James Madison Tries To Play Playoff Spoiler

For anyone who follows the NCAA Basketball Tournament every year, one of the most popular upsets is the 12 seed beating the five. Moving it over to the gridiron, the last of the college football playoff first-round games features that matchup. In addition, it’s the second contest featuring a Power Four versus a Group of Five squad.  You can debate all day whether Notre Dame should be here, or, for that matter, the ACC-winning Duke Blue Devils. As it turned out, neither is playing, and as a result, we got a Cinderella story facing one of the elite squads in college football. Let’s take a look as James Madison tries to play playoff spoiler.

Dan Lanning’s club heads into Saturday sporting an 11-1 record and 8-1 in the Big Ten. Their only loss came at home to top-ranked Indiana 30-20 on October 11th.

Sophomore quarterback Dante Moore leads the offense. This season, he’s completed 73 percent of his passes for 2,733 yards and 24 touchdowns against only six interceptions. Moore has a ton of weapons at his disposal, as Oregon has five players with more than 25 receptions.

Tight end Kenyon Sadiq is the top target, hauling in 40 catches for 490 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns. Right behind Sadiq is senior wide receiver Malik Benson. He is second on the team with 31 receptions and leads with 526 yards and 17 yards per catch.

The Ducks are far from one-dimensional, as their running game is strong as well. Noah Whittington leads the way with 774 yards and six touchdowns. Freshman Jordan Davison added 588 yards. However, his 13 touchdowns rank him fourth in the Big Ten.

Overall, Oregon is 13th in the nation, averaging 465 yards a game. Their offensive coordinator, Will Stein, is leaving after the playoffs to be the new head coach at Kentucky. 

For all of the talk about the Ducks’ offense, their defense is pretty stout as well. They rank fourth in the nation, allowing 251 yards a game. Linebacker Bryce Boettcher has 104 tackles, four for a loss, to go along with a sack and an interception.

Another player to watch is edge rusher Teitum Tuioti. The junior has 61 tackles, including 13.5 for a loss. In addition, he has seven sacks and two forced fumbles.

Let’s move on the Oregon’s opponent, James Madison, as it tries to play playoff spoiler.

Under coach Bob Chesney, James Madison enters Saturday’s playoff with a 12-1 record. They finished 8-0 In the Sun Belt East, they then knocked off Troy 31-14 in the title game. Chesney kept the momentum going from his predecessor, Curt Cignetti, who, of course, has done wonders at Indiana. In two years at the school, he’s gone 21-5, including a win in the Boca Raton Bowl last year. However, after the Dukes are done, he’s off to try to rebuild the UCLA football program. Former Florida coach Billy Napier will take over.

JMU has a pretty good quarterback of their own in Alonza Barrett III. The Sun Belt Player Of The Year has thrown for 2,533 yards and 21 touchdowns. However, he does have eight interceptions. Barrett is also a dual threat, running for another 544 yards and a whopping 14 touchdowns. That number puts him second in the league.

The Dukes have a strong running game led by junior Wayne Knight. His 1,263 yards topped the Sun Belt, and he was also the team’s leading pass catcher with 37. James Madison is fourth in the nation in rushing yards, averaging 246 a game. Overall, they rank 21st, gaining 448 yards per contest.

We mentioned earlier that only three schools gave up fewer yards than Oregon. One of them is James Madison, who allows 247 a game. Defensive lineman Sahir West leads a strong group. He has 52 tackles on the year, with 14 going for a loss. In addition, he recorded seven sacks and a forced fumble.

That’s a look at both teams. Let’s crunch some numbers as James Madison tries to play playoff spoiler.

Saturday marks the first-ever meeting between the Ducks and Dukes. James Madison has played in bowl games the last two years. After moving to FBS in 2022, they weren’t eligible for the postseason. However, after receiving a waiver, they lost to Air Force 31-21 in the Armed Forces Bowl. They do have two national championships from their FCS days in 2014 and 2016.

On the other side of the ball, Oregon is appearing in its 38th bowl game with a 17-20 record. They’ve made it to the title game twice. They lost to Auburn 22-19 in the BCS Championship game following the 2010 season. Four years later, they fell 42-20 to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff title game.

Last year, they entered the playoffs as the Big Ten Champ and the number one seed. However, the Buckeyes got them again, jumping out to a 34-8 halftime lead before winning by 20 in the Rose Bowl. 

It’s now prediction time as James Madison tried to play playoff spoiler against Oregon.

The Ducks want to put last year behind them, and a win over the Dukes would go a long way. For all the talk about the offense, the defense has been outstanding. In fact, they’ve only allowed more than 140 yards passing twice. Once to USC and then in the loss to Indiana.

The atmosphere in Autzen Stadium will be insane Saturday night. Look for James Madison to hang with Oregon for a while, proving they belong. Eventually, Moore and the offense will get rolling while the defense will bottle up Barrett. The Ducks haven’t lost to a non-power conference team since the 2017 Las Vegas Bowl, when Boise State beat them 38-28. Oregon moves on and heads to the Orange Bowl to face Texas Tech.