Boxscore
File Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

HARRISONBURG, Va. -- The University of Delaware saw first-hand Saturday afternoon just why James Madison is the No. 1 ranked football team in the nation.

The Dukes, led by the uncanny play-making ability of quarterback Rodney Landers and a defense that never gave the Blue Hens a chance to breath, cruised to their eighth straight victory with a 41-7 Colonial Athletic Association win over Delaware at Bridgeforth Stadium.

The Hens (3-6, 1-4 CAA), coming off a 17-0 win over Hofstra a week ago, couldn't stop the running of Landers and never got much going on offense after a promising opening drive and lost to the Dukes for the third straight time at Bridgeforth.

James Madison (8-1, 6-0 CAA), which held Delaware to only 169 yards, set a school record for consecutive wins at the Division I level and made the most of its 385 total yards, including 309 on the ground. JMU, which has now won 17 of its last 18 home games, extended its home winning streak to seven games.

"They are a great team and they handed it to us," said Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler, who suffered his worst loss in his seven seasons at the helm of the Blue Hens. "We left our defense out on the field too long and they just wore us down. Landers is such a special player, probably one of the finest this league has ever seen. It just seemed that every time they needed five or seven or 12 yards, they put the ball in his hands and he got it."

Landers carried 23 times for 185 yards and scored two touchdowns, Scotty McGee returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown, and the Dukes defense forced four Delaware fumbles. Landers' 185 yards rushing were the second most ever by a quarterback against Delaware and most since Navy's Chris McCoy ran for 201 yards in 1996. Landers also moved into second place on the all-time James Madison career rushing lis with 2,822 yards.

Delaware got its only points late in the third quarter when junior Jerry Butler (at right) took a kickoff and rambled 94 yards for a touchdown. The return was the eighth longest in school history and extended Delaware’s school record streak of scoring to 157 games since 1996.

Tight end turned quarterback Robbie Agnone completed 5 of 10 passes for 47 yards for the Blue Hens while wide receiver turned quarterback Aaron Love completed both of his pass attempts for 28 yards and was the team's leading rusher with 40 yards on 10 carries. Junior Jabbie, who ran for 155 yards in the Hens' win over Hofstra last week, was limited to 12 yards on nine carries.

Mark Duncan caught three passes 34 yards while redshirt freshman linebacker Andrew Harrison led the Delaware defense with 12 tackles with sophomore safety Anthony Walters adding 10 stops.

The 34-point setback marked the largest loss margin in Keeler's seven-year tenure with the Blue Hens and most biggest since a 45-6 setback at Richmond on Nov. 14, 1998.

"We have not made plays all season long and a better team just got after us today," said Keeler. "We battle on defense ever single day, but injuries have killed our depth. James Madison is too good of a football team to let any kind of opportunity slip away."

Delaware moved the ball well on the opening drive of the game, marching from its own 28-yard line all the way down to the James Madison 23. But on a fourth and two situation from the 23, Agnone bobbled the ball briefly from center and lost a yards.

James Madison failed to convert on the ensuing drive as Dave Stannard hit the left upright on a 29-yard field goal attempt, but took advantage moments later when Arthur Moats sacked Agnone and forced a fumble that Hassan Abdul-Wahid picked up and ran down to the Delaware nine-yard line. Two plays later, with 2:16 left in the opening quarter, Jamal Sullivan ran into the end zone off right tackle from one-yard out and gave the Dukes the lead they would never give up.

James Madison then took a 13-0 lead into halftime as the Dukes marched 73 yards on 16 plays and scored on a one-yard dive by Landers with 5:55 left in the half. The drive consumed 9:16, the longest turned in against the Hens this season. Delaware managed just 77 total yards and four first down in the opening half as JMU held a nine-minute advantage in possession time.

The Dukes then ran away for the win in the third quarter as they scored three touchdowns in a span of under eight minutes to go up 34-0 and put the game away. JMU drove 72 yards in 6:37 on its first drive of the second half and went up 20-0 when Eugene Hollomon ran in from four yards out. Just over five minutes later, Landers built the lead to 27-0 with a highlight run as he scampered 35 yards through the Delaware defense with 3:07 left in the stanza.

James Madison then made it 34-0 when Scotty McGee, the CAA’s leading kick returner, grabbed a Stuart Kenworthy punt at his own 36-yard line and dodged his way 64 yards for the score, beating Kenworthy at the 25-yard line on his way into the end zone. The punt return for a touchdown was the third of the season for McGee and his fourth career score.

Delaware finally got on the board on the ensuing kickoff when Butler, a second-year transfer from Wisconsin and one of the team’s fastest players, took the kick at his own six-yard line and breezed through the JMU defense, outrunning several defenders for the 94-yard score with 36 seconds left in the third stanza. The return was the eighth longest in school history and the longest since Ricardo Walker returned the opening kickoff 95 yards vs. William & Mary in 2002.

James Madison closed the victory as backup quarterback Drew Dudzik hit tight end Charlie Newman in the back of the end zone for a five-yard scoring strike with 10:02 left to play. The catch was the first of the season for Newman.

The Blue Hens had two other scoring opportunities halted by turnovers in the fourth quarter as Butler lost a fumble on the James Madison 18-yard line with 6:05 left to play and Philip Thaxton gave up another with a fumble on the Dukes’ one-yard line with 1:31 remaining.

Delaware will return home after two weeks on the road to host Towson Saturday at 12 noon at Delaware Stadium.

GAME NOTES....Delaware junior WR Mark Duncan caught a pass in the second quarter, extending his streak to 22 straight games catching at least one pass...backup junior DT Brandon Gilbeaux suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter and did not return...Love caught one pass for five yards, upping his career pass reception total to 183, just nine shy of the school record of 192 by Eddie Conti in 1994-98...the Hens had entered the game as one of only four teams in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision who had not give up more than 27 points in any game this season...Delaware is now 3-5 all-time vs. No. 1 ranked teams, including a 39-27 win over top-ranked Northern Iowa in last year’s NCAA quarterfinals.

- DDD -