Postcard from Boca: JMU Defense Readies for ‘Razzle-Dazzle’ in Boca Raton Bowl

By Mike Barber
JMUSports.com Correspondent

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – If there's one thing Western Kentucky's offense is known for, it's trick plays – a dizzying amalgamation of reverses, throw-backs and flea-flickers.

So, going into Wednesday night's Boca Raton Bowl, a game the Hilltoppers had two weeks to prepare for, the James Madison defense knows it must be on its toes.

"We've spent the last two weeks really preparing for everything," defensive back Jacob Thomas said. "Just getting all the weird stuff we've seen on film out there and seeing what defenses work against it. And trying to understand what situations they like to do that stuff."

That has meant devoting more time in practice this week in South Florida to working against not only the gadget plays Western Kentucky has shown this season, but also preparing for all the possible permutations and variations of those plays.

"Being that they're a high-powered and unorthodox offense, they do a lot of everything," defensive lineman Khairi Manns said. "We've just been trying to prepare for everything. They can change things. We're putting ourselves in the hardest positions so that when the time comes in the game, we'll be able to execute."

JMU coach Bob Chesney said his staff anticipates the Hilltoppers running at least one unusual play per quarter, usually on the opponent's side of the 50-yard line, with a good possibility of a fifth gadget call thrown somewhere in the contest.

"We're gonna practice all their trick plays," Chesney said. "But the one they're going to run will be the one they haven't shown us before."

What Chesney and defensive coordinator Lyle Hemphill have to guard against is their defensive players being so consumed with and concerned about possible trick-plays, that it slows down their every-down execution.

Chesney, Manns and Thomas all agreed that successfully defending any Hilltopper trickeration boils down to trusting the defensive play calls and having each player performing their prescribed responsibility, not trying to do more or anticipate a changeup.

"We cannot go looking for that play," Chesney said. "We go looking for that play on every play, I think it slows you down. It will find you. That play will find you. And if you keep your eyes right and stay disciplined in your technique and do what you're supposed to do, you'll be fine."

Of course, a huge part of the motivation for Western Kentucky running so many unusual play designs is to give opponents more to think about – and more to spend time preparing for leading up to games.

It's become the Hilltoppers' offensive identity.

"We're kind of a trick play team," Western Kentucky coach Tyson Helton said. "You'll probably see some of that tomorrow. Everybody knows that about us.

"Anytime you get known as somebody who's going to do some razzle-dazzle stuff, it makes people not hone in on things as detailed, because they're like, 'When is that play gonna come?'"

JMU got a taste of what facing such an unusual and wide-open offense is like when they played Georgia Southern, coached by Helton's brother, Clay. That matchup offers both sides insight into the other's approach.

And for the Dukes, they took away a key lesson from that loss to Georgia Southern.

"If a big play does happen," Thomas said. "Make sure it's not a touchdown."

A championship anniversary: Frank Ridgway and his son, Josh, sat poolside at the James Madison team hotel Tuesday, and thumbed through cell phone photos from the same date 20 years ago.

On that day, JMU won its first FCS (formerly Division I-AA) national championship in a decisive 31-21 victory over Montana.

"We never experienced anything like that, being at a national championship game," Frank, a 1980 JMU graduate said. "It was a dream come true."

The Ridgways attended that 2004 national title game in Chattanooga, and recalled the strong turnout of JMU fans, the poorly sodded field, the rush of fans storming the field after the Dukes won.

"It's one of my earliest memories, truthfully," Josh, who was just 8 years old at the time, said. "The whole year is such a core memory. And I remember the chaos of the hotel lobby after the game."

In that jubilant and packed hotel lobby, Frank snapped a photo of Josh with then-JMU coach Mickey Matthews and the championship trophy. It's one of the numerous photos Frank keeps on his cell phone.

Another shows Josh ripping up a piece of the turf from the field. The Ridgways gave that grass a new home in their former yard in Short Pump, Va., where it's presumably still growing.

Now, 20 years later, the father and son have traveled to South Florida in hopes of witnessing another first – the Dukes' first bowl victory.

Pep in their step: As more and more JMU fans arrived in South Florida on Tuesday, the bowl held a joint pep rally in Boca Raton. With hundreds of supporters of both teams gathered at the Mizner Park Amphitheater, the two schools' bands, cheerleaders and dance teams went back-and-forth entertaining the crowd, then joined the fans for a march around the adjacent plaza.

JMU Director of Athletics Matt Roan even worked in a little good-natured trash talk, drawing cheers and laughs when he looked at Western Kentucky's mascot and jabbed, "I had no idea Big Red was so short."

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