James Madison came to Louisville a few years back with a chance to shock the Cards in the middle of a winning streak and positive momentum. The Dukes’ quarterback was injured before the matchup and wasn’t fully healthy by gametime, and the Cards were able to get the win in a game that wasn’t all that close. This year, the Dukes are in year two of the Bob Chesney era, and they come into this game with an offense that can score in bunches.
JMU has a similar offense as they did in 2022, and that even shows in their personnel. Alanza Barnett was the third-string quarterback for the Dukes back then, and he has waited his turn to become the starter, with that patience paying off last season. Barnett is a true dual-threat quarterback with good speed and a strong arm. He completed 60% of his passes last year and has already shown this year that he can miss on easy throws at times.
Barnett is coming off a torn ACL that he suffered right after Thanksgiving last year, but he looked fully healthy against Weber State last week. Barnett didn’t wear a knee brace, and he had plenty of designed runs called for him. Barnett won’t have an issue showing up in a big game. He went off for 487 yards and 7 touchdowns against UNC last year in front of 50,000 fans in Chapel Hill. He has complete control of this offense, and he is one of the best quarterbacks UofL will face this year.
Some people might remember the first real mid-year NIL scandal that involved Matthew Sluka at UNLV. Well, he’s at James Madison now playing for his old head coach at Holy Cross, Bob Chesney. Sluka was outstanding for Holy Cross before hitting the portal two years ago, so Chesney made the obvious choice to bring him back into the fold. Sluka put up back-to-back 1200+ yard rushing seasons at Holy Cross to go with strong passing numbers, and Chesney used him with a plan on Saturday. Sluka came in on planned downs mostly to run the ball, but he also made a few throws. I would expect him to be an option on short-yardage plays against the Cards.
The Dukes ran for 331 yards against Weber State with a mix of different running backs contributing in the game. George Pettaway is the starter after leading the team with nearly 1,000 yards last season. The UNC transfer has good speed, and he plays with the right type of vision in this offense that uses a lot of off-tackle misdirection plays. He does well to cut outside when it is there or put his head down and get tough yards when needed. He will be a key player in this game, as I suspect the Cards will key on Barnett on option plays.
Wayne Knight had the biggest play for JMU last weekend with a 59-yard touchdown run where he outran everyone off the right side of the line. Knight and the other backups all show the ability to make plays, but I’m not sure how they will fare against the talent level the Cards have. But if there is a player on JMU who looks like he could break a long run, it would be Knight. He is small, but he can really take off.
If there is a question mark with JMU’s offense is the wide receiver positions. The Dukes lost everyone from last year, and as one would expect, their transfer class wasn’t all that impressive. JMU spread the ball around in their first game, but Isaiah Alston is the guy to look out for. He had a nice route on a 20-yard touchdown catch, and he has experience, which most of the other options don’t have.
The JMU offensive line only returned one starter this year, but they looked like a solid group in the first game of the season. Zach Greenberg is the only transfer in the group after playing a total of snaps for UNC last year. The rest of the group has been in this offense for at least a full year, with a couple of guys being multi-year starters at the college level. I think that will allow JMU to empty the playbook against Louisville, which the Cards will have to prepare for. UofL was very good up front against EKU, but this is a step up in competition, so we will have to see if they can dominate again.
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