Commentary: Baffling Call Turns Game in Dukes Favor

November 30, 2008 • By Tim Chapman, The Breeze
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Coaches and their decisions will always be questioned; just not too often by the honchos themselves. However, some decisions are NEVER second-guessed.

For the second straight year JMU found itself in a pressure-filled playoff game against a strong Southern Conference team. Luckily for the Dukes, they came out on top this year and will avoid any serious scrutiny of the Xs and Os.

While it’s obvious that the losers are put under the microscope, it’s still mind-boggling to think what goes through the play-callers’ heads.

JMU coach Mickey Matthews and staff made two calls last year in Boone, N.C., that ultimately led to a 28-27 loss to Appalachian State.

Wofford coach Mike Ayers and company also made a fatal error Saturday in Harrisonburg. It wasn’t as obvious as JMU missing on a fourth-and-1 at its own 32-yard line, or running the ball with 22 seconds left and fumbling (instead of kneeling to set up a chip-shot field goal).

Matthews, a year later, still sticks by the first call, but conceded that he shouldn’t have put an inexperienced freshman in a situation like the one where Jamal Sullivan coughed it up.

“Never, never, never, never,” Matthews said when asked if decisions like those at App State affect a coach’s play-calling in the future.

An answer like that exudes both stubbornness and confidence. No two coaches are quite the same, though, and Ayers’ explanation of a wasted second down with about 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter definitely didn’t exude stubbornness.

After quickly picking up two first downs on the ground, after Madison took a 31-28 lead, Wofford threw deep on second-and-nine. Ben Widmyer’s pass was thrown well out of the reach of Brenton Bersin and the Terriers came up a yard short in the next two plays.

“Trying to get one in a hurry,” Ayers said in defense of the pass play. “As far as us throwing the football, I thought when we threw it, we had opportune times, we had things that we felt like were available to us.”

What was available was the running game. With JMU’s shoddy tackling, Wofford would have likely gotten that pivotal first down — and in as much of a hurry as it got the first two touchdowns of the half, which made a 28-14 deficit even. With their wingbone attack, Widmyer and two Terrier running backs were dominating Madison’s defense.

Instead they wasted a down and Madison came up with a huge fourth down stop that preceded quarterback Rodney Landers’ game-clinching touchdown run.

It leads us back to Matthews’ acknowledgment that personnel decisions affected last year’s outcome. While Widmyer’s passing numbers weren’t bad — 8-of-14 for 94 yards — it made little sense that a primarily running quarterback would be asked to throw it down the field to a receiver with zero catches.

Maybe you take that gamble early in the game, but with a chance at taking a 4-point lead on that late drive, it seems obvious that Wofford should have kept it on the ground.

The coaching advantage goes to Matthews. Along with offensive coordinator Jeff Durden, the tenth-year coach took his chances early and stuck with the sure thing late.

Any scouting report on the Dukes will tell you that Landers is far more dangerous when he tucks it and runs. But Landers was allowed to throw in the first half and three of his five completions were touchdowns. They were also throws that made sense; two to Rockeed McCarter and one to Boscoe Williams, both bigger than their defenders, making lofted jumpballs not a bad idea.

In the third quarter the Dukes got greedy and took another shot at the endzone and Landers was picked off on an under-thrown toss intended for McCarter.

JMU learned from that mistake after Wofford capitalized on the turnover and tied the game at 28-28. After the interception, JMU went back to what made them the No. 1 team in the country: running the football.

The Dukes threw just two more times — both short and safe incompletions — compared to 17 rushes. Seven consecutive runs set up the tie-breaking field goal and ten consecutive runs ended with a six-yard, bulldozing touchdown from Landers.

That’s what I’d call stubborn but smart football. JMU did what Wofford should have: keep running the ball and force the opponent stop you. Wofford couldn’t stop Landers and running back Eugene Holloman, just like JMU struggled mightily to take down Wofford’s trio of runners.

For some reason, Wofford made a woeful error and took one running play away from its bruising attack. Who knows if the Dukes could have pulled off yet another fourth quarter rally if the Terriers had scored on that drive, gaining momentum and a four-point lead.

But thanks to Pat Williams and Vidal Nelson’s tackle of Wofford’s Dane Romero on fourth-and-six, Wofford was the team sent home early this year, wondering what could have been.

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