It’s hard to imagine any day going much better for James Madison’s football program than Saturday.
First, the Dukes got help when South Florida, the team in the driver’s seat for the Group of Five conferences’ bid in the 12-team College Football Playoff, lost.
Then JMU, ranked 24th by the Associated Press, routed rival Appalachian State 58-10 and, a few hours later, clinched the East Division’s berth in the Sun Belt Conference championship game when Coastal Carolina lost at Georgia Southern.
To make it even better, reports surfaced late Saturday night that JMU would be the site of ESPN’s “GameDay” for the fourth time. JMUSportsNews.com first reported it.
The Dukes have drawn some of the Saturday pregame show’s biggest crowds ever, having hosted in 2015, ’17 and ’23. More than 20,000 people came to JMU’s Quad for it in 2023.
In Saturday’s game, Jobi Malary rushed for 105 yards and three touchdowns as JMU extended its winning streak to eight games. Wayne Knight carried 16 times for 94 yards and a score and caught six passes for 55 yards as the Dukes (9-1, 7-0) remained unbeaten in the Sun Belt.
“We’re a team that takes pride in wanting to dominate for 60 minutes, or however long it takes to win a ballgame,” Malary said. “Wanted to punch them in the mouth, early and often.”
Alonza Barnett III completed 22 of 35 passes for 303 yards and ran for two TDs as the Dukes piled up 557 yards of total offense, their second-highest output of the season.
JMU’s defense held the Mountaineers (4-6, 1-5) scoreless until 10:48 remained in the game. JMU limited App State to a season-low 146 yards of offense and held the ball for 42 minutes, 18 seconds.
“They won both sides of the line of scrimmage,” App State coach Dowain Loggains said. “We knew we needed to start fast versus a highly skilled team on the road, 20-point underdogs. Defensively we started really well. But they just kept landing jabs and jabs and jabs and just wore us down.”
Navy 41, No. 25 South Florida 38: Eli Heidenreich caught five passes for 146 yards and became Navy’s all-time receiving yards leader, and the Midshipmen won in Annapolis, Maryland.
The Bulls were 24th in Tuesday’s CFP rankings, in the driver’s seat for a berth in the 12-team field, but lost their grip on it.
Navy quarterback Braxton Woodson ran for 103 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter in relief of Blake Horvath.
Alex Tecza carried 12 times for 126 yards, including an early 76-yard score, and caught Horvath’s lone touchdown pass as Navy (8-2, 6-1 American Conference) secured a half-game lead in the conference and ended a two-game slide.
Heidenreich has 1,794 career receiving yards and moved past Rob Thompson’s 1,781, compiled from 1965-67.
Byrum Brown threw for 327 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 136 yards and two more scores for USF (7-3, 4-2).
Connecticut 26, Air Force 16: Cam Edwards rushed for 165 yards, pushing him over 1,000 for the season, and UConn (8-3) beat the Falcons (3-7) in East Hartford. Edwards scored two touchdowns and finished the day with 1,031 yards.
The Huskies scored a touchdown on their first possession of each half. They took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter on a 10-yard run by Joe Fagnano. UConn added a 47-yard field goal by Chris Freeman in the final minute of the second quarter for a 9-7 lead at halftime. UConn opened the second half with a six-play, 79-yard drive capped by Edwards’ 8-yard touchdown run.
Dylan Carson rushed for two touchdowns and Owen Allen had 123 yards rushing for Air Force.
Florida International 34, Liberty 27, OT: Joe Pesansky threw a go-ahead touchdown pass in overtime and Mister Clark intercepted Ethan Vasko to seal FIU’s victory in Miami.
Pesansky rallied FIU (5-5, 3-3 Conference USA) with a 7-yard toss to Maguire Anderson, and Clark ended matters six plays later. It came after Jay Billingsley kicked two field goals in the final 2:48 for Liberty (4-6, 3-3) to force overtime. He tied it with a 48-yarder with a second left.
Keegan Davis sacked Vasko to set up fourth-and-6 and then forced Vasko to hurry the pass that Clark intercepted. Vasko, from Oscar Smith High, totaled 218 yards on 17-for-31 passing, with two interceptions.
Furman 32, VMI 14: Trey Hedden threw a pair of touchdown passes to Evan James, and the Paladins (6-5, 4-4 Southern Conference) defeated the Keydets (1-10, 0-7) in Greenville, South Carolina.
Lafayette 35, Richmond 28: Kente Edwards ran for 265 yards that included a 70-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to help Lafayette (8-3, 6-0 Patriot League) pull away and beat Richmond (6-5, 3-4) at Robins Stadium.
Randolph-Macon 42, Hampden-Sydney 14: Already ensured of a Division III playoff berth, No. 21 R-MC (9-1, 8-0 Old Dominion Athletic Conference) beat the Tigers (7-3, 5-3) in Ashland in the 130th edition of “The Game.” Yellow Jackets quarterback Dante Casciola rushed for four touchdowns.
H-SC quarterback Carter Sido passed for a game-high 207 yards and one touchdown, adding 77 yards rushing. The Tigers still lead the rivalry 60-59-11 despite 12 straight Randolph-Macon victories.
Johnson C. Smith 45, Virginia Union 21: The Panthers (9-2), ranked 16th in Division II, lost to the 12th-ranked Golden Bulls (10-1) in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship game at Durham County Memorial Stadium in North Carolina.
J.C. Smith’s Kelvin Durham threw for 285 yards and five touchdowns — two each to Deandre Proctor and Reggie Brigman — on 16-of-29 accuracy.
VUU’s Curtis Allen ran for 183 yards and two touchdowns, and Newport News’ Ricky Key had four catches for 79 yards, but four turnovers plagued the Panthers.
Sunday at 6 p.m. on NCAA.com, they hope for their third consecutive playoff berth. The field will total 32 teams.
More scores
Concord 56, Ferrum 34
Emory & Henry 70, UVA Wise 13
Shenandoah 17, Washington and Lee 14
LaGrange 65, Southern Virginia 27