By Derek DeBurger

Louisville will kick off under the lights Friday against the James Madison Dukes.

James Madison is one of the most highly touted Group of Six teams this season. The matchup may not be too hyped up nationally, but it is definitely a big one for the landscape of college football this season.

Run Dukes, run

JMU is a ground-and-pound team at its core.

They ran a combined 44 times in their season opener for a total of 313 yards.

George Pettaway and Wayne Knight make up the two-headed monster in the backfield. They both received fairly even carries last season and a week ago against Weber State.

Pettaway is a former North Carolina running back, and he rushed for almost 1,000 yards a year ago. He’s a speedy back with good quickness. While the Dukes may do a running back by committee, Pettaway is the clear top guy.

While Pettaway is fast, that doesn’t mean Knight is a change of pace. He’s just as fast, if not faster than Pettaway. Similar to Isaac Brown and Duke Watson, both backs for JMU can break long ones.

The rushing doesn’t stop with the backs. JMU runs a two-quarterback system with Alonza Barnett and Matthew Sluka.

Sluka is more of a run-first QB, with him getting playing time against Weber State in more short-yardage situations. He’s familiar with Bob Chesney’s system, having played under him for two years at Holy Cross and rushing for 1,200+ yards in both seasons.

Both QBs can throw, but Barnett is a much better passer and would likely see the field in obvious passing situations and long yardage downs. Against UNC, he had 487 yards and seven touchdowns. He’s coming off of a torn ACL in November last year, but he looked fully healthy in their season opener.

While the rushing attack for JMU is scary, it leans into Louisville’s strengths on defense.

The Cards’ front seven looked dominant against EKU, with Clev Lubin looking especially eye-catching. If the secondary can hold their own, Louisville’s defense should have the upper hand in this matchup.

One pick, two picks, three picks!

The Dukes were an aggressive defense a year ago, forcing copious amounts of turnovers.

In 2024, JMU won the turnover battle in each of their first 10 games.

In the three games they didn’t win the turnover battle the went 1-2.

Those same sticky fingers seem to be in the program as they grabbed three interceptions against Weber State while only losing one fumble and throwing one pick.

At Louisville, Jeff Brohm is undefeated when his teams win the turnover battle and have a winning record when they are even in turnovers.

Miller Moss looked good against EKU, but he had a tendency to stare down his receivers and telegraph passes. Against much speedier competition, Moss won’t get away with those same mistakes.

While the Dukes are great at stealing possessions, they don’t do much in terms of getting pressure on quarterbacks. Against an inferior Weber, the Dukes didn’t record a single sack and only five tackles for loss. James Madison would definitely prefer to keep guys in front of them and avoid big plays, but that might be easier said than done against Louisville.

Brown and Watson are the obvious choices to break off chunk plays. If either of them can get going in open space, there shouldn’t be anyone on JMU’s roster who can catch them.

The only problem is that Louisville didn’t look great in run blocking against EKU. All season long, teams are going to stack the box, and against lesser talent and athleticism against EKU, the defense got the better of the offensive line more often than not. The handful of big runs made the day look better, but that’s a definite concern going into Friday’s game.

Another area where the Cards need to show up to take some pressure off of Brown and Watson is the tight end room. Nate Kurisky was injured and didn’t play against EKU, but the staff is confident that he’ll be ready Friday. Kurisky and Jaleel Skinner posing a real threat across the middle of the field would force the defense to not cheat up to the line of scrimmage.

Chris Bell and Caullin Lacy winning their battles with JMU’s corners would also go a long way to taking pressure off the backfield.

Louisville is going to come with a run-heavy attack, James Madison is going to prepare for that, but balance will go a long way toward being effective in those running downs.

This will be much tougher than most games against the group of six, but Louisville should win no problem.

Photo by Harrison Plank / The Louisville Cardinal