Madison needs win

Dukes can’t come home empty handed from W&M

Three weeks ago JMU football was on a six-game win streak, in the Football Championship Subdivision top-10 and looking primed for a second straight NCAA playoff appearance.

Playing at William & Mary (4-5 overall, 2-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association) seemed like a distant afterthought on the way to a possible conference championship.

Fast-forward to today — the Dukes (6-3 overall, 4-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association) find themselves in a predicament, coming off two straight losses to conference opponents, Richmond and Delaware. The Tribe is now much more than an afterthought, as JMU would likely need to win its last two contests to earn an at-large berth — the final game is at home against Towson, Nov. 17.

“We’re looking at this as our first playoff game,” JMU coach Mickey Matthews said Monday in his press conference. “We have to win-out, but it depends how it goes, there’s a lot of football left to be played in our league this year.”

As one of the top-ranked conferences in the FCS (Formally Division 1-AA), the CAA tends to receive more at-large bids than other leagues and saw four teams in the 2006 field of 16.

If Delaware (8-1, 5-1) wins Saturday against Richmond (7-2, 5-1), they will secure the South Division title.

But if either team loses its final two games, it would have three conference losses, giving the Dukes second place in the South, providing JMU won its final two.

Massachusetts (7-2, 5-1) currently sits atop the North Division and finishes with two teams in New Hampshire (6-3, 3-3) and Hofstra (7-2, 5-1) that still have realistic playoff aspirations.

“From our standpoint we need to win and win decisively,” JMU senior defensive tackle John Baranowsky said. “We’re getting ready for William & Mary this week like it’s basically playoffs. We need to start new, win out and win big.”

The assumption is that no team with three conference losses is likely to receive a bid. JMU’s first loss came Sept. 1 to BCS opponent, North Carolina; a game that Delaware coach K.C. Keeler doesn’t expect to hurt Madison’s chances.

“The North Carolina game doesn’t count at all,” Keeler said. “If we’re gonna play [BCS] games they only count if you win because they did play at North Carolina. I don’t see any sense in those games counting against you.”

Madison will need to focus its attention on the Tribe first. William & Mary has struggled with injuries on offense, but junior quarterback Jake Phillips is a proven threat with both his arm and legs.

Phillips has thrown for a CAA second-best 15 touchdowns by finding six different receivers for scores but has also gained 321 yards on the ground. His net rushing total shows only 178 yards as the Tribe’s offensive line has given up 15 sacks for negative-100 yards.

“We gotta shut down the run early and make sure [Phillips] doesn’t get comfortable,” Baranowsky said. “They have a few more wrinkles than other offenses we’ve seen. They throw it at you in different formations.”

The Tribe is in last place in the CAA in rushing defense giving up 208.9 yards a game. In its home opener against Delaware, the Blue Hens’ Omar Cuff rushed for 244 yards and six touchdowns.

Last week against Delaware the Dukes compiled 403 yards on the ground with Bolton and redshirt-freshman Yancey rushing for 172 and 171 yards, respectively.

“They ain’t played against an offense like ours yet,” sophomore wide receiver Rockeed McCarter said.

McCarter himself has been part of a recently stagnant passing attack that gained only 39 yards against UD and didn’t complete a pass in the second half.

Although junior quarterback Rodney Landers has still produced with his legs, he’s struggled in each of the last two losses and thrown costly second-half interceptions.

For the second straight week Matthews has held Landers from speaking to the media.

Saturday’s game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Zable Stadium in Williamsburg.