The sound of three notable Virginia football programs in 2004 was “Bounce!”
Twenty years ago, James Madison, the University of Richmond and William & Mary experienced moments that turned out to be pivotal in setting up future success in the FCS, which was Division I-AA until 2006, and the FBS for JMU.
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James Madison's Maurice Fenner gained a first down against Montana in the 2004 Division I-AA (now FCS) FCS championship game in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Dukes won 31-21 for their first FCS title.
Dukes’ new heights
Fourth in the six-team Atlantic 10 Conference South Division. That’s where JMU was projected to finish the 2004 football season by league coaches and media. Madison was coming off a string of three nonwinning seasons.
The Dukes (13-2) were the only team in Division I-AA playoff history to win three road games on the way to the national championship game, played at a neutral site, Chattanooga, Tennessee. JMU ran for 314 yards in a 31-21, title-clinching victory over Montana.
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Before 2004, no team from Virginia had advanced to the I-AA semifinals. The 2004 Dukes of Coach Mickey Matthews lost only at I-A West Virginia and to William & Mary in Harrisonburg, 27-24, on a 46-yard field goal as time expired.
JMU also won the 2016 national championship and was runner-up in 2017 and 2019. But it was the 2004 title that generated momentum for the $62 million renovation and expansion of Bridgeforth Stadium that began in 2009. Bridgeforth’s capacity went from 15,000 to 25,000, along with additions of 16 suites and a 1,000-seat club level.
On July 25, 2012, CAA Football held its annual media day and Old Dominion coach Bobby Wilder was asked about JMU’s Bridgeforth makeover.
“You don’t think that a school like JMU makes a move like they did with their stadium to stay where they are,” Wilder said.
The Dukes did not. In 2021, they moved from the FCS and CAA Football to the FBS and Sun Belt Conference. Success followed them.
W&M’s shining moment
Loads of events shaped a school founded in 1693, and one of them occurred on Dec. 10, 2004.
The Tribe on that night met JMU at Williamsburg’s Zable Stadium in the Division I-AA semifinals. The facility did not have lights. Temporary lights were trucked in so the game could be televised at night by ESPN2. Unprecedented Zable Stadium energy unfolded.
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William & Mary quarterback Lang Campbell led the Tribe to the 2004 Division I-AA (now FCS) semifinals and that year won the Walter Payton Award, which annually goes to the FCS' top offensive player.
The Tribe were defeated by JMU 48-34, but that night and its sellout crowd (12,259) helped produce resources and interest that resulted in permanent lights being installed at Zable Stadium the next year, and the construction of the Laycock Center, W&M’s football support building, which opened before the 2008 season.
The Tribe (11-3) set a school record for wins and ended the season ranked third in the I-AA poll, largely because of a former walk-on who starred at quarterback after coming to W&M to play basketball and football. Senior Lang Campbell, a 6-3, 205-pound senior from Winchester and the Atlantic 10 Conference’s offensive player of the year, that season established season school records for passing yards (3,988), total offense (4,305) and touchdowns (30), as well as touchdowns for which he was responsible (38, as he also had eight rushing TDs).
Campbell was named winner of the 2004 Walter Payton Award, which annually honors the FCS’ top offensive player.
“He spent three years preparing instead of spending three years complaining,” said Jimmye Laycock, W&M’s coach from 1980-2018. “Instead of looking at reasons why he should be playing, he looked at ways he could get himself better. So when he got the opportunity to become our starting quarterback, he was prepared, he was ready for it, and he took it and he ran with it, and he threw with it, and he did everything humanly possible.”
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UR hires Dave Clawson
Months before the 2004 football season started, the University of Richmond hired Dave Clawson as coach on Feb. 23 of that year.
“I hope in a short period of time that we can produce a football team that the administration, students and alumni of Richmond can be very proud of,” Clawson, who had been Fordham’s coach, said at his UR introductory press conference.
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As Richmond’s football coach from 2004-07, Dave Clawson started the Spiders on a path that led to the 2008 FCS championship.
In a relatively short period of time, the Spiders were rolling, as Clawson hoped. In the five seasons before Clawson was hired, UR posted one winning season. Richmond went 3-8 in Clawson’s first season, then things dramatically changed.
The Spiders shared the 2005 A-10 championship and reached the FCS quarterfinals. In 2007, they shared the CAA Football championship and made it to the FCS semifinals. Clawson departed after that season to become Tennessee’s offensive coordinator. His successor, Mike London, led UR to the 2008 national championship and a share of the 2009 CAA championship.
That accomplishment set up Richmond for more achievements in subsequent years, which included an on-campus facility (Robins Stadium) opening in 2010. In the last two seasons, the Spiders advanced to the FCS playoffs and won a game each trip, led by Coach Russ Huesman, who was Clawson’s defensive coordinator at UR.
Clawson is Wake Forest’s coach.