FCS Playoffs: James Madison Squeaks By Wofford, Prepares for Villlanova in Round 2

Round 1 of the FCS (that's 1-AA) playoffs has come to a close, and the first round clearly favored the home teams.

James Madison played host to the tough offense of Wofford, and what a game it was. While the Dukes had a hard time containing the triple option Wofford offense, Wofford’s D was likewise unable to contain James Madison QB Rodney Landers, who became just the fifth player in FCS history to rush for 3,000 yards (3,250) and pass for 3,000 yards (3,116).

The Dukes also started with great field position every time, starting (on average) on the 35-yard line. Mostly because Wofford refused to kick to JMU return specialist Scotty McGee. It was probably a good plan considering the one time they did, Scotty burned them with a 37-yard return to let the Dukes start on their own 48. McGee also found use on the offensive side of the ball on several long-yard situations due to his speed.

The Dukes led by two touchdowns at half time, but Wofford tied the game heading into the fourth quarter. The following JMU drive stalled, and ended in a field goal, 31-28 JMU, with twelve minutes left in the game.

Wofford again began to drive, and going for it on 4th and 6 at the JMU 40, the Duke’s defense stepped up and stopped the drive just three inches shy of a first down, causing a turnover on downs with nine minutes left.

JMU marched down the field, with QB Rodney Landers and RB Eugene Holloman rushing every play. On 3rd and goal, Landers dragged two Wofford players into the end zone to score what would be the game-winning TD.

The last touchdown upped the score to 38-28 JMU, and left a little over three minutes on the clock for Wofford to drive, score, recover the onside kick and score again. The one thing that hurt Wofford is the crowd noise. Normally a shot-gun team, they went almost entirely under center the fourth quarter, and drove down the field, finally scoring a touchdown in 15 plays, covering 56 yards and taking 2:19 off the clock, leaving them with one minute to onside kick, recover, and at least kick a field goal to go to overtime.

The entire stadium stood waiting, holding its collective breath as the onside kick went up, and was caught by Bosco Williams to seal the win for JMU. Two knees later and the game was over, final score JMU 38 Wofford 35.

So the Dukes move on to round two, facing off with CAA rival Villanova at 3:30 PM on Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

FCS Playoffs: Predictions!

Most D1-AA (or "football championship subdivision") players, coaches, and fans tuned into ESPNU at 7PM to see who was going to the FCS playoffs. Here's the bracket as it stands:

#16 Wofford at #1 James Madison

#15 South Caroline State at #2 Appalachain State

#14 Maine at #3 Northern Iowa

#13 Texas State at #4 Montana

#12 Weber State at #5 Cal Poly

#11 New Hampshire at #6 Southern Illinois

#10 Easter Kentucky at #7 Richmond

#9 Colgate at #8 Villanova

The CAA is well represented with 5 seeds in the playoffs, with 3 (James Madison, Richmond and Villanova) in the top 8. The other two: New Hampshire is ranked 11th and Maine ranked 14.

Lets look at how these schools stacked up against each other:

JMU 24, Maine 10

JMU 38, Richmond 31 (why they kicked to Scotty McGee...I still don't know. Look it up on youtube.)

JMU 23, Villanova 19 (another last-second victory on the craziest looking pass. Again, look it up on youtube)

Richmond 44, Maine 17

Villanova 26, Richmond 20

Villanova 24, New Hampshire 13

New Hampshire 28, Maine 24

With the exception of the Richmond/Maine game, none were blow-outs, making me think that the CAA is pretty tough. This is the CAA's 18th straight season with multiple bids for the championship.

I personally cannot wait to attend my first playoff game. GO DUKES! But the competition this year is pretty tough.

The winners of the first round will advance to the Quarterfinal Round on Dec 6th. That will go down like this:

Eastern Ky/Richmond winner vs. South Caroline/App State winner

Colgate/Villanova winner vs. Wofford/James Madison winner

Weber State/Cal Poly winner vs. Texas State/Montana winner

Southern Ill/New Hampshire winner vs. Maine/Northern Iowa winner

Then onto the Semifinal round, which is TBD and the remaining two teams from the semis will go on to the Championship game Dec 19th in Chattanoga, Tenn.

Here's my bracket:

For everyone wondering why I have Montana beating App State here's the one simple reason: I think App State will beat Richmond, but it will be a painful, smash-mouth game with injuries galore.(note: I am not hoping for this. As a Patriots fan I have a new view on injuries (Tom Brady going down was hard to watch) and I don't want any player hurt, I just remember how tough it was playing both of those teams. Someone is bound to get hurt.)

My champion? James Madison.

Call me biased, but here's to hoping.