No. 5 JMU Shuts Out Elon, 51-0, for Seventh Straight Win

Saturday, October 17

Elon, N.C.

3 p.m.

James Madison University

7-0 , 4-0

Elon

2-5 , 1-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

James Madison

Elon

No. 5 JMU Shuts Out Elon, 51-0, for Seventh Straight Win

10/17/2015 6:52:00 PM | Football

Box Score

ELON, N.C. – No. 5 James Madison (7-0, 4-0 CAA) posted its largest road margin-of-victory in program history on Saturday in a 51-0 shutout of Colonial Athletic Association Football foe Elon (2-5, 1-3 CAA) at Rhodes Stadium.

The Dukes' second consecutive 50-point performance on the road pushed them to their seventh straight win this season and they have now won a record 14 consecutive regular-season games dating back to last season.

JMU eclipsed 600 yards of total offense for the fifth time this season with 604 total yards, including 406 yards rushing. The run game was led by redshirt sophomore running back Cardon Johnson, who rushed for a career-high 165 yards and two touchdowns on the afternoon. His longest run of the day was an 80-yard rush for a touchdown, also a career long.

Johnson also made his first career fumble recovery when he secured a muffed punt. Of the Dukes' 51 points, 17 came off of Elon's three turnovers. Redshirt junior cornerback Taylor Reynolds picked off Elon's Daniel Thompson twice and both resulted in touchdown drives of 80 yards or longer.

Despite a run-heavy game, redshirt senior quarterback Vad Lee still passed for 198 yards, completing 16 of 22 attempts, to go with two touchdowns. He passed to nine different Dukes, including seven with single distances of at least 10 yards in length.

Junior running back Khalid Abdullah matched Johnson's two touchdowns with two scores of his own, finishing with 75 yards. Freshman running back Trai Sharp tallied 73 yards and a touchdown on just six rushes, including a 64 yarder on his first career attempt.

The Dukes scored touchdowns on six of their first seven possessions, averaging a starting field position of their own 32-yard line. The Phoenix entered the red zone just three times in the contest and were forced into 3-and-outs on four occasions as the JMU defense limited them to 289 total offensive yards.

The previous largest margin-of-victory on the road was a 42-3 win at Villanova on Nov. 13, 1993. This marks the first shutout for the Dukes since a 56-0 win over Hofstra on Oct. 4, 2008, and first road shutout since a 17-0 win at Villanova on Sept. 18, 2004.

QUOTING COACH WITHERS
"I thought our kids came in here and took an approach that this was a business trip to play well and win the game and try and improve on some things we needed to improve. I think we did that again, so hats off to our players."

TWEET OF THE GAME

44th season of @JMUFootball Accomplished so much in a short time. Proud of my university & the people I can call friends & family.
— Earl Watford (@EWatts78) October 17, 2015

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCES
Sophomore tight end Jonathan Kloosterman scored the first touchdown of his career when he toed the back of the end zone on a seven-yard pass from Vad Lee. He finished the day with 22 receiving yards on three receptions, including a long reception of 11 yards.

Freshman running back Trai Sharp made his first collegiate carry count when he ran 63 yards down field to give the Dukes 1^st-and-10 at Elon's 3-yard line. Four plays later, he ran one yard straight up the middle for his first collegiate touchdown, putting the final score on the board for the Dukes.

PHOTO OF THE GAME
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Everyone loves celebrating a first career touchdown! Cardon Johnson and Khalid Abdullah celebrate Trai Sharp's first career score.
Check out the full photo gallery here.

CAREER CHART WATCH

Vad Lee moved into second place for career passing touchdowns (49), sitting two behind Justin Rascati's record of 51.
Lee moved into third place in career passing yards with 5,358, surpassing former Duke Eriq Williams (5,356).
Lee still sits in third place for career passing completions, now with 427, and remained in fourth in career pass attempts, now with 673.
Lee is now fourth in career total offense with 6,874 yards gained in 20 games. He passed former quarterback Rodney Landers' 6,765 yards.
Taylor Reynolds moved into the top 10 in career interceptions with his two picks, now tied for eighth all-time with nine career picks.
Last week, Khalid Abdullah surpassed 1,500 career rushing yards and, this week, was joined by Vad Lee on that list. Abdullah has run for 1,626 yards in 28 career games while Lee has run for 1,516 yards in his 20 games at JMU.

UP NEXT
JMU returns to Harrisonburg, Va., for Homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 24, for a 3:30 CAA game against Richmond. The Spiders are coming off a 37-12 win at Rhode Island, improving to 5-1 overall and 3-0 against league opponents.