Villanova, William and Mary, and Richmond have already proven that Maryland shouldn't expect a walkthrough against James Madison. In fact, the Dukes have some very talented players that could cause Maryland some problems. If our full preview was too long, here's a conciser version, featuring the players to watch for on both James Madison and Maryland. Starting with the enemy:
- DE Arthur Moats - This is one of the scarier things about JMU. There's a legitimate All-American (FCS, granted) at DE going up against a Player To Be Named Later. Paul Pinegar? Got blown away a few times at RT. Tyler Bowen? Hasn't played in years. R.J. Dill? Young and has never played LT before. Not a reason to feel confident against a guy who had 11.5 sacks last year.
- DT Sam Daniels - Daniels is as good as Moats, just at a different position. Andrew Gonnella and Lamar Young have to be 100% to contain him. Don't be surprised if Moats and Daniels get to Chris Turner on a consistent basis.
- KR Scotty McGee - McGee is a big time punt returner, and has game-changing abilities. Maryland's Travis Baltz and Nick Ferrara will have to be on top of their games, as will the kick coverage teams.
- QBs Drew Dudzik and Justin Thorpe - I've been harping on this a lot, but the two QB system almost never works. It's even worse when the QBs are so similar, like these running quarterbacks are. If they really do alternate, as is expected, JMU's inexperienced and unoiled offense could have a lot of trouble.
On Maryland's side:
- Whoever Goes to Left Tackle - Whether it's Pinegar, Dill, or Bowen, they'll have the tall task of containing Moats. This could get ugly.
- RBs Da'Rel Scott, Davin Meggett, and Gary Douglas - Scott will start, Meggett will see time, and Douglas should see his debut. If Maryland's OL can open up at least a couple of holes, JMU's inexperienced LB and DB corps could allow some big runs.
- WR Torrey Smith - If the Terps want to have a consistent, strong offense, Torrey Smith has to be involved. At the very least, he has to have more than one catch per game. Adrian Cannon and Ronnie Tyler are both very important as well, but Smith is the crux of the issue in my mind. He probably won't have a better chance to blow up the stat sheet than against the Dukes' inexperienced group of corners.
- LB Alex Wujciak - Wujciak's game against California wasn't pretty. He looked sluggish and couldn't keep up with faster athletes. Maryland's DL may have trouble against a big JMU OL, and Wujciak will have plenty of opportunities to make tackles on the running QB duo.