JMU football led Louisville 14-6 in the second half, but the Dukes allowed 22 unanswered points to lose 28-14. The Dukes drop to 1-1 with the defeat. 

While the Dukes lost by two touchdowns, the game was closer than the final score indicates. JMU was tied at 14 to star the fourth quarter, and the Dukes trailed 20-14 with the ball in Louisville territory in the fourth quarter. They also had a chance to score in the final 30 seconds to pull within one score, but got stuffed at the goal line. 

“[Louisville is] a good team,” JMU head coach Bob Chesney said. “They’re gonna win a lot of games. We all understand that, but at the same point in time, this is a game that we lost. I don’t feel like they won. I feel like we lost this game. That’s on me.”

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

The QB rotation is a concern

Most teams in college football play exclusively one starting QB. On occasion, teams will work in another QB in a different package.

JMU took that to the extreme against Louisville. Alonza Barnett played 55 snaps, and Matthew Sluka played 30. Barnett and Sluka had a 65-35% split at QB, which is rare for competent college football teams. 

Neither guy played particularly well — Barnett had one of his worst games as a Duke, including a costly end zone fumble recovered for Louisville’s go-ahead score in the fourth quarter. Sluka tossed an interception and only threw five passes, but racked up 21 rushes. He found the ground on the end zone, but it became obvious to Louisville that 80% of his players were going to be runs. Sluka finished with 83 rushing yards on his 21 carries, as no Dukes averaged five yards per carry in the loss. 

The constant rotation didn’t work Friday, and it isn’t liked by the two players.

“They don’t love it. It’s not their favorite thing to do,” Chesney said. “They’d rather play football.”

Does anyone like it?

Barnett looks completely out of rhythm when he’s forced into obvious passing downs, and Sluka’s rushing upside is capped when teams know he’s going to run on the heavy majority of his plays. The Dukes become painfully predictable offensively by rotating QBs. That’s a recipe for disaster against a top-25 caliber opponent and the opposite desired effect of switching QBs.

JMU could benefit from picking a QB and leaning on them for 90% of snaps. At the very least, picking one player would signal to the locker room that there’s a cohesive offensive plan. 

Perhaps most importantly, the Dukes need to find a way to protect whoever takes the reps at quarterback. JMU took six sacks in its loss and couldn’t generate any downfield passing game — in part because of the constant defensive pressure.

The combination of inconsistent pass blocking and regular QB swapping was hard to watch Friday. The Dukes seemed like they were hoping something would work rather than having a reliable plan to generate consistent yards. The Dukes face major questions entering the Sept. 20 game at Liberty. They have a bye week to figure out their issues.

Too many blown opportunities

JMU could’ve won this game. I’ll stop short of saying JMU should’ve won this game, although wide receiver Nick DeGennaro feels strongly the Dukes were the top team.

“We knew we were better than this team,” he said. “We were better than this team. We shot ourselves in the foot. We were 100% better than this team, and that’s why this one hurts.”

JMU missed a possible touchdown on its first offensive play of the game, as Isaiah Alston missed a wide open Logan Kyle on a trick play. The Dukes dropped a first half interception that hit them in the chest. They gave up two explosive TDs on an otherwise stellar night defensively. They didn’t capitalize on good field position and only scored 14 points despite possessing the ball for over 37 minutes. 

You can’t make those mistakes and win most weeks, and that’s especially true against a good ACC team. JMU had chances to win this game, and instead it lost by 14.

That hurts. The final score doesn’t indicate how close this game really was.

The defense rules

OK, on the positive side of things, JMU’s defense might be the best in the Group of Five. At the very least, it’s one of the best.

The Dukes held Louisville’s high-powered offense to just 264 yards. Of those 264, 142 came on two lengthy touchdowns. For most of the night, the Dukes controlled the line of scrimmage and kept Louisville’s offense from generating any sustained success. 

Sun Belt teams don’t have running backs like Louisville’s Isaac Brown, who is a dark horse Heisman Trophy contender. JMU’s group should force Sun Belt teams into issues, given their talent, size, and speed compared to the average SBC offense.

“I thought they did a really good job,” Chesney said. 

The defensive front seven generated six tackles for loss and three sacks. The Dukes’ linebackers were aggressive, and Trent Hendrick looked strong in the middle again. Gannon Weathersby had a sack and a team-best seven tackles. The secondary looks solid, with Jacob Thomas, Justin Eaglin, DJ Barksdale, and Elijah Culp all flashing throughout the game. The Dukes look dominant on the defensive side, and new coordinator Colin Hitschler dialed up a nice game plan.

“I know our offense is going to come out and they’re going to be electric when we come back out vs. Liberty,” Thomas said. “Our defense, we’re going to have a chip on our shoulder.”

If JMU can figure out its self-induced mess at QB, the Dukes will win a lot of games against G5 competition.

Photo courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications