JMU goes for three in a row in Morgantown

Matthews, Dukes take on Big East Conference

FILE PHOTO Senior linebacker Kwynn Walton and the Dukes take on No. 6 West Virginia University Saturday.

Last week’s college football was laden with upsets. They pervaded from the Southeastern Conference, with Auburn University knocking off Louisiana State all the way to JMU downing Villanova University in the Atlantic 10.

However, the most provocative upsets were those involving Division I-A programs and its lesser Division I-AA counterparts.

The A-10’s University of Maine upended the SEC’s Mississippi State 9-7. Fellow A-10 member the University of New Hampshire handed Rutgers University a loss the week before 35-24.

In the same weekend JMU opened its season with a 62-7 dismantling of Lock Haven University, the College of William & Mary came this close to beating the Atlantic Coast Conference’s University of North Carolina, losing 49-38 in the fourth quarter.

This weekend, the Dukes travel to Morgantown, W.Va., to take on West Virginia University, the No. 6 team in the Associated Press Poll and No. 7 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

"Timing is everything," coach Mickey Matthews said.

"They were having a bad year when we scheduled them three years ago, and now they have one the best teams they’ve had in 50 years."

Scheduling a team like WVU, however, serves more a subsistent purpose beyond that of the wins and losses.

"It’s a financial boost to our athletic program, "Matthews said. "The biggest reason is money. It helps every sport at James Madison [financially]."

The Mountaineers are coming off a draining overtime win over the then-No. 19 University of Maryland. The Dukes are fresh off a conference victory over perennial A-10 power Villanova and are 2-0 to kick off the season.

"We’re off to a good start," Matthews said. "And we have a lot of momentum. We played Villanova with tons of confidence. We warmed up with confidence like we were going to win the game, and we expected to win."

After JMU, WVU goes to Lane Stadium/Worsham Field to battle Virginia Tech for the Black Diamond Trophy. Tech will be gunning for West Virginia after the Mountaineers derailed Hokie national title aspirations last year when WVU dispatched Virginia Tech in Morgantown.

It seems the Dukes could be catching the Mountaineers at an opportune time, sandwiched between two big games for WVU.

"I don’t know if you catch the No. 6 team at the right time," Matthews said. "They feel like they have a shot at the national title and they need to beat us."

Matthews said the numbers speak that WVU will handle Madison with ease. The Dukes’ coach said that when I-A and I-AA teams are paired, the I-A team wins 95 percent of the time, but Matthews is not discouraged.

"We’re not going to go up there and turn our backs to them," he said. "Our guys are looking forward to it. We know who we’re playing and you only get to play 11 times and we’re going to get after it."

But Matthews isn’t worrying about variables that may lie across the border.

"We’re always more concerned about how we’re going to play," he said. "I’m much more concerned about the gold helmets than those blue helmets. We play with a lot of passion, and the scoreboard will take care of itself."

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