Just continues to destroy opponents. The O-line has been superb and as long as they are healthy opponents will need to overcommit defenders to the run.
The Dukes are averaging an astonishing 6.3 yards per rush which will win a ton of games while OC Kirkpatrick stays away from his cutesy air raid tendencies.
When your run game is this good, it should be leveraged to the max. Pass only as needed with what becomes deadly play action especially in the middle field void left by sucked in LB's.

There was is One thing I have been waiting for that Houston hasn't done. JMU has not used reverses or WR end arounds to provide more deception in the run game.
Rashard Davis is an ideal player to put in motion even if he only gets the ball 1 out of 10 times. That would require one more defender to stay away from the tackle box.

We can be certain that Villanova and Richmond will commit an extra defender to the run trying to force JMU to throw. Will Houston break out some more run game deception then or will he take the bait and pass more?

We need to run more!

I feel like the YPC stat is a little misleading in this game. I haven't gone through the play-by-play but sitting in the stands it felt like it was a bit of feast or famine. We were getting either big chunks or were getting held for a yard or two. Fortunately we did OK on the 3rd and medium situations to keep drives moving. Especially that long one in the 3rd & 4th Qtrs.

Abdullah now ranked 2nd overall in total rushing yards (797) and rushing TD's (11) in the FCS. Hope he has the same success the second half of the season. He really showed his speed on that 73 yard run. Hopefully some NFL scouts are taking notice.

(10-09-2016 10:11 AM)formerjmusprinter84 Wrote:  Abdullah now ranked 2nd overall in total rushing yards (797) and rushing TD's (11) in the FCS. Hope he has the same success the second half of the season. He really showed his speed on that 73 yard run. Hopefully some NFL scouts are taking notice.

The Fordham RB who passed him rushed for 359 yards on just 17 carries this week. How is that possible?

(10-09-2016 10:32 AM)Lyric Wrote:  

(10-09-2016 10:11 AM)formerjmusprinter84 Wrote:  Abdullah now ranked 2nd overall in total rushing yards (797) and rushing TD's (11) in the FCS. Hope he has the same success the second half of the season. He really showed his speed on that 73 yard run. Hopefully some NFL scouts are taking notice.

The Fordham RB who passed him rushed for 359 yards on just 17 carries this week. How is that possible?

Fordham had 516 yards rushing (709 total offense). I guess that General Lafayette was retreating on defense the entire game. Lafayette is 1-5 this season. *Chase Edmonds has his 944 rushing yards in only 5 games......189/game. Looks like their only decent opponent so far was Navy and he only gained 83 yards against them.

(10-09-2016 10:11 AM)formerjmusprinter84 Wrote:  Abdullah now ranked 2nd overall in total rushing yards (797) and rushing TD's (11) in the FCS. Hope he has the same success the second half of the season. He really showed his speed on that 73 yard run. Hopefully some NFL scouts are taking notice.

If you're talented, the NFL will find you.

I bet scouts really started paying attention after his day against UNC. 18 carries for 116 yards and 2 TDs against a P5 program when you're splitting time with another back is impressive. If he keeps playing like this his name will definitely be in the discussion.

(10-09-2016 12:06 PM)jmu14 Wrote:  

(10-09-2016 10:11 AM)formerjmusprinter84 Wrote:  Abdullah now ranked 2nd overall in total rushing yards (797) and rushing TD's (11) in the FCS. Hope he has the same success the second half of the season. He really showed his speed on that 73 yard run. Hopefully some NFL scouts are taking notice.

If you're talented, the NFL will find you.

I bet scouts really started paying attention after his day against UNC. 18 carries for 116 yards and 2 TDs against a P5 program when you're splitting time with another back is impressive. If he keeps playing like this his name will definitely be in the discussion.

I was being somewhat sarcastic with that last sentence. There were scouts from the Eagles and Rams at the game, not necessarily to scout Abdullah specifically but I am sure they took notice.

(10-09-2016 01:56 PM)formerjmusprinter84 Wrote:  I was being somewhat sarcastic with that last sentence. There were scouts from the Eagles and Rams at the game, not necessarily to scout Abdullah specifically but I am sure they took notice.

On Madizone, they said scouts were in the stands after Reynolds clutch interception and it only looks good for him in front of them.

Abdullah footwork on that one run... never seen that kind of juke before - scouts will see that stuff

(10-09-2016 05:02 PM)bcp_jmu Wrote:  Abdullah footwork on that one run... never seen that kind of juke before - scouts will see that stuff

He forced three missed tackles in that run. It was highly impressive.

The most impressive thing is he is hitting these kind of stats while splitting time with Johnson, who is a beast as well. I do expect numbers to come down in the second half of the season - both Richmond (5) and Villanova (3) are in the top 5 total defenses for FCS. NDSU, for comparison's sake, is giving up over 300 yds/game and ranked 17. JMU is 40.

I think EWU's QB is #1, Abdullah and the Fordham RBs are a wash at #2-#3 for the Walter Payton Award. It will be hard for Abdullah to keep up over the long haul of the season. EWU's defense is atrocious (think JMU last year) so continue to expect big numbers, pedal to the metal, kind of games out of them.

Here are the CAA rushing stats:
RUSHING Team Cl G Att Yds Avg TD Long Yds/G
----------------------------------------------------------------
1. Wes Hills........... DELA JR 4 52 533 10.2 5 61 133.2
2. Khalid Abdullah..... JMU SR 6 103 797 7.7 11 85 132.8
3. Elijah Ibitokun-Hank ALBA SO 5 116 589 5.1 9 40 117.8
4. Dalton Crossan...... UNH SR 6 121 619 5.1 3 56 103.2
5. Cardon Johnson...... JMU JR 6 92 590 6.4 6 52 98.3
6. Darius Victor....... TOWS SR 4 82 354 4.3 7 20 88.5
7. Kendell Anderson.... WM SR 5 80 406 5.1 2 36 81.2
8. Javon White......... VU SR 5 82 391 4.8 6 47 78.2
9. Stacey Bedell....... SBU JR 5 76 347 4.6 7 49 69.4
10.Xavier Goodall...... RICH FR 6 75 394 5.3 2 45 65.7

Yeah, you read that right- the UD kid is avg 10.2 yards per carry.
vs DSU: 19 carries, 212 yds
@ Lafayette: 1 carry, 1 yard, injured
@ WF DNP, injured
@ JMU 8 carries, 78 yards (apparently limited due to injury)
vs Maine 24 carries, 242 yards

2 years ago vs JMU as an rFr had 17 carries for 136 yds. Missed most of last year. due to injury Kid (a rJr) is probably going to be playing on Sundays if he can stay healthy..

We finally saw a little diversity in the run game today with Davis and Miller getting 5 end around/jet sweeps for 32 yards. Prior to today JMU had used that play a total of once all year.
Even if JMU just has one of those guys in motion, defenses will have to respect the potential handoff. Now we know There is even More upside for the run game.
Good stuff

UNH really sold the farm on shutting down our inside run game so it was good to see we could do it through the air and on the perimeter. Good self scouting and preparation on the part of the JMU offensive staff. Based on today I hope we never take the foot off the gas no matter what the score is.