Radio sideline reporter Jed Drenning provides periodic commentary on the Mountaineer football program for WVUsports.com. Be sure to check out his "The Signal Caller" podcast and follow him on Twitter @TheSignalCaller.
 
It was an August night 205 years ago.
 
The world was a much different place – and so was our nation's capital. As cities go, the Washington, D.C. of 1814 was very much a work in progress, a giant construction site of sorts featuring brick yards and kilns at every turn. The United States, meanwhile, was chest-deep in a conflict that history would come to regard as the War of 1812. Our president was James Madison and the enemy, a familiar one: Great Britain. 
 
Bolstered by the recent arrival to the Chesapeake of 4,000 combat-proven troops, called to duty from the war in Europe after Napoleon abdicated the French throne, the British were descending on Washington, poised to burn it to ash. The rattled residents of the city, a town referred to at the time by its own mayor as "defenseless," began the process of evacuation while government workers escaped through the streets with critical documents in tow -- including the Declaration of Independence.
 
Among those staying behind, however, was the commander-in-chief.
 
Physically, James Madison was hardly an imposing figure. In fact, at just 5-feet-4 and tipping the scales at barely 100 pounds, he remains the smallest person to ever hold the office. Nor was he a man of bold countenance. Madison was a weak-voiced, unremarkable orator and listeners often struggled to hear his speeches. In short, he was exactly the type who would quickly get lost in the shuffle of the media-driven politics of today.
 
But none of that mattered when American troops assembled on the fly six miles from the Capitol after a series of muddled operations. Armed only with a pair of dueling pistols borrowed from his treasury secretary, Madison left the White House – or, the "President's House" as it was better known two centuries ago – and rode out to observe the fighting. Madison, in fact, almost inadvertently galloped right into British forces before a scout redirected him to safety. He was obviously a valiant man, and it was this same audacity that helped him guide the Philadelphia Convention toward a more perfect union four decades earlier, earning his reputation as the "Father of the United States Constitution." 
 
Slight in stature but fueled by purpose, James Madison the statesman never let his lack of size get in the way of considerable achievement – and neither has the FCS-level football program representing the university named in his honor. Despite its status as a non-major, James Madison University has forged a reputation through the years as a team that punches above its weight. Since the inception of the football program in 1972, the Dukes have won two national championships and 300-plus games overall. 
 
Six of those victories have come against FBS-level competition. That means half a dozen times through the years, major college programs have cut James Madison hefty checks only to see the Dukes visit their campus and whip them in front of their own crowd. Even more unsettling for JMU's FBS opponents might be the fact that it's happening with increasing frequency as three of those six wins have come in the last nine seasons.
 
Two years ago, the Dukes churned out 614 total yards – including 410 yards rushing – in a 34-14 demolition of East Carolina on the Pirates' home turf in Greenville. In 2015, James Madison marched into Dallas and erupted for 729 yards, knocking off SMU as Dukes quarterback Vad Lee threw for 289 and added another 276 on the ground – becoming the first player in NCAA Division 1 history to pass and rush for 275-plus yards in the same game. 

Widely regarded as the crown jewel of James Madison's collection of upsets, however, is the 2010 conquest of Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium. VPI entered the game ranked No. 13 in the nation, but an opportunistic JMU team bested Frank Beamer's Hokies 21-16. For the Dukes, the win in Blacksburg proved to be the gift that kept on giving, growing more impressive over time  as Tech rebounded to win the ACC with an 11-2 record, including an unbeaten mark in league play, before ultimately advancing to the Orange Bowl. Moreover, the win established James Madison as just the second Football Championship Subdivision program in history to knock off a ranked Football Bowl Subdivision team (Appalachian State was the first when it upset No. 5 Michigan in 2007).

There's a new hand at the wheel of the purple and gold program in Harrisonburg, but don't expect the trajectory to change as JMU enters Saturday's opener in Morgantown ranked No. 2 in the AFCA 2019 Preseason FCS Coaches Poll. In December, former West Virginia Mountaineer Curt Cignetti (67-26 at his two previous stops) was introduced as the eighth head coach in James Madison football history. Cignetti, whose Elon team marched into JMU's Bridgeforth Stadium last fall as heavy underdogs and snapped the Dukes' record-setting 22-game winning streak in the Colonial Athletic Association, embraces the lofty expectations of a program that has seen his two most recent predecessors win national championships and knock off FBS-level opponents. 

It's a reality that a lot of college football fans fail to embrace. Many of these teams are stocked with more talent than you might guess, and they do pull upsets. 

All. The. Time. 

Long before he became one of the trendiest coaches in college football, Matt Campbell had his debut at Iowa State spoiled by FCS member Northern Iowa in the 2016 season opener, and FCS competition has toppled names as noteworthy as Bill Snyder, Steve Spurrier and Mike Leach in recent years. Whether fans accept it or not, teams like James Madison represent a very clear and present danger. 

How might West Virginia circumvent that danger? Beyond the conventional "control the line of scrimmage", "win on third down" and "don't lose the turnover margin" edicts that invariably surface heading into these matchups, let's explore a few meaningful angles that could play a role in the 60 minutes of football that follow the first musket blast at Mountaineer Field on Saturday:

1) SPLASH PLAYS-- Gains of the long-range variety are welcome news for any offense – especially for a young group working out the kinks as it plays together for the first time. As such, each time you pop the top off the defense with a difference-making catch downfield or a big run that finds a crease, you're creating a scoring opportunity that doesn't require 10-to-12 well-executed plays in a row by a not-so-cohesive unit that's trying to develop some level of continuity. As the Mountaineer offense works toward the type of synergy that can only be found on the other side of significant game reps, explosive plays make the learning curve more palatable. 

Hope does exist that such plays might be on the horizon for West Virginia. Neal Brown's Troy offenses produced the most 40-plus yard plays in the Sun Belt Conference over the course of the last two years (42 overall - 28 by pass/14 by rush), and the WVU roster is populated with capable playmakers at key spots – some proven, some simply eager. That includes a deep crop of talented running backs who are, for the first time in their college career, being coached by a guy who actually played the position at a high level (Chad Scott earned ESPN.com first team All-ACC honors as a running back at North Carolina before a stint in the NFL), coupled with a variety of body types and skill sets at the receiver and tight end spots who make for intriguing targets. But …

2) CENTER OF ATTENTION --  It's been said "You can't launch a missile from a row boat." The 2019 Mountaineer offense is equipped with an array of untapped weapons, but that will be of little consequence if the offensive line doesn't develop into a platform from which Neal Brown can spring those weapons. That of course starts with two of the most formidable building blocks in the Big 12 – Colton McKivitz and Josh Sills. McKivitz is exactly the presence WVU needs on Austin Kendall's blind side as the quarterback gets his legs under him, while Sills' move from guard to center is a sensible one by any measure. Brown alluded to the advantages of that position change this week, including an opportunity to have Sills involved in more plays. At center, by the very nature of the position, you never find yourself buried on the backside of a play. Instead, you exist at the point of attack on every snap. This is something that serves Sills well according to West Virginia co-offensive coordinator Matt Moore.

"Point of attack, there's no doubt. He's one of the strongest guys on the team," Moore said. "He's just got to continue to work on his pad level because he is 6-feet-6."

One consideration for a guy who hasn't logged game reps at the center position since high school is how he might react when he's "covered" by a nose guard in an odd-front defense, which James Madison will utilize in limited circumstances. If the scheme deployed by the Maine Bears (where James Madison defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman coached last year) is any indication, the Dukes "even front" looks could also impact Sills with something of a covered characteristic as they include a defensive tackle shaded so far inside he often tends to partially cover the center in those looks. 

3) JUST HOW SPECIAL? – I don't pass up a chance to remind folks that Neal Bown's Troy squad finished last season ranked No. 1 in the nation (130 teams) in ESPN's Special Teams Efficiency Rating. Things like that don't happen by accident. 

Marty Schottenheimer (No. 6 on the NFL's all-time victories list) used to remark that every play on special teams was potentially the most important play of the game because every special teams snap involved either 1) Scoring, or 2) Field Position. This obviously isn't lost on Neal Brown. Like everything else in Brown's orbit, his transition units get the attention they deserve. 

The numbers tell the story. The last time West Virginia returned a kickoff for a score was in 2015. The last time the Mountaineers returned a punt for a touchdown was by some guy named Tavon Austin back in 2012. Meanwhile, in the last three years, Brown's Troy Trojans returned seven kicks for scores (five kickoffs and two punts). Moreover, Troy finished the last three seasons ranked No. 2, No. 1 and No. 2 in the Sun Belt Conference in kickoff return average. WVU's return specialists at this juncture might be an unproven lot, but it sure doesn't hurt that this is the scheme and infrastructure into which they're stepping.

But there's more to special teams than game-breaking kick returns, and that's where the Mountaineers' new punter from down under comes into play. LSU transfer/Australian export Josh Growden will have an immediate and potentially significant impact on West Virginia's fortunes. As a holder, he provides the consistency needed to give Evan Staley his best chance to pick up where he left off last year when he nailed his final 12 field goal attempts. 

As a punter at LSU, Growden became so lethal at pinning opponents inside the 20 (he did so on nearly half of his career punts with the Tigers) he may as well have been kicking from the top of a bell tower. At WVU, Growden steps into a role that allows him not just to continue that knack for finding the coffin corner, but he'll also be given the opportunity to tilt the field with a few long-range boomers – of which he's more than capable. 

We all remember that 2011 LSU game at Mountaineer Field when Brad Wing pinned West Virginia inside the 20-yard line seven times (including five punts inside the 10). That's how Geno Smith's then-school record 463 yards passing equated to just 21 points – he was operating on a 90-yard field all night. Here's hoping to see a little bit of that LSU-punter-pixie-dust blow West Virginia's way with the addition of Growden.

4) THE 2004 NFL DRAFT –Football historians will tell you the 2004 NFL Draft class was among the strongest in history at the quarterback position, ranking somewhere behind the '83 class that included luminaries like John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly. The '04 draft featured its own share of standouts, including No. 1 pick Eli Manning, No. 4 pick Philip Rivers and No. 11 pick Ben Roethlisberger. So how in the world does this relate to Saturday's game in Morgantown? Simple. No offensive staff in college football today had a bigger impact on the signal-callers selected in that historic 2004 draft than the crew at James Madison. 

As the quarterbacks coach at North Carolina State, Curt Cignetti helped groom four-year starter Rivers into the polished prospect that proved worthy of a top-five pick following a career that saw him throw for 13,484 yards. As the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Miami (Ohio), current James Madison offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery was the architect of those explosive offenses that put Roethlisberger squarely on the NFL radar and kept us all up into the late hours watching those midweek MACtion games of the early 2000s. Matching wits with the creative JMU braintrust of Cignetti and Montgomery as they hope to squeeze the most out of Dukes quarterback Ben DiNucci (a Pitt transfer and former Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year) will be West Virginia defensive coordinator Vic Koenning.

Much like the Dukes' defense, the James Madison offense is a battle-tested group with a lineup brimming with veterans. DiNucci's been around the block and the last time he stepped into a Power 5 venue, he showed up big. When JMU threw an opening day scare into NC State last year in Raleigh, DiNucci connected on 23-of-27 attempts through the air and added 79 yards on the ground. He's a streaky thrower and a way-better-than-you'd-guess runner. Even when you go back and watch DiNucci's tape at Pitt you see him slip out of trouble on multiple third and longs and find ways to move the sticks with his feet. 

Nevertheless, a sold-out Mountaineer Field figures to be a less than ideal place for JMU to be rolling out a new offensive scheme for the first time. In such an environment, Cignetti and Montgomery will want to keep things simple. Koenning, on the other hand, will hope to complicate matters for DiNucci, preying on the flashes of indecision that contributed to the five interceptions he threw in James Madison's playoff loss to Colgate last year. The winner of this game-within-the-game will arm his team with a decided advantage.

The hallmark of Neal Brown's teams is improvement throughout the year. Like clockwork, each of his Troy squads was playing its best football in the second half of the season. What baseline might be established, then, early in his first season at West Virginia?

Brown owns a 1-3 mark in season openers, with a 57-17 decision over Austin Peay in 2016 serving as his only opening-day win. Cignetti, as it happens, is also 1-3 in his last four openers. His last win to start the year also came in 2016, a 73-42 trouncing of East Stroudsburg (Pa.) when he was at Indiana University (Pa.). The early season fortunes of one of these coaches is about to change.

In other words, something has to give. 

Sometime after 2 p.m. on Saturday, something will. 

I'll see you at the 50.