South Division Leaders

JMU won 21-14 over Northeastern on Saturday in the lowest scoring Colonial Athletic Association football game of week six. With the win, the Dukes (5-1 overall, 3-0 in the conference) ascend to first place in the CAA South Division, while Delaware fell to second place with a 35-30 loss at New Hampshire.

Northeastern ran 83 plays to Madison's 52, a week after Villanova only had 48 plays to JMU's 82. The most plays Madison had allowed until Saturday's game was against New Hampshire on Sept. 8, when the Wilcats ran 72 plays to Madison's 75.

JMU coach Mickey Matthews explained the discrepancy and said, "[Northeastern's] best defense was their offense. They just kept the ball away from us — we had three possessions in the first half, and we scored two of 'em. We take the second half kickoff, go down and score to get the lead, and then from that period on offensively we didn't play very well."

Madison's defense struggled to contain Northeastern running back Maurice Murray, who rushed 32 times for 184 yards, an average of 5.7 yards per carry. The 230-pound senior was unlike any running back the Dukes practice against.

"We don't really have any big backs; the biggest back we have is Rodney [Landers], and he weighs 220 pounds," Matthews said. "In our scrimmages, we never tackle a big back, so I thought that really surprised us."

It's just a little bit ironic that Matthews considers his quarterback to be Madison's biggest running back. However, it's true — none of Madison's running backs are listed at more than 205 pounds. And after all, Landers does lead JMU with 90 rushing attempts for 512 yards. That ties him with University of Rhode Island running back Joe Casey for sixth place in the conference. More on that later.