirably for the suspended Brandon Manning. The secondary needs some work still (particularly Garnell Wilds and Jimmy Williams), but we’ve got some time to get them up to speed before we face a really dangerous passing attack.
• Carter Warley made three field goals, including a 43-yarder in the second quarter. One extra point was blocked on good penetration; since last week’s blocked FG was due to Warley’s low trajectory on the kick, we’ll let this block slide for now, and not get after the kick-protection team just yet. (I don’t expect Beamer to be so merciful, though.)

All in all, this was a good tune-up for Texas A&M. We have a week-and-a-half to prepare for this one, and Kevin Jones is expected to return in full health. An A&M preview will be coming next week.