[Careless Whisper]

Offensive Struggles Continue at James Madison
Carnegie Mellon didn’t turn the ball over, but was kept out of the end zone for the third straight contest

by Jayson Thomas, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter

HARRISONBURG, Va. -- For a third consecutive game, Carnegie Mellon was limited to a single field goal as it fell to James Madison on Saturday night, 30-3.

Carnegie Mellon (0-3) managed to compile 201 yards of total offense and completed less than 35 percent of its passes. Justin Thompson provided the only Tartan points once again, connecting on a 25-yard field goal in the second quarter.

“Our (offensive) struggles aren’t for a lack of trying,” said first-year head coach John Elliott. “I give our guys all the credit in the world. They’re working their tails off. It’s just damn hard moving up from (Division III) to this level, as we expected.”

Trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, CMU strung together a couple of first downs before facing a fourth and short from the James Madison (3-0) 36-yard line. Elliott made the call to go for it, only to see Robert Riley stuffed inches from the marker. The Dukes would take over and score on the next drive to open up a 13-0 advantage.

“We needed a spark,” said Elliott of his fourth-down call. “Everyone knew Robert (Riley) was getting the ball there too, but we had to at least try and extend the drive.”

Riley finished with 50 yards on 13 carries. Andre Miller completed just 10 of 32 pass attempts for 109 yards.

Alvin Banks ran for 173 yards on 19 carries for the Dukes, while Justin Rascati tossed a pair of touchdown passes.

Carnegie Mellon welcomes Western Illinois to Gesling Stadium next Saturday at 12:30 p.m. for its home opener.

Carnegie Mellon Tartans at James Madison Dukes
Sep 16, 2006	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Carnegie Mellon Tartans (0-3)	0	3	0	0	0
James Madison Dukes (3-0)	7	9	7	7	30

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		CMU	JMU
4:01	(JMU) Alvin Banks 9-yard run (David Rabil kick)	0	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		CMU	JMU
10:25	(JMU) Justin Rascati 27-yard pass to D.D. Boxley (XP failed)	0	13
2:43	(CMU) Justin Thompson 25-yard field goal	3	13
0:13	(JMU) David Rabil 24-yard field goal	3	16
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		CMU	JMU
0:03	(JMU) Justin Rascati 8-yard pass to Patrick Ward (David Rabil kick)	3	23
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		CMU	JMU
10:45	(JMU) Eugene Holloman 7-yard run (David Rabil kick)	3	30

Carnegie Mellon Tartans PASSING C/A YDS TD INT Andre Miller 10/32 109 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD Robert Riley 13 50 3.8 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD Pete Carlson 5 68 13.6 0 Ali Concepcion 3 33 11.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD Robert Graves 7 2 0 0 Raymond Cooper 4 0 1 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG Justin Thompson 1/2 0/0 3 25 KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD Pete Carlson 3 60 20.0 0

James Madison Dukes