If you've never lived inside of a vacuum, just ask James Madison's opponents what the one-game experience feels like.
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The numbers are staggering. First of all, the Dukes have given up only 11 touchdowns — and two of those were off offensive turnovers and one was a kickoff return. So let's be honest here … the defense has given up 8 touchdowns in 11 games. Of those 8 touchdowns given up, only 5 have come when it mattered (I.E. – not garbage time). East Carolina, Maine, Delaware, Villanova and Richmond all popped one apiece in when things were still interesting.
Here's another nugget: The Dukes — owners of 23 straight wins — have given up only one touchdown in the past month. They will take that momentum into this weekend's home playoff opener against Stony Brook (10-2).
So what's the deal here? And why is it spread out so widely among so many different individuals when it comes to statistics? The Dukes have 14 players with 20 tackles this year, and eight players with 2.5 sacks or better. But nobody has more than 78 or 7.5, respectively.
This vacuum is a balanced vacuum, that's how.
"There's probably a couple reasons, No. 1 our guys play together … and they all understand their role and they all try to executive down after down whatever their job is, and they do it at a high level," James Madison head coach Mike Houston told HERO Sports during a Tuesday podcast. "I think probably the second reason is, we've been pretty good at getting off the field pretty quick. We've had very few long drives this year, so we probably haven't played as many snaps as a lot of teams defensively."
As usual, Kyre Hawkins leads the team in tackles (78), Andrew Ankrah in behind the line of scrimmage plays (13.5 TFLs, 7.5 sacks), Jordan Brown is second in tackles (59) and leads in INTs (6 picks). Jimmy Moreland leads the team in passes broken up (10) — and Darrious Carter leads the team in QB hurries (7). Meanwhile, veterans like Raven Greene (57 tackles) and Cornell Urquhart (47 tackles, 7.5 TFLs) are doing what they've done for four years — played consistently.
The FCS record book shows that JMU is close to the top of the charts as far as what it is allowing. Since 2000, when the NCAA expanded the chart, JMU's 9.0 points per game given up would rank No. 3 in the past 18 seasons behind Saint Peter's (8.18) and Monmouth (8.50). Going back to 1978 with a less detailed record chart, JMU would rank tied for 14th — but again, 3 of the touchdowns weren't given up by the defense so the Dukes would be second all time at 7.0 per game if you just went with defensive TDs given up.
Obviously none of this matters starting this weekend, but it may give a preview of what's up next. Sorry about all the numbers, President Ford, we know we promised there'd be no math (Saturday Night Live inside joke).
