JMU answers traveling call with triumph

JOHN MARKON
POINT OF VIEW
Dec 11, 2004
Contact John Markon at (804) 649-6892 or jmarkon @timesdispatch.com

WILLIAMSBURG _ All the unfair, stacked-deck elements everyone hates about the Division I-AA football playoffs were lined up this fall against James Madison University.

Despite a 9-2 regular-season record, the Dukes had to open postseason play on the road against Lehigh, a lower-ranked opponent.

Once they won there, they were sent to Furman, another team that earned home field not with a superior record or ranking, but by having a larger stadium and submitting a larger bid on the game to the NCAA.

With that win in the bag, the Dukes were handed yet another road date last night at William and Mary, a team that would be playing for the third straight week at home.

While some teams are marked for distinction in the playoffs, others seem to be marked for extinction.

That was the Dukes.

Except that no one told them. Last night's count was 48-34, JMU.



"I don't think I'll ever care where we play again," said defensive tackle Brandon Beach as he stood in ankle-deep mud at Zable Stadium last night. "With football, it's all how you play. Where you play isn't important."

At least it isn't to the Dukes. During the regular season, JMU was a 27-24 loser vs. the Tribe in Harrisonburg, a venue known now to the Dukes only as "that place where we practice sometimes."

"I thought about the idea that all the road games and the feeling we might have gotten jobbed [by the NCAA] might have helped us by improving our focus," Beach said. "I don't think it's true. If we hadn't been incredibly focused before we started the playoffs, we'd never have made it here."

Beach, who sounds like an upscale Florida resort but is, in fact, a 280-pound senior from Newport News, made one of night's biggest plays in the third period. The Dukes, having blown all of a 21-0 first-quarter lead, were back on top by a 34-26 count that looked highly temporary.

JMU's defense still was being toasted by W&M quarterback Lang Campbell, who was on his way to a 315-yard, three-touchdown game. After throwing numerous blitzes at Campbell in the first half with almost no return on investment, the Dukes decided to cover and let the front four rush in the second half.

On a first-down snap from the W&M 22, Campbell lingered in the pocket too long and never heard Beach tip-toeing through the mud behind him. Beach crashed in, knocked the ball loose and Demetrius Shambley recovered. When JMU scored three plays later, the Dukes could glimpse the end of the trail.

"As soon as I saw the playoff draw, I started preparing my guys for playing all of our games on the road," said JMU coach Mickey Matthews. "Lehigh, Furman and William and Mary, the teams I thought we'd play, all win more than 80 percent of their home games.

"We laid it out as a challenge, and the guys accepted."

JMU (12-2) probably will be an underdog in next Friday night's title game, not that any of the Dukes would care.

"They can play it in another country for all we care," said Beach. ""Chattanooga? That's not so far. Bring it on."

There was, of course, a counterpoint to all the celebrating Dukes. For years, W&M coach Jimmye Laycock, on the job for 25 seasons, had dreamed of a night like last night - full house, rented lights, national television, big playoff stakes.

Two days of rain didn't help him. Muddy fields usually work in favor of the team with the biggest, strongest linemen and that was JMU.

Still, Laycock had his moment. When Dominique Thompson scored in the third quarter to nudge the Tribe into a 26-21 lead, stately old Cary Field went somewhat ballistic and you could almost feel the light towers vibrating.

"If I never win another game here," said Laycock, walking out of the stadium and taking one more look at the lights and the detritus left by 12,000 people, "I can say I did this."

Laycock was packing his briefcase and headed home.

So are the Dukes, one of these days.