The Dukes’ program has only been around since 1972, when they started in Division III. The program jumped to I-AA in 1980, and claimed National Championships in 2004 and 2016, with a pair of runner-up finishes in 2017 and 2019.
James Madison left I-AA to join the Sun Belt Conference in 2022, with an automatic two-year period of any postseason ineligibility attached, per NCAA rules. The Dukes sit 10-1 in 2023, while they await their bowl game destination.
Despite not being eligible for the Sun Belt Championship Game coming up on Sunday, the Dukes finished atop the East Division with a 7-1 record. The Troy Trojans won the West Division with an identical conference record, but will play the Appalachian State Mountaineers, who finished at 6-2 instead. The Sun Belt holds the conference title game at the home of the team with the better record, meaning the Trojans will host for the second consecutive December.
James Madison made history last season by becoming the first team ever to be ranked in the AP Top 25 in their first year moving up, coming in at #24 in Week 6. This season, the Dukes climbed as high as #18 in Week 11, thanks to a 10-0 start. The Mountaineers clipped James Madison 26-23 just two weeks ago, which was the first ever trip for ESPN College Gameday to Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg, Virginia, home of the Dukes.
Only nine teams finished undefeated on the road in Division I-A this season, with the Dukes being a perfect 6-0. Head Coach Curt Cignetti was hired in 2019, and has already compiled a 52-9 record in five years. The Dukes as a program have made the postseason nine of the past 10 years, with last year being the only exception. Cignetti ranks third in program history for wins, but you have to think he may get an offer or two from a Power Five school looking to rebuild for 2024 or 2025. Scott Frost did it with Central Florida, Luke Fickell did it with Cincinnati, but Cignetti should be smart and stay in Harrisonburg a little longer.
Frost and Fickell got their teams into the BCS and College Football Playoff respectively as outliers, and the chance for a New Year’s Six bowl could have been in the cards for the Dukes, minus the probationary rule and the Appalachian State loss. Frost was fired after just over four terrible seasons at Nebraska, while Fickell went a mediocre 7-5 in his first season at Wisconsin.
Earlier this month, James Madison petitioned the NCAA to lift the eligibility requirement to play in a bowl game this season. The NCAA denied the request, leading to talk that the school may sue the NCAA to earn what is rightfully theirs. The Dukes played competition on the level of their conference, and achieved the minimum six victories to become bowl-eligible. Last week, the school dropped the discussion of potential legal action.
As the dust was settling on rivalry week Saturday night, the Dukes found out that they will be playing in a bowl, due to not enough teams meeting the six-win criteria to fill all of the bowl game positions. Despite players being granted NIL deals, and being eligible the moment they submit transfer paperwork anymore, James Madison paid the $11 million fee to the NCAA to rise to the D-I level, but were kept out by a ridiculous by-law.
James Madison fighting the system and winning will only add to the egg on the NCAA’s face, after the NCAA finds a way to inevitably botch the playoff seeding after next weekend’s conference championship games.
-JC24