These aren't your Dukes from Hazzard.
West Virginia fans are already penciling in win number two for their beloved Mountaineers and the No. 9 ranked team in the latest Associated Press poll should roll to a second straight win to open the 2012 season.
But even second-year head coach Dana Holgorsen understands the pitfalls that come with playing an FCS team with nothing to lose and everything to win.
"We talked about the fact that there's already been FCS conference teams that have beaten FBS conference teams this year," Holgorsen explained during his weekly Big 12 teleconference. "So, it's going to happen again, and we need to do everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen to us."
The James Madison Dukes enter their second-ever meeting with the old gold and blue fresh off a 42-3 pounding of Alcorn State while WVU took the week off after speeding past Marshall in its season opener by a 69-34 margin.
The only other time the two programs met-2004-WVU was coming of an overtime (19-16) victory over Maryland and was sporting a 3-0 mark and a No. 6 ranking in the polls.
JMU seemed unimpressed as it held its own against the host Mountaineers during the first 15 minutes of action and headed into the second quarter tied 0-0. West Virginia finally got untracked, scoring 21 points before the intermission en route to a 45-10 victory. A contest that was much closer than the final score my indicate.
The Mountaineers' defense proved to be the key on that Saturday afternoon as the unit held the Dukes to 74 yards on 42 carries and 220 total yards while forcing three fumbles and coming away with two of them.
WVU's offense picked up steam after the first quarter, but was generally unimpressive as K.J. Harris was the leading rusher with 63 yards on 22 attempts while Rasheed Marshall connected on 17-of-22 attempts for 184 yards and three touchdowns.
This year's defense has yet to display the ability to keep a team out of the end zone and that can be a concern for Holgorsen and his staff since the Dukes are a run-oriented, ball-control attack that loves to dink-and-dunk with its passing attack and uses a tight end about as well as any team the Mountaineers will face this season.
With that being said, it must also be stated that WVU is a perfect 12-0, when it faces teams that play in the Football Championship Subdivision. Of course, every one of those games were played in the friendly confines of Milan Puskar Stadium while Saturday's 4:30 p.m. kickoff will occur at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.-home of the NFL's Washington Redskins.
While it is unlikely that the Mountaineers fall prey to JMU, facing an opponent-any opponent-away from home has its drawbacks. The biggest positive, however, is getting an opportunity to show your program off to a talent-rich area where you recruit a lot of high school players.
And the way Mountaineer fans love to travel, there will be a lot of gold in the stands.
