By Mike Barber
JMUSports.com correspondent

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla – If there’s one thing Western Kentucky’s offense is known for, it’s its trick plays – a dizzying mix of throwbacks, throwbacks and flea shots.


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


“We spent the last two weeks really preparing for everything,” the defender said Jacob Thomas said. “I’m just putting out all the weird stuff we’ve seen in movies and seeing what defenses work against it. And try to understand in which situations they like to do these things.”


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


“Because they are a high-powered, unorthodox offense, they do a lot of everything,” defensive lineman said Khairy Manns said. “We just tried to prepare for everything. You can change things.


JMU coach Bob Chesney said his staff expects the Hilltoppers to run at least one unusual play per quarter, usually on the opponent’s side of the 50-yard line, with a good chance a fifth gadget call will be thrown somewhere in the contest.


“We’re all going to practice their tricks,” Chesney said. “But the one they’re going to do will be the one they’ve never shown us before.”


What Chesney and defensive coordinator Lyle Hemphill They need to be wary of their defensive players becoming so preoccupied with potential tricks and worrying that it will slow down their execution on every attack.


Chesney, Manns and Thomas all agreed that successfully fending off any Hilltopper ploy comes down to trusting the defensive playcalls and having each player assume their mandated responsibilities and not try to do more or anticipate a substitution.


“We can’t look for that play,” Chesney said. “We look for that play on every play. I think this slows you down. Do it, you’ll be fine.


Of course, a big part of Western Kentucky’s motivation for running so many unusual game designs is to give opponents more time to think – and to spend more time preparing for games.


It has 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 this tomorrow. Everyone knows that about us.”


“Any time you become known as someone who does something sensational, it causes people to not focus as much on the details because they wonder, ‘When is this piece coming?'”


JMU got a taste of what it’s like to face such an unusual and open offense when they played Georgia Southern, coached by Helton’s brother, Clay. This matchup offers both sides insight into each other’s approach.


And for the Dukes, they learned an important lesson from that loss to Georgia Southern.


“When it comes to a big game,” 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 on Tuesday, scrolling through cell phone photos from the same day 20 years ago.

That day, JMU won its first FCS (formerly Division I-AA) national championship with a decisive 31-21 win over Montana.

“We’ve never seen anything like this in a national championship game,” said Frank, a 1980 JMU graduate. “It was a dream come true.”

The Ridgways attended the 2004 national title game in Chattanooga and remembered the strong turnout of JMU fans, the badly soaked field and the stampede of fans storming the field after the Dukes won.

“Honestly, it’s one of my earliest memories,” said Josh, who was just eight years old at the time. “The whole year is such a defining memory. And I remember the chaos in the hotel lobby after the game.”

In the cheering and crowded hotel lobby, Frank took a photo of Josh with then-JMU coach Mickey Matthews and the championship trophy. It is one of the numerous photos that Frank saves on his cell phone.

Another shows Josh tearing a piece of turf from the field. The Ridgways gave this grass a new home in their former garden in Short Pump, Virginia, where it is believed to still grow.

Now, 20 years later, father and son have traveled to South Florida hoping to witness another first – the Dukes’ first bowl victory.

Pep in her step: As more JMU fans arrived in South Florida on Tuesday, the Boca Raton bowl held a group pep rally. Hundreds of fans from both teams gathered at the Mizner Park Amphitheater, the two schools’ bands, cheerleaders and dance teams paraded back and forth to entertain the crowd, then marched along with the fans across the adjacent field.

JMU athletics director Matt Roan even engaged in a little good-natured trash talk, drawing cheers and laughter when he looked at Western Kentucky’s mascot and said, “I had no idea Big Red was so small.”