Posted on October 29, 2007
James Madison struggled to reach the red zone and fumbled one too many times Saturday against Richmond, as the Spiders snuck out of Bridgeforth Stadium with a 17-16 Colonial Athletic Association upset. JMU fell into a three-way tie with Richmond and Delaware for the CAA South’s top spot in a performance coach Mickey Matthews described as “ridiculous.”
“The same problems that plagued us at Rhode Island plagued us today,” Matthews said. “We just didn’t execute today on offense.”
The Spiders handed JMU an 18-15 Homecoming loss in 2005, but the Dukes entered their 2007 Homecoming game with an 11-game home winning streak. Costly mistakes and aggressive play by the Spiders contributed to that streak’s demise in front of a crowd of 14,009.
JMU redshirt freshman tailback Jamal Sullivan returned from a high-ankle sprain, but rushed only two times for eight yards. Senior wide out L.C. Baker is still suffering from a hamstring injury and his playmaking ability was sorely missed by the Dukes as he had no receptions. Sullivan’s last carry resulted in a fumble at the JMU 36-yard line in the first quarter, giving Richmond an opportunity to extend its 3-0 lead.
Madison stopped Richmond’s fourth-and-goal attempt on the ensuing drive, and took over at the one-yard line. However, junior receiver Patrick Ward fumbled five plays later, giving Richmond another chance to score. Ward dropped the handoff on a reverse, and gave Richmond possession at the JMU 14-yard line.
“I told Dave [Clawson] before the game, we’re not beat up as bad as they are, but we’re close,” Matthews said. “We have some kids that have missed a lot of time.”
Richmond capitalized on Madison’s second blunder, as sophomore quarterback Eric Ward completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Scot Riddell on the first play of the drive. Ward completed 11 of 22 attempts for 74 yards and one touchdown, as senior running back Tim Hightower led the rushing attack with 28 carries for 105 yards. The Spiders didn’t score in the second half and accumulated only 245 yards of total offense in the game.
“In the first half, [Hightower] got a little loose, and ran for a few more yards than we would have liked,” senior defensive tackle John Baranowsky said of Hightower. “I’d like to think we wore him down, but he’s a hard runner.”
JMU junior quarterback Rodney Landers rushed for 79 yards on sixteen carries, but completed only 8 of 22 pass attempts for 129 yards. Madison didn’t have a running back with more than senior tailback Antoinne Bolton’s 35 rushing yards.
JMU accumulated just 256 yards of total offense against the Spiders, and lined up inside the Richmond 20-yard line just once in the game. That drive resulted in a field goal in the fourth quarter, and was the Dukes’ last score.
“There was just an emphasis on making sure we always had Landers accounted for, you know we had to prevent breakout plays by him,” UR coach Dave Clawson said. “Our defensive coordinator Russ Huesman deserves a lot of credit for the job that he’s done with a very young defense.”
Madison went into halftime down 17-7, after Landers completed a 61-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Bosco Williams with 16 seconds left in the period. The play was JMU’s only touchdown in the game.
“Coming into this game, we didn’t have enough receivers to even practice,” Matthews said. “I think we could have put the two [practice] teams together last week and we wouldn’t have enough receivers to have one football practice. I think we had two healthy receivers last week.”
Down 17-13, Landers found a wide open Williams for a 29-yard completion at the UR 24-yard line halfway through the fourth quarter. A third-down pass to sophomore receiver Ray Brown was ruled incomplete as he fell to the ground, and JMU was forced to kick a field goal. Stannard made the 36-yard attempt, and JMU trailed 17-16.
JMU was called for an illegal procedure penalty on the kickoff and Richmond returned the Dukes’ second try to the UR 39-yard line. Madison stopped the Spiders at the JMU 46-yard line on the ensuing drive, and Richmond punted to Madison with 2:38 left in the game.
Landers led JMU to the Richmond 44-yard line in the comeback drive, but UR senior safety Stephen Howell intercepted Rodney Landers’ pass with 58 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The 6-foot-1 Howell elevated above 5-foot-7 Bolton in a disastrous mismatch of heights.
“The corner went with the receiver and the safety went with me,” Bolton said. “Because I was running full speed, trying to retrack my steps … no matter how tall you are, that’s gonna be hard.”
Coach Matthews did not make Landers available to the media following the game. With his 8-22 performance, Landers fell from first to third in CAA pass completion percentage.
Madison travels to Newark, Del. on Saturday to play the CAA’s second-ranked scoring offense. Delaware averages 39.5 points a game, and beat Football Bowl Subdivision opponent Navy on Saturday, 59-52. Delaware’s stadium capacity of 22,000 is the most in the CAA, and the environment is sure to be hostile.
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