The fifth-ranked Montana Grizzlies have had their tests this season - including finals this week - but these James Madison Dukes are the LSAT and MCAT all wrapped in one Friday night.
It?s the top-ranked Dukes, 12-1 and playing host inside Bridgeforth Stadium, who stand between the 13-1 Griz and a berth in the Football Championship Subdivision title game. The two teams kick off their semifinal at 6 p.m. on national TV (ESPN2) in a rematch of sorts. It was JMU who sent Montana home with a loss in the 2004 title game, 31-21.
Four years later the Dukes are again run-heavy, boasting an experienced and big offensive line. But there?s a wrinkle.?It starts with their quarterback,? said Bobby Hauck, coach of No. 5 Montana. ?It?s the Rod Landers Show. The whole offense goes through him.?
Rodney Landers is JMU?s Walter Payton Award finalist and catalyst. He?s been responsible for 37 touchdowns for the Dukes, 21 through the air, and is their
leading rusher with 1,686 yards. Landers threw for three touchdowns and ran for another - the game-winner - in their 31-27 win over Villanova last week.
The obvious question is how do you stop an athletic QB like this 6-foot-1, 220-pounder?
The pat answer is you don?t.
?We get our chance Friday night to try to slow him down,? said Hauck. ?Nobody?s done a very good job of that to date.?
?You can tell he?s a playmaker,? said senior strong safety Colt Anderson, a candidate for the Buck Buchanan Award for the best defender in the FCS. ?He doesn?t go down on first contact, so as a defense I think we?re going to have to rally and get everybody to the ball.?
There?s another problem. The Dukes can and will throw, and targets like Rockeed McCarter (21 catches, six of them for TDs) tend to spring open while Landers is buying time.
?It?s not just him,? Hauck added of the QB. ?The running back (Eugene Holloman) is all-conference, the front guys are all good players, and they?ve got a good play-action game based on the quarterback run game.
?It?s very diverse, what they give him to do, and it?s hard to stop. You?ve got to stop him first, but that?s not the only thing.?
James Madison has had a few score-fests this season, and one could be possible on what promises to be a chilly night in Harrisonburg. But the Grizzlies? defense has been stout ever since that 45-28 loss at Weber State on Oct. 4. Montana has allowed eight touchdowns in nine games since.
The gauntlet has been laid down, in front of a likely sellout crowd of mostly purple and gold.
?You?ve got to play the best eventually,? Montana defensive tackle Craig Mettler said. ?You?re going to have to see them sooner or later. Everybody on defense is pretty pumped up right now. We?ve just got to show everyone we actually do play good defense around here.
?A lot of people think they?re going to put 40 points up on us, but we?ll let that game decide on Friday night.?
Montana?s offense has turned run-heavy itself after an early string of superior passing games from Cole Bergquist. The pass has faded to the background while the Griz run attack built momentum: Sophomore tailback Chase Reynolds has bounced and powered his way to 1,140 yards in UM?s last seven games.
?The dominant thing they had in ?04 was their quarterback (Craig Ochs),? JMU coach Mickey Matthews said of the Griz. ?You had to play great pass defense. They probably have a better team right now.
?I think the big thing is they?re improving every week. You watch the early tape and then the Weber State game (a 24-13 quarterfinal win), and they?ve improved.?
Senior free safety Marcus Edwards, the leader of JMU?s defense, said the Griz offensive line reminded him of Massachusetts?.
?They were a little big,? said Edwards. ?UMass doesn?t run the ball as much as we know Montana will. The running back, he?s a physical runner. He?s a bruiser. He?s going to run hard, especially with that O-line in front of him.?
The wild card, as always, is special teams. Montana can hope to work Marc Mariani in to kickoff returns as well as punt returns, but JMU has his match in Scotty McGee, who has taken three punts for TDs this season (Mariani, working back from an ankle injury, has two).
?He?s the best,? Hauck said of McGee, a backup cornerback. ?He?s a gifted, gifted returner. I?ve never seen a guy where teams kicked away from him like this.?
But that?s a double-edged sword as well. Pooch kickoffs short or punt away, and you?re more likely to give a short field to Mr. Landers. With him, James Madison is never down too far. Just ask Appalachian State, which went up 21-0 on the Dukes on Sept. 20, only to lose 35-32.
?Our team never feels out of it,? said Landers, who spent the early part of the week on crutches because of an ankle injury, but says he?ll play Friday. ?We know if there?s time on the clock, we have a chance to win it.?
?Any time you play the best team, or the team that?s ranked No. 1, you get a little more fired up than usual,? countered UM?s Anderson. ?As a defense we?re excited to get after their offense. And I think our offense is excited to get after their defense.?
It?s the top-ranked Dukes, 12-1 and playing host inside Bridgeforth Stadium, who stand between the 13-1 Griz and a berth in the Football Championship Subdivision title game. The two teams kick off their semifinal at 6 p.m. on national TV (ESPN2) in a rematch of sorts. It was JMU who sent Montana home with a loss in the 2004 title game, 31-21.
Four years later the Dukes are again run-heavy, boasting an experienced and big offensive line. But there?s a wrinkle.?It starts with their quarterback,? said Bobby Hauck, coach of No. 5 Montana. ?It?s the Rod Landers Show. The whole offense goes through him.?
Rodney Landers is JMU?s Walter Payton Award finalist and catalyst. He?s been responsible for 37 touchdowns for the Dukes, 21 through the air, and is their
leading rusher with 1,686 yards. Landers threw for three touchdowns and ran for another - the game-winner - in their 31-27 win over Villanova last week.
The obvious question is how do you stop an athletic QB like this 6-foot-1, 220-pounder?
The pat answer is you don?t.
?We get our chance Friday night to try to slow him down,? said Hauck. ?Nobody?s done a very good job of that to date.?
?You can tell he?s a playmaker,? said senior strong safety Colt Anderson, a candidate for the Buck Buchanan Award for the best defender in the FCS. ?He doesn?t go down on first contact, so as a defense I think we?re going to have to rally and get everybody to the ball.?
There?s another problem. The Dukes can and will throw, and targets like Rockeed McCarter (21 catches, six of them for TDs) tend to spring open while Landers is buying time.
?It?s not just him,? Hauck added of the QB. ?The running back (Eugene Holloman) is all-conference, the front guys are all good players, and they?ve got a good play-action game based on the quarterback run game.
?It?s very diverse, what they give him to do, and it?s hard to stop. You?ve got to stop him first, but that?s not the only thing.?
James Madison has had a few score-fests this season, and one could be possible on what promises to be a chilly night in Harrisonburg. But the Grizzlies? defense has been stout ever since that 45-28 loss at Weber State on Oct. 4. Montana has allowed eight touchdowns in nine games since.
The gauntlet has been laid down, in front of a likely sellout crowd of mostly purple and gold.
?You?ve got to play the best eventually,? Montana defensive tackle Craig Mettler said. ?You?re going to have to see them sooner or later. Everybody on defense is pretty pumped up right now. We?ve just got to show everyone we actually do play good defense around here.
?A lot of people think they?re going to put 40 points up on us, but we?ll let that game decide on Friday night.?
Montana?s offense has turned run-heavy itself after an early string of superior passing games from Cole Bergquist. The pass has faded to the background while the Griz run attack built momentum: Sophomore tailback Chase Reynolds has bounced and powered his way to 1,140 yards in UM?s last seven games.
?The dominant thing they had in ?04 was their quarterback (Craig Ochs),? JMU coach Mickey Matthews said of the Griz. ?You had to play great pass defense. They probably have a better team right now.
?I think the big thing is they?re improving every week. You watch the early tape and then the Weber State game (a 24-13 quarterfinal win), and they?ve improved.?
Senior free safety Marcus Edwards, the leader of JMU?s defense, said the Griz offensive line reminded him of Massachusetts?.
?They were a little big,? said Edwards. ?UMass doesn?t run the ball as much as we know Montana will. The running back, he?s a physical runner. He?s a bruiser. He?s going to run hard, especially with that O-line in front of him.?
The wild card, as always, is special teams. Montana can hope to work Marc Mariani in to kickoff returns as well as punt returns, but JMU has his match in Scotty McGee, who has taken three punts for TDs this season (Mariani, working back from an ankle injury, has two).
?He?s the best,? Hauck said of McGee, a backup cornerback. ?He?s a gifted, gifted returner. I?ve never seen a guy where teams kicked away from him like this.?
But that?s a double-edged sword as well. Pooch kickoffs short or punt away, and you?re more likely to give a short field to Mr. Landers. With him, James Madison is never down too far. Just ask Appalachian State, which went up 21-0 on the Dukes on Sept. 20, only to lose 35-32.
?Our team never feels out of it,? said Landers, who spent the early part of the week on crutches because of an ankle injury, but says he?ll play Friday. ?We know if there?s time on the clock, we have a chance to win it.?
?Any time you play the best team, or the team that?s ranked No. 1, you get a little more fired up than usual,? countered UM?s Anderson. ?As a defense we?re excited to get after their offense. And I think our offense is excited to get after their defense.?
