LEXINGTON, Va.- VMI controlled the ball for 22 minutes in the first half, yet came up empty on the scoreboard as #7 JMU's quick strike offense led the Dukes to a 45-17 win over the Keydets on Saturday evening at Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg. With the win, the Dukes improve to 2-1, while VMI falls to 1-2.

Despite having three drives beyond the JMU 35 yardline in the game's opening half, the Keydets trailed by a 21-0 margin at the half, thanks to rushing touchdowns from redshirt freshman Jamal Sullivan and redshirt senior Antoinne Bolton, as well as a 36-yard scoring strike just before the half from redshirt junior quarterback Rodney Landers to senior L.C. Baker.

The Keydets posted 17 points in the second half, as redshirt freshman Howard Abegesah collected a 27-yard touchdown run, while Tim Maypray ran back VMI's first kickoff return for a touchdown in nearly six years to cap the Keydets' scoring. A 46-yard field goal by freshman Patrick Sweeney accounted for the team's first points on the day, marking the longest field goal in nearly two years by a Keydet.

Abegesah led the Keydets on the ground with 71 yards, while Joey Robinson was just behind with 67 yards on the ground and 91 yards through the air. Maypray caught a game-high six receptions for 61 yards while accounting for 182 all-purpose yards.

Baker led the Dukes with 130 all-purpose yards, with 79 coming on his four receptions and 60 coming on his two carries. Sullivan led JMU on the ground with 83 yards.

The Dukes held advantages in rushing yards (298-152) and passing yards (184-102), though the Keydets held the ball for 34:44 of the game's 60 minutes.

After the Keydets failed to convert on the game's opening possession, JMU struck quickly, as their second play on the ensuing drive was a 44-yard touchdown run by Sullivan, the first tally of his career.

A time-consuming march into Duke territory came up empty on the next VMI possession. The Keydets ran off 7:35 of the clock while using 15 plays to advance 42 yards down to the JMU 28, before the drive stalled out on a fourth-down sack of Robinson.

The Keydets began their second march into Duke territory at their own 25 yardline after JMU was whistled for a personal foul on the punt-return fair-catch by Maypray. With Robinson and Hughes again rotating in at quarterback, the visitors again ran 15 plays, this time getting as far as the JMU 17. However, once again the Keydets came up empty when going for a fourth-down conversion, despite a spectacular effort on a 3rd-and-10 completion to Maypray, as he dove for the first down, going end-over-end and being spotted just shy of the marker.

JMU advanced their lead to 14-0 midway through the second quarter, as Bolton's three-yard plunge into the endzone capped a 10-play, 81-yard drive. Following a three-and-out by the Keydets, Kyle Hughes' 38-yard punt was fielded at the VMI 29, where Baker coughed up the ball after a hit by Damiso Alexander, while the ball was recovered by VMI's Marcus Brown, giving the Keydets their deepest possession into JMU territory of the contest.

Back-to-back carries by Abegesah, including an impressive 13-yard carry on second down, got the Keydets down to the JMU 4, while an 11-yard completion offset a VMI holding penalty, leading to a 20-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide-right with just under two minutes remaining in the opening half.

The Dukes proceeded to make the Keydets pay for that miscue, as they tacked on their third score of the day on a 36-yard pass from Landers to Baker with nine seconds left in the half to make the margin 21-0 headed into the intermission.

Coming out of the break, JMU wasted no time getting things going, as a 56-yard kickoff return by Marcus Turner preceded a 42-yard touchdown run by Baker on the period's first play from scrimmage, giving the Dukes a 28-0 cushion.

VMI's next drive resulted in the Keydets' first points of the evening, as Sweeney booted a 46-yard field goal, the Keydets' longest in nearly two years. The points came at the end of a 12-play drive that took almost six minutes off the clock.

The Dukes kept up the pressure by answering with another touchdown, as Bolton pounded in his second score of the evening, a three-yard tally after a 22-yard completion on 4th-and-7 from Landers to Baker put JMU on the two yardline, setting up Bolton's score.

A seven-yard shovel pass from JMU backup quarterback Drew Dudzik to Reggie Hicks brought the advantage to 42-3 just seconds into the fourth quarter.

The Keydets found paydirt on their next possession, as a 21-yard completion from Robinson to Maypray got the Keydets down to the JMU 27, while Abegesah took care of the rest, collecting his second touchdown of the season on the next play.

Dave Stannard tacked on a 24-yard field goal to bring the margin to 45-10 midway through the fourth quarter, however some VMI special teams fireworks ignited the Keydets late. On the ensuing kickoff, Maypray picked up the bouncing ball at his 14-yardline and took it to the house for VMI's second touchdown of the game. The tally was VMI's first kickoff return touchdown in nearly six years, since Kevin Solomon also went 86 yards against Samford on Nov. 17, 2001.

The Keydets return to action next Saturday afternoon, as they play their third-straight road game at Lehigh at 1 p.m.

HEAD COACH JIM REID- “Coming out of last week, I knew what we needed to see, but I wasn't sure what we were going to get. Monday and Tuesday were not the best that we've ever had here, but we faced these guys up and we hit them. Coach Matthews' first comments to me were ?Your guys played unbelievably hard tonight.' And I said the keyword being tonight, and it should be like that every week if we're going to improve. We got out-athleted at almost every position. We need to finish our drives offensively, because that's the strength of our ballclub right now. We need to tighten up defensively. It's sad out there to watch us getting pushed back, which we knew might happen and we just have to keep working at it.”

On Joey Robinson- “This is Joey's third game now, and he's starting to get a little bit more comfortable. You can practice all you want, but until those reads come at you live and hard, and there's a learning curve there that's major. It's not like I-formation, this thing comes at your right now. But Joey is getting better, when you get Joey who's very fast himself, and if he can get better and better and we can keep healthy, we'll have a chance to get better as a team.”

On VMI's Special Teams play- “I was very excited about the special teams. The touchdown on the return was a good boost. And then our punt team did very well. We had one problem with our kickoff coverage unit, but we've got to get better in that area too, which was a real problem for us last year. This is a good special teams outfit. There were a lot of positives, and I know what the score was, but we can get better, as long as we stay healthy.”