James Madison 48, Southern Methodist 45

[DFW HOYA]

Big win for the CAA tonight.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Vad Lee has one of the best stats lines I've ever seen by a college QB...

20-33 for 289 yards passing 3 TD's 3 INT's
20 rushing attempts for 276 yards 2 TD's...

He's the Payton/whatever it's called leader....

[mvemjsunpx]

Good win there. SMU appeared a bit improved from last year's awfulness.

[tribefan40]

Vad Lee is an absolute freak. If he cleans up the picks, he runs away with the Payton.

[ngineer]

Vad Lee has one of the best stats lines I've ever seen by a college QB...

20-33 for 289 yards passing 3 TD's 3 INT's
20 rushing attempts for 276 yards 2 TD's...

He's the Payton/whatever it's called leader....

Hell, I think he should be in the discussion of for the Heisman...FCS has had candidates before....AND I did pick JMU to win this game.

[jmufan999]

Vad Lee is an absolute freak. If he cleans up the picks, he runs away with the Payton.

he totally would. not happening, though. that's who he is, and it's a weakness for us. but there are so many positives otherwise... it's a really, really good JMU team. one of the better ones i've seen. and still without our starting (star?) NT, who will be back by the Richmond game, i believe.

[tribefan40]

he totally would. not happening, though. that's who he is, and it's a weakness for us. but there are so many positives otherwise... it's a really, really good JMU team. one of the better ones i've seen. and still without our starting (star?) NT, who will be back by the Richmond game, i believe.

This might be the only thing that takes you guys down against a familiar or more evenly matched opponent. Hard to see you guys losing to anyone left on your schedule though... (Except my Tribe of course)

[dgtw]

Congrats on the win.

[centennial]

I know Montana beat us, however JMU is probably the only team I would worry about outside the MVFC.

[HailSzczur]

Congrats JMU!!!!

Vad Lee for Payton. With Robertson out of commission I'm throwing my support behind the next best thing in the CAA. Pad your stats now Vad, that way you can go easy on us.

[Bisonator]

Vad Lee has one of the best stats lines I've ever seen by a college QB...

20-33 for 289 yards passing 3 TD's 3 INT's
20 rushing attempts for 276 yards 2 TD's...

He's the Payton/whatever it's called leader....

Seriously? 60% completion and 3 picks is far from great. I mean no disrespect to Vad but come on man.

[ngineer]

Seriously? 60% completion and 3 picks is far from great. I mean no disrespect to Vad but come on man.

I did not see JMU's game, but as I witnessed tonight Shafnisky's two picks were the fault of our WRs who let the ball go right through their hands into those of the secondary. So need to see more than the numbers.

[frozennorth]

Vad Lee has one of the best stats lines I've ever seen by a college QB...

20-33 for 289 yards passing 3 TD's 3 INT's
20 rushing attempts for 276 yards 2 TD's...

He's the Payton/whatever it's called leader....

Stats like that haven't happened since Denard Robinson was in his prime

[frozennorth]

Hell, I think he should be in the discussion of for the Heisman...FCS has had candidates before....AND I did pick JMU to win this game.

I was optimistic Robertson could made it. Maybe Wentz or Lee can do it.

Anyone know if Armani Edwards came close?

[centennial]

Seriously? 60% completion and 3 picks is far from great. I mean no disrespect to Vad but come on man.
He has more rushing on his own then most average teams. Reminds me of Tre Roberson with better running, and less ability throwing.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Seriously? 60% completion and 3 picks is far from great. I mean no disrespect to Vad but come on man.

276 yards rushing and 289 yards passing with 5 TD's is great against a FBS team is a great. Especially when you know you have to score to win. When you can make plays you can make mistakes....

[RootinFerDukes]

I did not see JMU's game, but as I witnessed tonight Shafnisky's two picks were the fault of our WRs who let the ball go right through their hands into those of the secondary. So need to see more than the numbers.

Yeah, you're on to something here. I think vad has had two unlucky deflection interceptions in both of the last two games. He shouldn't be throwing into tight coverage to risk that, but I seriously doubt these unlucky deflections become a consistent trend each week.

[RootinFerDukes]

I'm coming on here tonight with my chest puffed out. This one feels good.
We have slapped adversity in the face and keep winning. It feels good. I miss it.
On to stony brook who just got shut out. I'll have this fbs feather in my cap all season.
It's our first fbs upset since beating Virginia tech in 2010. Our fifth all time fbs upset.

[AshevilleApp2]

Nice win JMU!

[Pards Rule]

Congrats Dukes! Good job!

[Gangtackle11]

Reaffirming my high rank in the AGS top 25. Excellent.

[PaladinFan]

Nice win for the Dukes.

Massey had SMU ranked behind UCF fwiw.

[OL FU]

Congrats!!! most excellent

[dewey]

Congratulations to James Madison. Big win for you guys.

Dewey

[Lehigh'98]

Congrats Dukes!!

[PantherRob82]

Glad you guys hung on!

[KnightoftheRedFlash]

I had SMU winning since they showed remarkable improvement against TCU and Baylor.

Excellent win by James Madison. You shouldn't mess with a Founding Father.

[tigonian02]

I was optimistic Robertson could made it. Maybe Wentz or Lee can do it.

Anyone know if Armani Edwards came close?

Vad Lee had his chance for Heisman and blew it when he was at GT. When FCS players get on the consideration list it's because they've done something incredible to bring them hype. Although they may be good enough for Heisman, they don't have the football schedule to keep and maintain that hype and so they disappear.

No, Armanti Edwards wasn't close. I think he got his name on the list though.

[RabidRabbit]

xbowxCongrats and welcome to an elite group of 3. Undefeated through Sept. xhurrayx FBS paycheck + WIN xlolxxlolx As the right coast leader, great success in the slaughterhouse called CAA. SDSU will try to continue the same in the MVFC (Midwest), and Portland St. will surprise everyone (including themselves (I'm looking at YOU Jalmond)) on the left coast, in the BSC.

Heck of an accomplishment, would anyone else think that such an FBS win would vault JMU to the top of the FCS?xconfusedx

Great day in the Shenandoah Valley. ENJOY THE WIN!!!! Repeat often.

[paward]

Great win, but Spiders coming at cha.

[Demwai]

Steve McNair, Alcorn State University, came in 3rd in the Heisman voting of 1994 behind Rashaan Salaam of Colorado and Ki-Jana Carter of Penn State.

[wmmii]

xbowxCongrats and welcome to an elite group of 3. Undefeated through Sept. xhurrayx FBS paycheck + WIN xlolxxlolx As the right coast leader, great success in the slaughterhouse called CAA. SDSU will try to continue the same in the MVFC (Midwest), and Portland St. will surprise everyone (including themselves (I'm looking at YOU Jalmond)) on the left coast, in the BSC.

Heck of an accomplishment, would anyone else think that such an FBS win would vault JMU to the top of the FCS?xconfusedx

Great day in the Shenandoah Valley. ENJOY THE WIN!!!! Repeat often.

Last week I had them at #3 and they got the #1 slot this week! Lee is the real Deal.

[MSUBobcat]

Vad Lee has one of the best stats lines I've ever seen by a college QB...

20-33 for 289 yards passing 3 TD's 3 INT's
20 rushing attempts for 276 yards 2 TD's...

He's the Payton/whatever it's called leader....

Really? I'm not even sure its the best FCS QB performance this year. How about:

29-46 for 353 yards passing 4 TD's 1 INT
27 rushing attempts for 209 yds +1 sack for -13; 28 attempts for net 196 yds; 1 TD

I think I'd give up the 16 more yds that Lee for not turning the ball over 2 more times. Both accounted for 5 TD. Not trying to diminish what he did at all, 565 yds and 5 TD's is a hell of a performance. 3 INT's takes away from it a little, IMO.

Either way congrats JMU for taking another FCS scalp.

[ElCid]

Congrats to JMU. They looked real good...at least on offense. Entertaining game to watch as well. They never gave up. They will get a bump in my poll.

[KPSUL]

I know Montana beat us, however JMU is probably the only team I would worry about outside the MVFC.
Keep William and Mary on your radar!

[KPSUL]

Seriously? 60% completion and 3 picks is far from great. I mean no disrespect to Vad but come on man.
2 picks mitigated by a season's worth of rushing yards for many starting QBs

[catamount man]

Awesome win. Watched it on ESPN Extra last night. Congrats JMU fans!

[RootinFerDukes]

Four of Vad's 10 interceptions this season have been rather fluky deflections, including one off of a referee. They're unlucky, but he should be able to cut down on them if he stops throwing into double or triple coverage, tight windows.

[CasualFan]

Vad Lee has 10 interceptions in 125 attempts. To compare QB's I converted to int/1k attempts, using stats through yesterday, and only for QB's with 100 or more attempts. There were only 44 QB's that met this criteria, but a much lower number of attempts and the stats start becoming worthless. Even if I drop it to a minimum of 15 attempts per game, he still leads the FCS in interception rate.



Rank (worst)

Player
Interceptions per 1,000 Attempts


1


Vad Lee, James Madison



80.0



2
Mike White, Marist
57.1


3
Al Cobb, VMI
57.0


4
David Watford, Hampton
53.3


5
Johnathan Williams, Grambling
49.6


6
Cody Williams, Monmouth
46.2


7
Michael Sanders, Idaho St.
45.5


8
Nick Shafnisky, Lehigh
43.5


9
Paul Mroz, Rhode Island
37.6


10 (tied)
RJ Noel, Sacred Heart
37.4


-
Peter Pujals, Holy Cross
37.4



Even if we discount the 4 fluky interceptions, he still is 5th worst on this list. That said, everything else about him is awesome. I'm hoping we don't see him in the playoffs, assuming CCU makes it.

[wmmii]

Keep William and Mary on your radar!

They looked very good against Stonybrook!

[jmufan999]

Last week I had them at #3 and they got the #1 slot this week! Lee is the real Deal.

thank you, wmmii. Lee is simply an unbelievably talented player.

the real story is the O-line, though. they are arguably better than they were in 2004 and 2008, our last two deep playoff runs, and they were a huge part of the success of both teams. what was supposedly going to be a weakness this year is a huge strength. Lee and our RB's aren't getting touched until they're about 4 yards downfield. the numbers are off the charts, as we have THREE players averaging over 100 rush yards/game.

enormous test against a great SBU defense this week.

[HailSzczur]

the real story is the O-line, though. they are arguably better than they were in 2004 and 2008, our last two deep playoff runs, and they were a huge part of the success of both teams. what was supposedly going to be a weakness this year is a huge strength. Lee and our RB's aren't getting touched until they're about 4 yards downfield. the numbers are off the charts, as we have THREE players averaging over 100 rush yards/game.

I wish we had an O-Line :(

[RootinFerDukes]

It looks like ESPN is going to do a segment on Vad Lee. Jeannine Edwards is on our campus right now. She's tweeting it will be on Tuesday's sportscenter. It's part of their "big man on campus" segment.
I love it when news like this comes out of nowhere.

edit: it will be on the 6pm sportscenter episode tuesday september 29.

[JMU2K_DukeDawg]

I just love it when sports news is positive and not something tragic like the fatal car accident at EKU this weekend. Prayers for that young man's family, friends and teammates. I didn't mean to de-rail the thread, just pointing out how often it is drugs, injuries, deaths, etc. and not accolades that we get on the national scene. I'll be checking out Sportscenter tomorrow for sure!

[veinup]

It looks like ESPN is going to do a segment on Vad Lee. Jeannine Edwards is on our campus right now. She's tweeting it will be on Tuesday's sportscenter. It's part of their "big man on campus" segment.
I love it when news like this comes out of nowhere.

awesome. wish more standout FCS guys would get exposure like this.

[World]

Seriously? 60% completion and 3 picks is far from great. I mean no disrespect to Vad but come on man.


I'd say that 289 yards passing and 276 yards rushing and 5 TD's is Incredible, not just great, don't you think?

20-33 for 289 yards passing 3 TD's 3 INT's
20 rushing attempts for 276 yards 2 TD's...