JMU: Thorpe, Williams suspended indefinitely
JMU Director of Athletics Jeff Bourne announced today the indefinite suspension from competition of Justin Thorpe and Chase Williams from the football team for a violation of JMU Athletics policy.
Thorpe, a redshirt junior and the starting quarterback for Coach Micky Matthews, has thrown for 409 yards and three touchdowns for the 3-1 Dukes, who upset then-#4 William and Mary 20-14 in Williamsburg on Saturday.
Thorpe is also the team’s second-leading rusher with 163 yards.
Williams, a redshirt-junior reserve linebacker, has appeared in two games and recorded three tackles.
Due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act there will be no further comment by JMU Athletics on the circumstances of these suspensions.
#10 JMU upsets #4 William and Mary
In front of a sold-out Zable Stadium crowd, #10 James Madison utilized a strong ground game, good defense overall and a key turnover conversion to come away with 20-14 at #4 William & Mary in the Colonial Athletic Association opener for both squads, Sept. 24. With the victory, the Dukes move to 3-1 on the year and 1-0 in league action, with the Tribe falling to 2-2 and 0-1 in conference play.
After a scoreless first period where both teams failed to convert fourth downs, including one deep in Tribe territory, the Dukes got on the scoreboard with the opening play of the second quarter. Redshirt-junior quarterbackJustin Thorpe (Richmond, Va./Varina) connected with redshirt-senior wide receiverKerby Long (Arlington, Va./Yorktown/Fork Union) for a 52-yard touchdown pass, which included Long hurtling a W&M defender at the Tribe 20 and breaking away from two others. Redshirt-sophomore kickerCameron Starke (Halifax, Va./Halifax County (West Virginia)) hit the point after and Madison had a 7-0 lead.
Madison again found the scoreboard on its next drive, moving the ball inside William & Mary’s 10. However, the drive stalled deep, forcing a field goal attempt from 26 yards out. Starke connected from the right hash on his fourth straight make, giving the Dukes a 10-0 lead with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half. The Dukes held through the remainder of the half and entered halftime with the 10-point advantage.
After being backed up to its own 1 on its second drive of the third quarter, William & Mary used three key pass plays to get on the board and complete a 99-yard drive. After a 34-yard completion from Michael Graham to Ryan Moody got them out of their own end zone, Graham connected two times with D.J. Mangas, including the final 38 yards for the touchdown. Drake Kuhn hit the point after and the margin was trimmed to three at 10-7 JMU with 3:52 to play in the third.
The Dukes’ defense made up for the previous drive the next time on the field, as redshirt-sophomoreStephon Robertson (Alexandria, Va./Edison) dislodged the ball from running back Keith McBridge and redshirt-freshman defensive tackleAnthony McDaniel (Upper Marlboro, Md./Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr.) fell on it to give JMU the ball on the W&M 24. Thorpe made a key run by freezing a Tribe defender for a 15-yard pickup to the Tribe 11. From there, three plays later, the Dukes got in the end zone on a bootleg pitch to redshirt-sophomore running back Dae’Quan Scott (Staunton, Va./Robert E. Lee), who outran three Tribe defenders to the left corner. Starke hit the point after and the lead was back to 10 at 17-7 with just under 14 minutes left to play.
Another JMU drive chewed up yardage and time on the clock, as the Dukes went 60 yards in 12 plays and taking more than seven minutes off the clock. W&M’s defense held JMU out of the end zone bdut Starke added a 34-yarder and the margin grew to 20-7 JMU with 4:17 remaining in the game.
William & Mary would not give up though, getting on the board one last time with a late 12-play, 79-yard drive. Graham connected with tight end Alex Gottlieb in the flat and he scored from 10 yards out to cut it back to 20-17. The Tribe then went for the onside kick but redshirt-freshman wide receiver Daniel Brown (Windsor, Va./Isle of Wright) skied for the ball and came down with it safely. The Dukes got one first down to run out the clock and seal the win.
JMU outgained W&M 340-252, with 271 of the Dukes’ yards coming via the ground game while the defense limited William & Mary to just 37 yards on the ground in 34 carries.. Madison held a significant advantage in time of possession, holding on to the ball 35:16 as compared to the Tribe’s 24:44.
Scott posted his third-consecutive 100-yard rushing game, with 26 carries for 112 yards and one touchdown, while Thorpe had a career-high 81 yards on 14 carries. Latney also was effective, carrying it nine times for 66 yards, a 7.3 yards per carry average. Thorpe was also 3-for-4 for 69 yards and one touchdown through the air. Redshirt-senior defensive tackleLamar Middleton (Newark, N.J./Shabazz (Syracuse) had eight tackles and 2.0 sacks to lead the Dukes, while Robertson added six tackles, 1.0 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and two pass breakups in the victory.
Grimes led the Tribe rushing with 23 carries for 70 yards, while Graham went 14-for-26 for 215 yards and two scores. Mangas led the receivers with six catches for 102 yards and one score.
The Dukes return home for three straight games, starting with the Homecoming clash with Richmond on Sat., Oct. 1. Kickoff at Bridgeforth Stadium is set for 3:30 p.m., with the game to be televised on the CAA Television package on Comcast.
UNC rolls JMU
James Madison football spotted North Carolina an early 21-0 lead, and eventually fell to the hosts 42-10 in the season opener for both squads, Sept. 3. Madison falls to 0-2 all-time against the Tar Heels.
JMU began the game slowly, allowing UNC to score on three of its first four possessions. UNC sophomore quarterback Bryn Renner connected with senior wide receiver Dwight Jones for a 34-yard touchdown pass and senior Casey Barth followed with the extra point, giving UNC an early lead of 7-0 with less than four minutes gone. On the next possession, JMU was backed up deep and forced to punt, and Carolina’s Todd Harrelson returned the ball 19 yards to the JMU 22. Two plays later, true freshman running back Giovani Bernard ran 12 yards for the score. Barth recorded his second extra point of the game, giving the Tar Heels a 14-0 advantage with just under five minutes left to play in the opening period. Early in the second quarter, senior running back Ryan Houston rushed for the third touchdown of the game for UNC, this time a 1-yarder. Barth once again cleared the goal post, bringing Carolina’s lead to 21-0.
JMU tallied its first points of the 2011 season when redshirt-junior quarterback
Justin Thorpe (Richmond, Va./Varina) connected with redshirt-freshman wide reciever Daniel Brown (Windsor, Va./Isle of Wight) for a 41-yard touchdown pass. Sophomore kicker Cameron Starke (Halifax, Va./Halifax County (West Virginia)) completed the point-after attempt, making the score 21-7 late in the second quarter. However, Carolina responded immediately, cover 67 yards in just 1:26, with Bernard going the final 14 yards into the end zone with just over a minute remaining in the half and the extra point gave UNC a 28-7 halftime advantage.
The Dukes opened the second half with a 19-play drive over 10:06. Starke capped off the 55-yard drive, that included two successful fourth-down conversions, with a 31-yard field goal. The 19-play march for JMU is the longest scoring drive under Head Coach Mickey Matthews.
Carolina’s Renner pushed into the endzone for an early fourth quarter touchdown, scoring on a 1-yard sneak to push the lead to 35-10. The final touchdown for UNC came with under nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter on a 21-yard pass from Renner to Jones, providing the final 42-10 margin.
UNC outgained JMU in total yardage 461 to 211 and in rushing yards 184-59. The Dukes held a time of possession advantage of 31:04 to 28:56 and committed no turnovers in the game.
Redshirt-sophomore tailback Jordan Anderson (Chantilly, Va./Westfield) led JMU in rushing with 40 yards on 13 carries and Thorpe was 11-for-15 through the air for 152 yards and one touchdown. Redshirt-sophomore linebacker Stephon Robertson (Alexandria, Va./Edison) tallied eight tackles, including 0.5 tackles for loss, to lead the Dukes. Redshirt-freshman safety Dean Marlowe (Queens, NY/Holy Cross) had his first collegiate interception in the second quarter and added four tackles during the game to the effort.
UNC’s Renner set a new ACC record for pass completion percentage by completing 22 of his 23 pass attempts for 277 yards and two scores. The .957 percentage is now second in NCAA history for a passer with 20-29 attempts. Jones had nine receptions for 116 yards and two scores, while Bernard was the game’s leading rusher with nine carries for 64 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
JMU returns to Harrisonburg next Saturday for the home opener against Central Connecticut State at 6 p.m. The game will be the first in the newly-renovated Bridgeforth Stadium.
Dukes aim for hot start and strong finish in 2011
Finish what you start. That’s the goal – simple, but maybe not so simple – for JMU football in 2011.
“We’re expecting to finish. That’s our main goal. We’re trying to be CAA champs and then national champions. That’s always our goal,” said Dae’Quan Scott, a redshirt sophomore tailback from Staunton.
“We have a bad taste in our mouth. So the preparations have been focused on, We have to win. There’s no excuses this year,” said Roane Babington, a redshirt senior offensive lineman and former teammate of Scott at R.E. Lee.
James Madison was the talk of the college-football world early in the 2010 season after its historic 21-16 upset win at Virginia Tech. But the wheels came off the Dukes Bandwagon down the stretch, and JMU went all the way from the top of the national polls in I-AA to out of the playoffs for a second consecutive year.
With one national title (2004) on display at Bridgeforth Stadium, the pressure to win another is a fact of life around the JMU program.
Adding to the pressure – 2011 will mark the first season in the newly expanded Bridgeforth, which can now accommodate 25,000 fans.
“Every year, we start out saying in the first meeting, Our goal is to win the conference and win the championship. We never think we’re not going to play in January. And then with the additions to the stadium, 25,000 strong, that really does add a little bit of pressure to us,” Babington said.
“The expectations are high. As you can see, 25K, that speaks for itself. We’re not going 25K to come out here and lose games. That’s just not going to happen,” said Justin Thorpe, the 2009 CAA Rookie of the Year who missed most of 2010 with a knee injury, and who is part of a battle for the starting-quarterback job in 2011 with Kansas State transfer Billy Cosh and redshirt freshman Jace Edwards.
“When they recruited me, this is what they pitched to me. I’m so happy to see it all going according to plan. It’s going to be amazing to see 25,000 purple shirts in that stadium. I can’t wait to see the streamers flying when the offense gets into the end zone,” Thorpe said.
JMU football: Dukes open with UNC
The James Madison University football team will have five home games along with a road game at Football Bowl Subdivision school North Carolina on its 2011 schedule, announced today. Time for the home games will be announced in the coming weeks.
Coming off seven straight winning seasons, JMU will open the season on the road in Chapel Hill, taking on the Tar Heels on Sept. 3. This will be the second-ever meeting between the two programs. The Dukes will then return home to open the renovated and expanded Bridgeforth Stadium on Sept. 10, hosting Northeastern Conference runner-up Central Connecticut State. A road trip to four-time defending Big South Conference champion Liberty is next on Sept. 17 to wrap up non-conference action. Read more
JMU, UNC working out details on 2011 football game
James Madison University is working with the University of North Carolina to still meet during the 2011 football season.
The Tar Heels have added the University of Louisville to their football schedule on Sept. 3 of next year as part of a home-and-home series that was announced by UL on Friday, the date originally scheduled for the Dukes to travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., to take on the Tar Heels.
Football Roundup: Dukes win with goal-line stand, W&M pastes Richmond, VMI falls
James Madison’s defense kept Maine out of the end zone for all but the game’s initial series, including on a play from the three-yard line to end the contest, to lead the Dukes to a 14-10 victory Saturday in the season-finale for both football teams.
Maine pulled to within 14-10 early during the final quarter and ran 16 plays during the closing possession before JMU stopped a Black Bear receiver as time expired.
