JMU @ Liberty - Game Discussion Thread

[∞∞∞]

I don't care about the analysis...just want Liberty to absolutely smash JMU.

[93henfan]

I don't care about the analysis...just want Liberty to absolutely smash JMU.

I'll drink to that, even though Liberty students won't.

[bluehenbillk]

If all else fails, hopefully this game will put to bed one burning question:

"Exactly how far can Mickey Matthews throw that visor of his?"

[kendradad]

I couldn't stand Jerry Falwell. I despise evangelicals in general. I wish ill will on the very idea of Liberty University. I see they are playing JMU. I hope Liberty wins by 50.

Very tolerant of others I see.

[93henfan]

I couldn't stand Jerry Falwell. I despise evangelicals in general. I wish ill will on the very idea of Liberty University. I see they are playing JMU. I hope Liberty wins by 50.

Very tolerant of others I see.

Yes. I was totally serious when I posted that.

[grizzaholic]

I couldn't stand Jerry Falwell. I despise evangelicals in general. I wish ill will on the very idea of Liberty University. I see they are playing JMU. I hope Liberty wins by 50.

Very tolerant of others I see.

He is...ask him his thoughts on the resident goose population. Might want to take some cover if you do, though.

[youngterrier]

I know very little about each team this year other than the fact that JMU could be struggling and Liberty will still probably be at the top of the Big South. I think they're vastly underrated and that no team no matter what the conference should overlook them. I think this is Liberty's year to finally make the playoffs and maybe make some sort of run with home field advantage. With that being said, JMU is a still a very tough CAA football team that was probably a win away from the playoffs last year. I'm taking Liberty 24-10, but seemingly closer than that. It'll be a slobber-knocker for sure and I think the defense scores some points. The Big South may turn heads this year a smidge, just watch

[ToTheLeft]

I know very little about each team this year other than the fact that JMU could be struggling and Liberty will still probably be at the top of the Big South. I think they're vastly underrated and that no team no matter what the conference should overlook them. I think this is Liberty's year to finally make the playoffs and maybe make some sort of run with home field advantage. With that being said, JMU is a still a very tough CAA football team that was probably a win away from the playoffs last year. I'm taking Liberty 24-10, but seemingly closer than that. It'll be a slobber-knocker for sure and I think the defense scores some points. The Big South may turn heads this year a smidge, just watch

[BDKJMU]

JMU injury report:

Offense:
-#51 Returning starting rSo OL Scott Jones (6'5", 290), knee surgery in Spring, anticipated back in Oct.
-#88 Returning starting Jr WR & 4 star UVA transfer Quentin Hunter (6'1", 210), torn achilles in Spring, started practicing sometime during summer camp, DNP vs UNC & CCSU. vs Liberty?

Defense:
-#49 Starting rSr DT Nick Emmons (6'3", 260): knee, missed UNC, DNP vs CCSU, out vs Liberty
-#98 Starting DT Sean ONeil (6'4", 265): torn ACL vs CCSU, out for season, will get redshirt.
-#2 2 Deep rJr OLB Jamie Veney (6'2", 225)(starter 08'-09')- hamstring injured vs UNC. DNP vs CCSU. questionable vs Liberty

[PenthouseClosedEnd]

JMU injury report:
Defense:
-Starting rSr DT Nick Emmons: knee, missed UNC, DNP vs CCSU, questionable vs Liberty
-2 Deep Jr DT Sean ONeil: torn ACL vs CCSU, out for season, will get redshirt.
-2 Deep rSr OLB Jamie Veney (starter 08'-09')- hamstring injured vs UNC. DNP vs CCSU. questionable vs Liberty

This isnt a pretty picture. How are the backups at DT?

I will be very interested in the outcome of this game. A loss for JMU and the necktie starts getting a little tighter on The Mick with WM and the Spiders next two weeks.

I predict JMU wins a close one.

[mcveyrl]

JMU injury report:

Offense:
-Returning starting rSo OL Scott Jones (6'5", 290), knee surgery in Spring, anticipated back in Oct.
-Returning starting Jr WR & 4 star UVA transfer Quentin Hunter, torn achilles in Spring, started practicing sometime during summer camp, DNP vs UNC & CCSU. vs Liberty?

Defense:
-Starting rSr DT Nick Emmons: knee, missed UNC, DNP vs CCSU, questionable vs Liberty
-2 Deep Jr DT Sean ONeil: torn ACL vs CCSU, out for season, will get redshirt.
-2 Deep rSr OLB Jamie Veney (starter 08'-09')- hamstring injured vs UNC. DNP vs CCSU. questionable vs Liberty

Emmons has told Barber he will not play.

http://thatbarberscut.blogspot.com/2011 ... ts-on.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BDKJMU]

JMU injury report:

Offense:
-Returning starting rSo OL Scott Jones (6'5", 290), knee surgery in Spring, anticipated back in Oct.
-Returning starting Jr WR & 4 star UVA transfer Quentin Hunter, torn achilles in Spring, started practicing sometime during summer camp, DNP vs UNC & CCSU. vs Liberty?

Defense:
-Starting rSr DT Nick Emmons: knee, missed UNC, DNP vs CCSU, questionable vs Liberty
-2 Deep Jr DT Sean ONeil: torn ACL vs CCSU, out for season, will get redshirt.
-2 Deep rSr OLB Jamie Veney (starter 08'-09')- hamstring injured vs UNC. DNP vs CCSU. questionable vs Liberty

Emmons has told Barber he will not play.

http://thatbarberscut.blogspot.com/2011 ... ts-on.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sucks. I forgot that even though Lamar Middleton was the starter the last 9 games of last season after Emmons went down vs VT, before the UNC game O'Neil and Jordan Staunton were both listed ahead of him on the depth chart.

[BDKJMU]

JMU injury report:
Defense:
-#49 Starting rSr DT Nick Emmons (6'3", 260): knee, missed UNC, DNP vs CCSU, questionable vs Liberty
-#98 2 Deep Jr DT Sean ONeil (6'4", 265): torn ACL vs CCSU, out for season, will get redshirt.
-#2 Deep rJr OLB Jamie Veney (6'2", 225)(starter 08'-09')- hamstring injured vs UNC. DNP vs CCSU. questionable vs Liberty

This isnt a pretty picture. How are the backups at DT?

I will be very interested in the outcome of this game. A loss for JMU and the necktie starts getting a little tighter on The Mick with WM and the Spiders next two weeks.

I predict JMU wins a close one.

2 deep DTs:
#91 rSr Lamar Middleton (6'2", 255), Cuse transfer, started 8 of the last 9 games I think last season after Emmons went down vs VT.
#56 rSo Jordan Staunton (6'4", 255), 3 star recruit from 09', offers BC & MD, was on 2 deep all of last season.
Those 2 are pretty solid. After that though:

#67 rSo Bingham Togia (6'1", 245): former walkon I believe. Was on the 2 deep a good bit of last season due to all the injuries. Well, the effort is there.
#58 rFr Anthony McDaniel (6'0", 265): no experience (as you might recall, was originally a 10' UR commit before London bolted for UVGay).

JMU just needs to make it through this game without losing anyone else & then hope Emmons is back for W&M so can have a pretty solid 3 man rotation. Emmons just seems injury prone, and hasn't played a whole season since 07' (heard he is the oldest guy on the team):
05': USMAPS
06': Fr Army, played
07': Soph Army, started 4 games
08' Jr Army Played 1st game, left West Point.
09' Sr JMU redshirt (transfer issue).
10' Sr JMU med redshirt after went down vs VT with severely sprained ankle.
11' Sr JMUgoes down in practice the week before UNC with what supposedly was a minor knee injury.

[JmuSkinsfan]

While losing Emmons and O'Neill sucks ... but Middleton and Stanton are very solid fill-ins ... and both got solid playing time last year and played very well ... also I heard Togia had a very strong spring ... and Daniels or whatever was a very highly recruited player ... so I'm not too "doom and gloom" over that 4 man rotation ... though it certainly is a little tough.

[JmuSkinsfan]

Also, I'm not trying to make any excuses for JMU's play against CCSU ... but the final score should have been 14-3 ... and I have to give a lot of credit to CCSU ... they played a hell of a game and surprised a lot of JMU fans with their talent ... but this stat should be emphasized more than any others:

JMU Offensive Yards: 389
JMU Yards Per Offensive Play: 6.9

CCSU Offensive Yards: 286
CCSU Yards Per Offensive Play: 3.7

JMU ran 56 plays to CCSU's 77 ... and if you take away the final scoring drive by CCSU with under 3 minutes left (77 yards that resulted in a weird TD after 2 untimed downs to end the game) ... CCSU had just 211 total yards ...

While JMU's offense should have put up more yards ... 389 is nothing to sneeze at ... and if they can just execute better with the passing game and limit the turnovers, they'll be right where the pre-season hype from some pollsters expected them to be.

For comparison sake, in 2008 when JMU played NC Central ... the Dukes put up 439 yards of offense to UNCC's 203 and won 56-7 ... the stats are very similar to JMU/CCSU but it's all about execution in the redzone and limiting turnovers.

[BDKJMU]

Mickey on Liberty (Monday press conference from Ham's):
"They may be one of the top 2-3 teams we play this year" (which would mean top 1-2 outside of UNC).

"I think they're a top ten team in the nation right now"

"The best Liberty team we've seen so far"

Mickey on Mike Brown: "He might be the best QB in the state right now" (remember, there's 10 Div I teams)

Danny Rocco press conference (talks about JMU from about 3:15-7:45 mark:
http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm? ... 4&TeamID=9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BDKJMU]

Also, I'm not trying to make any excuses for JMU's play against CCSU ... but the final score should have been 14-3 ... and I have to give a lot of credit to CCSU ... they played a hell of a game and surprised a lot of JMU fans with their talent ... but this stat should be emphasized more than any others:

JMU Offensive Yards: 389
JMU Yards Per Offensive Play: 6.9

CCSU Offensive Yards: 286
CCSU Yards Per Offensive Play: 3.7

JMU ran 56 plays to CCSU's 77 ... and if you take away the final scoring drive by CCSU with under 3 minutes left (77 yards that resulted in a weird TD after 2 untimed downs to end the game) ... CCSU had just 211 total yards ...

While JMU's offense should have put up more yards ... 389 is nothing to sneeze at ... and if they can just execute better with the passing game and limit the turnovers, they'll be right where the pre-season hype from some pollsters expected them to be.

For comparison sake, in 2008 when JMU played NC Central ... the Dukes put up 439 yards of offense to UNCC's 203 and won 56-7 ... the stats are very similar to JMU/CCSU but it's all about execution in the redzone and limiting turnovers.

Simple, when you turn the ball over 5x (fumble at the CCSU 1, INT at the CCSU 2, INT at the CCSU 3, fumble at the CCSU 23, fumbled kick return at the JMU 37), and go -3 in the TOs, you'll lose 90-95% of the time.

Can't think of a single game JMU has won being -3 in the TOs. Was 07' @ URI won 44-27 when was -2.

[Dukie95]

While losing Emmons and O'Neill sucks ... but Middleton and Stanton are very solid fill-ins ... and both got solid playing time last year and played very well ... also I heard Togia had a very strong spring ... and Daniels or whatever was a very highly recruited player ... so I'm not too "doom and gloom" over that 4 man rotation ... though it certainly is a little tough.

Emmons is the Army transfer that was injured in the VT game last year and hasn't played since. He's become a staple on our injury report for over a year. Lamar Middleton is the backup, but essentially he's a second year starter.

No one really knows what missing Emmons means, because we haven't seen him play.

[BDKJMU]

While losing Emmons and O'Neill sucks ... but Middleton and Stanton are very solid fill-ins ... and both got solid playing time last year and played very well ... also I heard Togia had a very strong spring ... and Daniels or whatever was a very highly recruited player ... so I'm not too "doom and gloom" over that 4 man rotation ... though it certainly is a little tough.

Emmons is the Army transfer that was injured in the VT game last year and hasn't played since. He's become a staple on our injury report for over a year. Lamar Middleton is the backup, but essentially he's a second year starter.

No one really knows what missing Emmons means, because we haven't seen him play.

We've seen him play about 3 halves- full game vs Morehead (well, before they put the backups in), about 2 1/2 qtrs vs VT.
He looked very good against Morehead and pretty solid vs VT. In that 1.5 games had 5 tackles, including one for a loss.

"....Had his most-productive Army season in 2007 when in 12 games, including four as a starter, he took part in 21 tackles... Started versus Air Force, Rutgers, Tulsa and Navy... Had 12 solo tackles, four stops for loss and a quarterback sack... Had five tackles vs. Air Force and Navy... Posted four solo stops, three tackles for loss and a sack vs. Navy... Recorded two solo stops vs. Air Force and had three tackles vs. Rhode Island and Tulsa and two vs. Rutgers... Appeared briefly for Army during the 2006 and 2008 seasons... Credited with an unassisted tackle in 2006 and two solo stops in 2008..."
http://www.jmusports.com/ViewArticle.db ... EASON=2011" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've seen enough & heard enough to believe this could IF HEALTHY could be JMU's best DT and contend for some All CAA honors.

[Knucklehead]

If you have not yet seen Liberty play this year, you are in for a surprise on this defense. I have followed LU Football since 1986 and I have NEVER seen a defense like this. This is the best collection of talent we have ever had on D. They are Fast, Physical, and Agressive. They are actually just fine without Asa at this point on the line, the linebackers are all over the place, and the DBs may be one of the best groups in FCS. So, don't judge it on the last 2 years. If JMU plays as benign on offense as they did last year, they'll be lucky to score. And if they play like last week, I almost guarantee LU with come up with a few takeaways.

Then it all comes down to Mike Brown getting the offense into gear. The talent and the AAs are there. When they get going full force (with a few surprises I'm sure) on Saturday night, look out.

I'm still saying 24-17 LU. We'll see. I can't wait.

[bjtheflamesfan]

Im looking forward to this one...the sad thing is that I wont be at the game until the second half because I just got asked to run the controls for a UVA broadcast for a station in Gretna so I wont have any idea of the LU score until I get there (because I dont think there is wireless at this studio)

[youngterrier]

anyone know where I can watch the game streaming without paying for anything?

[CAA Flagship]

If you have not yet seen Liberty play this year, you are in for a surprise on this defense. I have followed LU Football since 1986 and I have NEVER seen a defense like this. This is the best collection of talent we have ever had on D. They are Fast, Physical, and Agressive. They are actually just fine without Asa at this point on the line, the linebackers are all over the place, and the DBs may be one of the best groups in FCS. So, don't judge it on the last 2 years. If JMU plays as benign on offense as they did last year, they'll be lucky to score. And if they play like last week, I almost guarantee LU with come up with a few takeaways.

Then it all comes down to Mike Brown getting the offense into gear. The talent and the AAs are there. When they get going full force (with a few surprises I'm sure) on Saturday night, look out.

I'm still saying 24-17 LU. We'll see. I can't wait.

That's going out on a thin limb considering you gave up 43 to NC State and played Rober Morris. Just sayin.

[mcveyrl]

anyone know where I can watch the game streaming without paying for anything?

It's on espn3.com if you get that.

[jcmanson]

If you have not yet seen Liberty play this year, you are in for a surprise on this defense. I have followed LU Football since 1986 and I have NEVER seen a defense like this. This is the best collection of talent we have ever had on D. They are Fast, Physical, and Agressive. They are actually just fine without Asa at this point on the line, the linebackers are all over the place, and the DBs may be one of the best groups in FCS. So, don't judge it on the last 2 years. If JMU plays as benign on offense as they did last year, they'll be lucky to score. And if they play like last week, I almost guarantee LU with come up with a few takeaways.

Then it all comes down to Mike Brown getting the offense into gear. The talent and the AAs are there. When they get going full force (with a few surprises I'm sure) on Saturday night, look out.

I'm still saying 24-17 LU. We'll see. I can't wait.

That's going out on a thin limb considering you gave up 43 to NC State and played Rober Morris. Just sayin.

Says the guy who just looked at the final score of the NC State game.

NC State had a fumble return for a touchdown,
punt return for a touchdown,
ran back a kickoff to the 33 and subsequently scored a TD,
interception return to the 19 and subsequently scored a TD.

That's 28 of the 43 points. The other 15 (2 TDs and Fg, they had a missed XP and blocked XP) would be credited to the Defense.

Liberty had 7 TOs in that game. The defense played very well.

Here's the drive chart for NC State:
Punt 3-2 1:03
Punt 6-17 1:56
FIELD GOAL 11-64 3:59
Fumble 1--14 0:09
Punt 6-17 3:02
Punt 3--8 1:19
TOUCHDOWN 0-0 0:00
TOUCHDOWN 10-57 2:12
Punt 3-9 1:13
TOUCHDOWN 0-0 0:00
TOUCHDOWN 2-33 0:10
Punt 3-7 2:06
Punt 8-19 4:19
Fumble 2-46 0:53
TOUCHDOWN 7-43 3:20
TOUCHDOWN 1-19 0:05
End of game 1-7 0:41

We have the best and deepest secondary ever.
We have 8 sacks in the first 2 games, which is much better than we've done in recent memory.
Rocco is on record to say this is his best defense he's had in his 6 years at LU.