Purple Heart

Hard work, power football, fuels programís first title

AP Redshirt senior quarterback Matt LeZotte rides the wave of the JMU Nation following the Dukes' 31-21 victory over the University of Montana in the DI-AA championship.

The 2004 season forever will be known as the year JMU football stepped out from the shadow of mediocrity and into the spotlight.

Three straight postseason road wins and a national championship will do that.

"When we were 6-6 we didn’t think we had a bad team, but we were losing a lot of close games," coach Mickey Matthews said. "I never doubted that we had a great program."

His sentiment wasn’t shared by the preseason top-25 voters.

The beauty and irony of it all began in August. JMU did not receive one preseason top-25 vote, but, after defeating the University of Montana 31-21 in December, the Dukes were the unanimous No. 1 team in Division I-AA football.

Eat your hearts out, BCS endorsers.

But the real story was JMU’s unwavering confidence, smash-mouth style and gritty determination.

It brings the phrase "the heart of a champion" to a whole new level.

This was a team that played the entire season in the shadow of more recognizable A-10 foes like defending national champion Delaware and high-octane William & Mary. The Dukes didn’t have a Player of the Year candidate, a prolific offensive attack or a storied program to live off.

They built their success with their own hands, one brick at a time.

"We worked hard," redshirt sophomore quarterback Justin Rascati said moments after the national title game. "And hard work pays off."

First there was the home win over Delaware, where JMU gave us a taste of their grit with a courageous goal-line stand in the game’s final minute to preserve a 20-13 lead.

Then there was the 14-13 come-from-behind road win over Furman in the playoffs. The Dukes weren’t flashy; they won because they wore the Paladins down with a punishing ground attack and an airtight defense.

It was old-school football at its finest, the types of wins that build champions and show character.

When the Dukes arrived in Williamsburg for their ballyhooed rematch with the Tribe, William & Mary quarterback Lang Campbell — the best offensive player in the country — was supposed to prove once and for all that the Dukes weren’t as good as their record suggested.

JMU took Campbell’s best shot, survived a 26-point scoring binge by the Tribe, then delivered a knockout blow that sent William & Mary into the off-season as the second-best team in the state.

Seven days later the Dukes were national champions.

It was the exclamation point at the end of a season no one could have imagined. The story of a team that went from unranked to top dog.

"It’s something to remember forever," senior linebacker Trey Townsend said.

Townsend and the Dukes certainly will remember this forever. They won three straight on the road as underdogs and they won because they had grit, power and defense. They won with hard work.

And they won because they had heart.