Home Game Preview: JMU Football faces ODU looking to snap three-game losing streak
Sports

Game Preview: JMU Football faces ODU looking to snap three-game losing streak

Roger Gonzalez
odu jmu royal rivalry
Logo: ODU Athletics/JMU Athletics

The JMU Football team will look to snap a three-game losing streak when the Dukes travel to face Old Dominion in Sun Belt action.

JMU is 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the conference, while the Monarchs, also losers of three straight, are 3-6 overall and 2-3 in the Sun Belt. One team has to snap their losing streak in this one, but it’s tricky to pick who.

JMU has the better roster, more experience and enters as the favorites, but the poor quarterback play means this one could and should be a tight one.

Where to watch?

The game kicks off at 1 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.

What to know about JMU

The Dukes go as their quarterbacks go, and lately, that hasn’t been going well. Three straight losses with three weeks of horrendous quarterback play. Three games ago, Todd Centeio had two touchdowns but threw three interceptions in the 45-38 loss at Georgia Southern. Then Centeio was injured, and the team lost 26-12 to Marshall with backup Billy Atkins tossing four INTs. Then last week against Louisville, a 34-10 loss, Centeio was 4-for-15 for 52 yards. The quarterback play will need to be much better here, and questions exist as to whether Centeio is healthy. We should learn plenty here.

What to know about ODU

Also losers of three straight, the Monarchs were shut out by Marshall, 12-0. Quarterback Hayden Wolf has potential, but the team has to play cleaner. With four turnovers last week, it’s going to come down to playing smarter, assignment football. They’ll need to create the splash plays, and that’s going to come with some better-designed defensive plays than what we have seen. The priority is going to have to be to stop the run though after allowing two Thundering Herd backs to get over 130 yards each last week.

Prediction

ODU 27, JMU 26

 

Support AFP




Roger Gonzalez

Roger Gonzalez

Roger Gonzalez is freelancer for Augusta Free Press. A native of Connecticut that grew up in Charlottesville, he is a graduate of Virginia Tech. He currently is a sportswriter with CBS Sports and has written for The Daily Progress, The Roanoke Times and other newspapers before getting into the digital sports journalism world.

Latest News

house cracks wealth sale home poverty unhoused
Virginia

AG Jay Jones announces settlement in case with ‘slumlord from hell’

smoke wildfires canada
Local

Local area under Code Red Air Quality Alert: How to take precautions

The Virginia DEQ has issued a Code Red Air Quality Alert for our local area for Friday, with the Air Quality Index in the “Very Unhealthy” range as a result of smoke wafting down from Canadian wildfires.

Adam Dunigan
Virginia

Interview: Can Adam Dunigan pull the upset of Don Beyer in the Eighth District primary?

There’s an alternate universe, in which the Virginia Supreme Court follows the law instead of trying to write it, in which Adam Dunigan is running for a congressional nomination in a district that represents Augusta County.

roanoke airport sign 581 220 bristol interstate 81 exit 143
Virginia

Emergency roadwork on I-81 will impact drivers in Salem, Roanoke County

beth macy ben cline
Virginia

Ben Cline is raising more money in Hollywood, but Beth Macy is holding her own in Virginia

homeless man sleeping on street bench
Local

Charlottesville to begin ‘transition’ of residents from homeless encampment

donald trump
U.S. & World

Dazed, confused Trump goes on about ‘burn bags’ in TV speech about elections