Monday, November 7, 2016

Hangover: JMU offense too much for Richmond; A&M & Baylor stumble


At one point in the second half on Saturday, the kid sitting next to Meghan and I inside Robbins Stadium let his frustration boil over. JMU was driving into Richmond territory for approximately the one zillionth time that game, and there were no signs of Richmond stopping the Dukes any time soon. The JMU run game wasn't breaking off 30 yards at a time, but it was converting short-yardage situations at a clip well above 50%. Bryan Schor was absolutely having his way with Richmond's back end. It was the latter part that ya boy seemed to take issue with.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO THE No. 1 RANKED PASSING DEFENSE?!" he yelled.

I couldn't help myself. I leaned over Meghan, caught his eye, and snapped back, "You hadn't played JMU yet."


I got the chance to talk to a lot of Spiders fans while sitting behind enemy lines in section 215, and one of the impressions I left with was that they had assumed the 2015 team was virtually identical to this 2016 team -- all flash, no fire. They also showed up with the idea that JMU's offense was potent, but if you could stop Abdullah, you could stop the Dukes. They didn't believe the defense was capable of making any stops against an offense of Richmond's caliber. Maybe most importantly, it seems some of them even thought that Richmond's defense would bottle up JMU's offense completely, limiting them to only two or three touchdowns.

At this point in the season, JMU's offense is firing on a level that I would have previously thought unimaginable. The emergence of Alls as a championship-caliber playmaker, as opposed to just another talented wideout, is one of the many features this team can sport during the final two games of the regular season. JMU can sling it around like Vad & Co. did last year, but their greatest ability was on display yesterday, particularly in the first half -- running with tempo.

Watch JMU on the third or fourth first down of a long drive. They'll snap the ball quickly on first down, and run the ball through the B gap for six or seven yards. When the defense brings extra defenders into the box, Schor can pick apart a collapsed field; if the defense stays thinned out, the offensive line can continue to snap the ball quickly and run with pace. The combined pace and strength of the offensive line wears down almost any defensive front -- even a really, really talented on like the one in Richmond. And make no mistake... this Richmond team, beat up in the backfield as they are, is a really good team.


Before I move on, I do want to mention something a few people have asked about -- what happened on the sideline at the end of the game? For those who were watching on TV and could only hear the announcers referencing it, there were two guys down on the field level on the UR track, and one of them started talking trash to the JMU sideline after the game was in hand. It wasn't probably anything you haven't ever seen before, in terms of back-and-forth trash talking, until the Richmond guy left the track and entered the JMU sideline. As in, on the grass, amongst the players.

Predictably, 50-some JMU players did not take kindly to a Richmondite getting in their faces on their own sideline. Some tables were knocked over, and some shoves were exchanged. I would love to know what UR guy's best-case scenario for walking into the opposing team's sideline was and starting a fight... either way, a field-level police officer had a brief exchange with his buddy, which I imagine went something like this:


Police Officer: "Excuse me, bruh, but you'd be wise to seize control of this current conflict by initiating a retreat of sorts, because if I have to, none of the fair denizens of Robbins Field, including and especially your friend, are going to like the series of events that shall unfold."

Friend: "Hmm. You've articulated quite an excellent point, sir. Thank you for sharing your view of this unfortunate incident. I shall respond as advised."

Police Officer: "You're quite welcome, young man. Thank you for acting in such a steadfast and responsible manner, saving me from escalating this incident of aggression any further."



The friend grabbed him from behind around the small of his neck and drug him back off the field and onto the track, where he was escorted out of the complex.

Throughout the game, UR had basketball players down with field-level access, throwing t-shirts from the track into the stands. My assumption, which is a 100% guess, is that these two guys are somehow linked to the UR basketball team.


Anyway, back to the game. We've all been enjoying this one for a couple of days already, so I'll leave you with Fox Sport's great preview that we all somehow missed, Richmond Times-Dispatch sports editor Mike Szvetitz's column from after the game, and some footage Curt Dudley recorded and posted to Facebook. This is from the UR series toward the end of the game that ended with a turnover on downs. Unsurprisingly, he was nice enough to let me post it here. JMU fans -- y'all root. I'm proud of you.




Checking in on the Big 12




We've talked several times this season about how Baylor is unproven and over-ranked, but ----

wait, does that say SIXTY-TWO?!

Look, I've been captain of the "Someone please explain Baylor's rank to me" club all year, but losing at home to TCU by forty points? I don't think anyone saw that coming. Baylor has been loudly touting their defensive metrics in conference play, but no one was impressed that they led the Big 12 in scoring defense after two byes, plus game against Oklahoma State, Kansas and Iowa State.

Still, I would have thought Baylor to be a top 4 finisher in Big 12 play, with potential losses to Oklahoma and West Virginia. With that home win in hand vs Oklahoma State, the Bears looked like they would at least nominally challenge for the Big 12 title; with a December game in Morgantown and a tilt with the Sooners on tap this weekend, Baylor could easily be a .500 team in conference play this year.


West Virginia 48, Kansas 21


This game, frankly, was not as close as it looked, and it doesn't look all that close to begin with. West Virginia led 31-0 at halftime; it was 45-7 late in the third. It was unsexy and methodical and more of the blue collar descriptors that have come to describe this particular 2016 West Virginia team.

I have been more nonchalant toward polls this year than I ever have been before, but I'm fearful that West Virginia's placement at No. 20 in the first playoff rankings may leave them with too much room to make up to legitimately challenge for a playoff spot. The Mountaineers are on playoff life support anyway, but theoretically, their loss is a good one -- it came before November, on the road, against a good team. At 7-1 on November 5, and with a high-profile, top-10 matchup still left on the docket, it would only be somewhat outrageous for them to mount a comeback to compete for a playoff spot.

Obviously, the Baylor result hurts them. For West Virginia to truly still have a shot at representing the Big 12 in the playoff, it needed to notch marquee wins against Oklahoma and Baylor. For Baylor to be considered a "marquee" win, it needed to show up with as few losses as possible. Now, a three-loss Bears team by November's end is not only possible, but downright likely.

I'm interested to watch the committee's newest rankings this week and next week to see if any sort of correction occurs. You don't have to believe this WVU team is elite, but at 7-1, they probably belong in the top 15. I'm not sure wins over Kansas (awful) or Texas (inconsistent) do much to raise the profile.


Aggies trip at Mississippi State


Yeah, sure, you can cite Trevor Knight getting hurt, and I guess that plays a part here. But I went back and watched a sped up version of this game Sunday night, and Mississippi State's offensive line just worked A&M's front. That's what this game came down to. A&M was unable to stop State from extending long drives -- State's eventual game-winner capped a 14-play, 73-yard drive -- but they also couldn't stop the home run ball. State had two touchdown plays of 60+ yards in the first half. The Aggies were down two touchdowns at halftime, and without Knight, they just couldn't recover.

Soooo, where did Texas A&M land in the polls after their second loss of the season, the most recent of which game at the hands of a team who is under .500, won't win another game the rest of the year, and gave up 41 points to something called Samford?




They're still in the Top 10.  #PollsAreDumb

Let's be Nerds


I'm starting a new recurring segment today titled "let's be nerds," where I impart to you current event knowledge that I find interesting, yet is almost definitely useless and generally lame.

This weekend, I saw a story about a Japanese designer named Hajime Narukawa who invented a new map to replace the germanic Mercator map that was pioneered hundreds of years ago, and generally misrepresents the sizes and centrality of certain parts of the map -- particularly Greenland and central Europe. The math and science behind it is next-level nerdy/boring, but you can find a short writeup from Wired here.


If you're like me, reading even three sentences of this story may have reminded you of The West Wing and Leo McGarry's Big Block of Cheese





(For what it's worth, President Obama has hosted a BBoC day the last three years -- replete with an enviable amount of puns -- and Gary Johnson hosted one in New Mexico while governor/has pledged to continue the practice if ever elected in the future.)


It's #N7Day, Y'all




OKAY BUT WHEN IS IT MARCH?


Let Them Eat Goats



Presented without commentary.


Please Vote.




We end the Hangover with a civic reminder -- please go vote tomorrow. If you failed to register, or have mailed a ballot in, I suppose I'm not talking to you. But surprisingly, there is consistently a fairly large discrepancy between the number of registered voters in America and the number of actual votes cast. The takeaway: lots of people are opting not to register to vote at all, but some people are registering without following through, too.

I'm not going to lecture you on politics one way or the other. Many of you know that I support Gary Johnson; I'm happy to talk privately about why I've chosen to support him over other candidates. I don't want this post to be a call to arms for any particular candidate, whether it's Trump, Clinton, Johnson, or Joe Exotic. Whoever you support, whatever your rational -- please study the ticket tonight, and take some time to vote tomorrow. 

After all, the only difference between a democracy and an oligarchy is participation. 

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