NDL: S30W2 - Texas A&M (21) at James Madison (0)
Dukes fall before the home crowdJMU suffer 2nd loss of the season 21-0
Article By: This one started off as expected with the Aggies having little to no trouble taking the opening kick and driving for a TD. JMU would answer with a great drive of their own. JMU had first and goal at the 10 yard line and after three plays it was 4th and 1 at the 1. Coach mcx79 went against his tendancy and tried on 4th down resulting in a 2 yard loss. A&M went 97 yards on their next drive and scored with 19 seconds left in the half going up 14-0 at the half. In the second half the Aggies just over powered the Dukes and JMU wasnt able to find the endzone. The Dukes runner Pettaway wasnt able to get loose on the Texas A&M defense. He was held to 60 yards on 16 carries. We didnt turn the ball over and this was a great team we faced today. If we can protect the ball the rest of the way we might have a shot at winning some games.
JMU looks to UConn next as they wrap up the OOC schedule at the beginning of the year. We have taken some lumps, hopefully we can get that first W soon.
GG coach! always a fun game. good luck the rest of the season
Not ExactlySolid? Sure. Impressive?
Article By: James Madison, VA (AP)
Solid? Sure. Impressive? Not Exactly.
Well, Aggie fans, Texas A&M went on the road and took care of business against James Madison with a
21-0 win. It was exactly what you’d expect when a more talented team plays an overmatched opponent—
solid, workmanlike, and, let’s be honest, a little boring. I mean, they did what they were supposed to do, but nobody’s calling this a masterpiece.
A Ground Game Feast, Minus the Fireworks
The offense decided to go back to basics,
pounding the ball on the ground all game long.
Rueben Owens carried the load with
111 yards on 24 carries, but the real story was
Le’Von Moss—
four carries, three touchdowns, and
57 yards. Talk about making the most of limited work. The offensive line deserves some love too, opening up running lanes all game long. Owens and Moss were practically jogging into the second level before anyone even tried to lay a hand on them.
As for
Conner Weigman? Not much to say there—he threw just
eight passes, completing
seven of them for a grand total of
102 yards. No touchdowns, but hey, no interceptions either.
Efficient, I guess, if that’s the kind of thing that gets you excited. It wasn’t flashy, but it didn’t need to be.
Defense Holds Strong Without the Flash
The
Aggie defense? They were
sound, I’ll give them that. They held
JMU to just
131 total yards and pitched a
shutout, though let’s not pretend they were going up against some offensive juggernaut. JMU only really threatened once, driving all the way to the
one-yard line before A&M came up with a
fourth-down stop. After that, the Dukes were basically stuck in neutral.
No
turnovers for the Aggie defense, but
Nic Scourton showed up with
four tackles, a sack, and a couple of
pass deflections. The defense got the job done, but again—this wasn’t exactly a game to write home about. Just solid, fundamental football.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Gonzales: "We Played Well... I Think?"
Coach Gonzales gave his usual postgame thoughts:
"While we didn’t go out and put up a bunch of points, I think we just played a solid game overall. We played sound offense, didn’t turn the ball over, and the defense played a sound game not allowing any points. We may not have won by a bunch of points, but we played well. I think."
"I think," huh? Sounds like even Gonzales isn’t entirely sure how to feel about this one. But hey, a
win is a win, right?
Looking Ahead: Big Tests Coming
Up next is the
Southwest Classic against rival
Arkansas and
Coach TFan, who got the best of Gonzales last season when TFan was coaching
Vanderbilt. Now TFan’s in the
SEC, and Gonzales will have to go into hostile territory again—this time at
Lafayette. Funny how that worked out—TFan gets
back-to-back home games, and Gonzales has to hope history doesn’t repeat itself.
And if that isn’t enough pressure, A&M will also have to face
14th-ranked Missouri in
Week 6. The
Tigers are putting up
48.6 points per game so far, so Gonzales better hope the defense stays sharp, or this could get ugly fast.
Debbie’s Final Take
So, what’s the verdict on
A&M’s 21-0 win over
James Madison?
Solid? Sure. Impressive? Not really. They did what they were supposed to do—
nothing more, nothing less. It’s hard to get too excited about a game like this when the
talent gap was so obvious. A&M didn’t make any mistakes, but they didn’t exactly
light up the scoreboard either.
The
real tests are coming soon, and if Gonzales wants to prove this team is for real, they’re going to need to show more than just
sound football.
Arkansas and
Missouri aren’t going to roll over like
James Madison did, and the
Aggies can’t rely on running the ball and playing it safe if they want to
make noise in the SEC.
Enjoy the win while it lasts, Aggie fans.
The easy part’s over—now let’s see what Gonzales and his crew are really made of.
Debbie Downer
NDL Media and Associated Press, Beat Writer
GG Man, Always good to play you, GL in conference play.
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