CAA Preseason Poll

[bluehenbillk]

http://www.caasports.com/ViewArticle.db ... EM_ID=8500" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1- W&M
2- JMU
3- UD
4- UNH
5- UMass
6- UR
7- VU
8- URI
9- Maine
10- ODU
11- Bye
12- TU

JMU 2nd? OK - substitute Thorpe for Dudzik and now they have an offense?? What am I missing?

Most Under-rated: URI
Most Over-rated: JMU

[VBR_Productions]

That looks reasonably correct, although I would have had Delaware second.

Nice dig at Towson, by the way.

[JMU2004]

I would have put JMU #4

[mcveyrl]

http://www.caasports.com/ViewArticle.db ... EM_ID=8500

1- W&M
2- JMU
3- UD
4- UNH
5- UMass
6- UR
7- VU
8- URI
9- Maine
10- ODU
11- Bye
12- TU

JMU 2nd? OK - substitute Thorpe for Dudzik and now they have an offense?? What am I missing?

Most Under-rated: URI
Most Over-rated: JMU

The only thing I can figure is that they are giving some credit for some more experience on the O-line and probably, like you said, overvaluing Thorpe (or whoever plays QB). The defense will still be excellent, though.

They are probably also overvaluing Devlin. JMU fans can attest that his loss doesn't necessarily mean a drastic drop in quality for the UD offense.

[bluehenbillk]

From a UD standpoint, yea QB play is one of our biggest question marks - that and our secondary. I feel our CB's can be pretty good but safety is going to be a worry all year long I'm afraid. Luckily there aren't too many teams we play that can light it up through the air.

[andy7171]

Well we went 1-10 last year, last place is a no brainer. We've got a lot to prove this year.

The first place vote for URI is a ripper.

[JmuSkinsfan]

JMU at #2 is respectable. The media polls had JMU shut out of the top 25 ... AGS and CS polls caught on and stuck JMU in the mid-teens. Then Phil Steele and CAA coaches come out and have JMU as a top 10 team. I'm sorry, but I'll trust the experts over media who vote based on reputation, last year's record, etc. AGS and CS polls are a nice mix of reputation, knowledge and "show me first" mentality

I think JMU/UD are 2a and 2b, but I think the CAA title will come down to the last week with WM. I don't have any problem with this poll ... JMU fans have been clamoring for more respect all off-season. OL holes are filled in and last year's freshmen are a year older ... and the assumption is whoever wins QB (Thorpe/Cosh) are much higher regarded than Dudzik. Also, JMU's defense may be far and away the best in FCS. THey don't have one stud NFL prospect like they have in the past (Moats, Jordan) ... but this team is arguably all-conference at every position. Don't undersell this defense ... they single-handedly kept JMU in every game last year when the offense was scoring about 10 points per game and taking up NO time of posession.

Defense in 2010 (14.7 ppg)
Morehead (7), Virginia Tech (16), Liberty (3), Delaware (13), Towson (13), UNH (28), Nova (14), Umass (21), UR (13), WM (24), Maine (10)

For an offense that averaged 17.7 ppg (actually 14.7 ppg if you take away the 48 against Morehead) ... that's incredibly impressive ... considering the positions the offense put them in ...

[Screamin_Eagle174]

From a UD standpoint, yea QB play is one of our biggest question marks - that and our secondary. I feel our CB's can be pretty good but safety is going to be a worry all year long I'm afraid. Luckily there aren't too many teams we play that can light it up through the air.

Exactly, they're all out West.

[jcmanson]

From a UD standpoint, yea QB play is one of our biggest question marks - that and our secondary. I feel our CB's can be pretty good but safety is going to be a worry all year long I'm afraid. Luckily there aren't too many teams we play that can light it up through the air.

Exactly, they're all out West.

Not exactly. Liberty has a pretty stout passing offense. Our passing offense was #7 in the country last year, and we have our QB and all receivers back.

[alvin kayak]

App State & Elon in the SOCON have good passing offenses. JU is a top 25 team last year that had a good passing offense.

[89Hen]

From a UD standpoint, yea QB play is one of our biggest question marks - that and our secondary. I feel our CB's can be pretty good but safety is going to be a worry all year long I'm afraid. Luckily there aren't too many teams we play that can light it up through the air.

Exactly, they're all out West.

Where they don't play defense.

[Dukie95]

Here's the thing...Dudzik was so bad last year, that JMU's QB simply must be "good" for us to see an improvement. Don't read into that that everyone's overvaluing Thorpe (or Cosh), rather, recognizing how much a bad QB held us back last year.

UD fans...think Schoenhoft.

[DJH]

JMU's new stadium has to be worth at least 2-3 extra wins.

[GannonFan]

Here's the thing...Dudzik was so bad last year, that JMU's QB simply must be "good" for us to see an improvement. Don't read into that that everyone's overvaluing Thorpe (or Cosh), rather, recognizing how much a bad QB held us back last year.

UD fans...think Schoenhoft.

And of course, the odd thing is, you guys have in Thorpe a QB that got beat out for the position by Dudzik last year. So it's like having Schoenhoft one year, and then having Schoenhoft's back up the next year.

[AZGrizFan]

Exactly, they're all out West.

Where they don't play defense.

Except when they have to.

[Dukie95]

Here's the thing...Dudzik was so bad last year, that JMU's QB simply must be "good" for us to see an improvement. Don't read into that that everyone's overvaluing Thorpe (or Cosh), rather, recognizing how much a bad QB held us back last year.

UD fans...think Schoenhoft.

And of course, the odd thing is, you guys have in Thorpe a QB that got beat out for the position by Dudzik last year. So it's like having Schoenhoft one year, and then having Schoenhoft's back up the next year.

Touche.

In fairness, Thorpe was unavailable after injuring himself in the season opener. We had no other options once it was clear Dudzik was in over his head.

Edit: well, there was an option, but it was too late in the season (see W&M game)

[JmuSkinsfan]

Here's the thing...Dudzik was so bad last year, that JMU's QB simply must be "good" for us to see an improvement. Don't read into that that everyone's overvaluing Thorpe (or Cosh), rather, recognizing how much a bad QB held us back last year.

UD fans...think Schoenhoft.

And of course, the odd thing is, you guys have in Thorpe a QB that got beat out for the position by Dudzik last year. So it's like having Schoenhoft one year, and then having Schoenhoft's back up the next year.

Ah, GF, at least JMU fans on here have the decency to fairly discuss UD issues when they arise ... I've never seen you say anything positive about JMU ... so your opinion on the matter should be completely irrelevent.

Dudzik played pretty well his jr year before getting hurt. There was a sense that after splitting time with Thorpe before getting hurt that the team could use the veteran leadership (Senior v. SOph) last year. Of course, Dudzik beat out Thorpe in the pre-season and led JMU to a big 2-0 start. Thorpe got hurt in the first half of the first game of the season. Therefore, Dudzik beat out Thorpe on perception ... but Thorpe would undoubtedly have been starting by week 4/5 had he not been hurt. It isn't like Dudzik was crapping the bed all season and Thorpe wasn't good enough to unseat him ... Thorpe was out of commission.

[mcveyrl]

Here's the thing...Dudzik was so bad last year, that JMU's QB simply must be "good" for us to see an improvement. Don't read into that that everyone's overvaluing Thorpe (or Cosh), rather, recognizing how much a bad QB held us back last year.

UD fans...think Schoenhoft.

And of course, the odd thing is, you guys have in Thorpe a QB that got beat out for the position by Dudzik last year. So it's like having Schoenhoft one year, and then having Schoenhoft's back up the next year.

That's true to a point...if I remember correctly, there was no real option after Schoenhoft for UD. Thorpe, based on his play the previous year, was certainly a viable option given Dudzik's struggles, but his injury in garbage time of the first game killed that.

Most people believe that Thorpe would've stepped in by the fourth or fifth week and it's hard telling what would've happened. Although he'll never admit it, Mickey got duped by some spring success by Dudzik, which happens. I believe UD fans can attest as much to Thorpes's effectiveness as a backup as JMU fans can attest to UD's backup QBs effectiveness.

At any rate, MM hasn't picked his QB (allegedly) and we'll have to see if he gets duped again...

[Dukie95]

And of course, the odd thing is, you guys have in Thorpe a QB that got beat out for the position by Dudzik last year. So it's like having Schoenhoft one year, and then having Schoenhoft's back up the next year.

That's true to a point...if I remember correctly, there was no real option after Schoenhoft for UD. Thorpe, based on his play the previous year, was certainly a viable option given Dudzik's struggles, but his injury in garbage time of the first game killed that.

Most people believe that Thorpe would've stepped in by the fourth or fifth week and it's hard telling what would've happened. Although he'll never admit it, Mickey got duped by some spring success by Dudzik, which happens. I believe UD fans can attest as much to Thorpes's effectiveness as a backup as JMU fans can attest to UD's backup QBs effectiveness.

At any rate, MM hasn't picked his QB (allegedly) and we'll have to see if he gets duped again...

Not sure if he was duped or rewarding the senior player...albeit with a short leash.

[GannonFan]

And of course, the odd thing is, you guys have in Thorpe a QB that got beat out for the position by Dudzik last year. So it's like having Schoenhoft one year, and then having Schoenhoft's back up the next year.

Ah, GF, at least JMU fans on here have the decency to fairly discuss UD issues when they arise ... I've never seen you say anything positive about JMU ... so your opinion on the matter should be completely irrelevent.

I think you forgot to add "nanny-nanny-boo-boo" to that argument.

Dudzik played pretty well his jr year before getting hurt. There was a sense that after splitting time with Thorpe before getting hurt that the team could use the veteran leadership (Senior v. SOph) last year. Of course, Dudzik beat out Thorpe in the pre-season and led JMU to a big 2-0 start. Thorpe got hurt in the first half of the first game of the season. Therefore, Dudzik beat out Thorpe on perception ... but Thorpe would undoubtedly have been starting by week 4/5 had he not been hurt. It isn't like Dudzik was crapping the bed all season and Thorpe wasn't good enough to unseat him ... Thorpe was out of commission.

Sure, Thorpe could've been starting by week 4 or 5 last year, but there's nothing to say that he would've been any better than Dudzik. The OL was bad regardless who the QB was, and there's no indication that the OL will be any better this year after having to replace Sherman with someone and still relying on two pretty young OL who weren't terribly good last year. I'd have more faith in JMU being improved this year if Cosh actually did beat out Thorpe - Thorpe didn't show much of an arm at all when he played as a freshman (granted, he won't be called upon to throw much anyway) and he isn't much of a different runner than Dudzik was. And with the OL in front of him, it may not look any different than Dudzik did last year. Like I said, Cosh winning the job would at least indicate to me something better than Dudzik is in the works. But to think that Thorpe is going to be the next Landers after losing the starting job to Dudzik just one year ago is a pretty big leap of faith IMO.

[Dukie95]

Not sure where JMU gets this bad OL reputation.

We have the preseason all conference Center and...did everyone forget what they did against W&M last year? W&M knew the run was coming with a WR behind center, but had no answer.

Honest question.

Also, check back at the game scores, it's not like we were blown out of games. To the contrary, we were competitive in each one to the end (save UNH). JMU's not having a "back to the drawing board" type season. Frankly, its more of, lets fix that glaring weakness on what was already a solid team.

[JMU2004]

Ah, GF, at least JMU fans on here have the decency to fairly discuss UD issues when they arise ... I've never seen you say anything positive about JMU ... so your opinion on the matter should be completely irrelevent.

I think you forgot to add "nanny-nanny-boo-boo" to that argument.

Dudzik played pretty well his jr year before getting hurt. There was a sense that after splitting time with Thorpe before getting hurt that the team could use the veteran leadership (Senior v. SOph) last year. Of course, Dudzik beat out Thorpe in the pre-season and led JMU to a big 2-0 start. Thorpe got hurt in the first half of the first game of the season. Therefore, Dudzik beat out Thorpe on perception ... but Thorpe would undoubtedly have been starting by week 4/5 had he not been hurt. It isn't like Dudzik was crapping the bed all season and Thorpe wasn't good enough to unseat him ... Thorpe was out of commission.

Sure, Thorpe could've been starting by week 4 or 5 last year, but there's nothing to say that he would've been any better than Dudzik. The OL was bad regardless who the QB was, and there's no indication that the OL will be any better this year after having to replace Sherman with someone and still relying on two pretty young OL who weren't terribly good last year. I'd have more faith in JMU being improved this year if Cosh actually did beat out Thorpe - Thorpe didn't show much of an arm at all when he played as a freshman (granted, he won't be called upon to throw much anyway) and he isn't much of a different runner than Dudzik was. And with the OL in front of him, it may not look any different than Dudzik did last year. Like I said, Cosh winning the job would at least indicate to me something better than Dudzik is in the works. But to think that Thorpe is going to be the next Landers after losing the starting job to Dudzik just one year ago is a pretty big leap of faith IMO.

Nobody said that Thorpe is going to be the next Landers. He just needs to be effective and help the O sustain some drives. If that happens, JMU should be fairly good.

[Dukie95]

But to think that Thorpe is going to be the next Landers after losing the starting job to Dudzik just one year ago is a pretty big leap of faith IMO.

Never said that...just said that with an upgrade from terrible to good at QB, we'll be a solid team, justifying the ranking we were given by the conference (which is how this whole thing came up)

[ODUalum11]

ODU at #10 is realistic. The Monarchs haven't proven anything and hopefully the Monarchs will surprise people this fall.

[DirtyDukes]

Thorpe didn't show much of an arm at all when he played as a freshman (granted, he won't be called upon to throw much anyway) and he isn't much of a different runner than Dudzik was.

I'm sorry? Thorpe runs NOTHING like Dudzik did. He's been called multiple times the most athletic kid to ever put on a JMU jersey. I'll give you his arm is suspect, but the kid can make plays with his feat.