{"id":84124,"date":"2025-12-21T00:07:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T05:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=84124"},"modified":"2025-12-21T00:07:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T05:07:25","slug":"oregon-takes-care-of-james-madison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/21\/oregon-takes-care-of-james-madison\/","title":{"rendered":"Oregon Takes Care Of James Madison"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For anyone who watches the NCAA basketball tournament every year, the most probable upset is the 12 seed beating the 5. In the nightcap of the first round of the College Football Playoff in Eugene, James Madison looked for the Cinderella story against the Ducks. However, it was not to be as the Dukes ran into a buzzsaw before trying to rally. Let&#8217;s break it down and see what comes next as Oregon takes care of James Madison 51-34.<\/p>\n<h2>Ducks Jump Out To Big Lead Then Hold On<\/h2>\n<h3>An Offensive Onslaught<\/h3>\n<p>Heading into Saturday, Dan Lanning&#8217;s club was about as healthy as they&#8217;ve been in quite a while. It certainly showed as they scored on their first five drives. Led by quarterback <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/dante-moore-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dante Moore, <\/a>the Ducks were firing on all cylinders. In the first half alone, Moore threw for 211 yards and three touchdowns. In addition, he added a five-yard scoring run.<\/p>\n<p>The first touchdown came less than two minutes into the game when Moore found tight end\u00a0<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jamari-johnson-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jamari Johnson <\/a>on a 41-yard strike. He later found <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jeremiah-mcclellan-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeremiah McClellan <\/a>and\u00a0<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/malik-benson-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Malik Benson <\/a>for scores. Throw in a\u00a0<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/dierre-hill-jr-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dierre Hill Jr.<\/a> 56-yard run, and it was 34-6 at the half. As it turned out, it was a record-breaking one that had Autzen Stadium rocking.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">First 5 Drives? 5 TDs. 5 Different players.<\/p>\n<p>First time in CFP history.<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CFBPlayoff?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#CFBPlayoff<\/a>\u2022<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GoDucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#GoDucks<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bUH3F1T5td\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/bUH3F1T5td<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CFBPlayoff\/status\/2002588234040422792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>All James Madison could muster in the first half was two field goals. This was after dominating the time of possession by a nearly two-to-one margin.<\/p>\n<h3>Finally Settling Down<\/h3>\n<p>In the second half, James Madison finally started playing like the team that dominated the Sun Belt Conference all year. Taking the kickoff off the Dukes went 75 yards in less than three minutes. The last 47 came on a pass from <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/alonza-barnett-iii-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alonza Barrett III <\/a>to\u00a0<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/nick-degennaro-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick DeGannaro, <\/a>and it was 34-13.<\/p>\n<p>Oregon came right back on Benson&#8217;s second touchdown of the game, this one a 45-yard strike to put the Ducks back up by 28. On JMU&#8217;s next possession, a blocked punt and return for a touchdown seemingly put things out of reach as the Ducks led by 35.<\/p>\n<p>However, to the Dukes&#8217; credit, they didn&#8217;t quit. In fact, their defense, which, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/18\/james-madison-tries-to-play-playoff-spoiler\/\" target=\"_self\">if you read our game preview,<\/a> is second in the country in yards allowed, took over. All they did was force Moore&#8217;s second interception and two punts.<\/p>\n<p>Barrett helped take full advantage by leading them to back-to-back touchdowns. At that point, it was down to 22. While that was still a huge lead, you couldn&#8217;t help but think another stop and score, and this could get really interesting.<\/p>\n<p>Following a Ducks field goal, the Dukes took the ball 99 yards with the final one coming on a run from Barnett. That was your ball game as Oregon takes care of James Madison 51-34.<\/p>\n<h3>Crunching The Numbers<\/h3>\n<p>After the huge first half, Moore, like most of the Oregon squad, cooled after the intermission. For the game, he ended up with 313 yards and four touchdowns. However, he did have two interceptions. Benson had 113 yards receiving and two scores. Overall, the Ducks finished with 514 yards of total offense. That has to have the Big Blue Nation excited, as offensive coordinator Will Stein will be the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/02\/kentucky-hires-will-stein\/\" target=\"_self\">new head coach. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>On the other sideline, James Madison finished with 509 yards, including 323 through the air. As we mentioned earlier, the two schools ranked in the top four in the nation in total defense.<\/p>\n<p>Barnett threw for 273 yards and two touchdowns while adding 45 more on the ground and another score. The Sun Belt&#8217;s leading rusher\u00a0<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/wayne-knight-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wayne Knight <\/a>went for 110 yards.<\/p>\n<h3>Looking Ahead<\/h3>\n<p>With the win, Oregon moves to 12-1 on the season and heads to the quarterfinals. They&#8217;ve won seven in a row since losing to top-ranked Indiana back on October 11th.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;ll face Texas Tech on January 1st at Noon in their first-ever trip to the Orange Bowl. The fourth-seeded Red Raiders won the Big 12 and are riding a six-game winning streak since losing to Arizona State on October 18th.<\/p>\n<p>The two schools have met three times in history, with the Ducks winning all three. The last meeting came in 2023 with Oregon winning 38-30 in a game played in Lubbock.<\/p>\n<p>On the other side of the ball, the Dukes finish their season at 12-2. In addition, their 11-game winning streak was snapped. If you&#8217;ve been following James Madison, you know Saturday night was the swan song for head coach Bob Chesney. With the loss, he&#8217;s off the UCLA to try and rebuild that once proud program. Former Florida coach Billy Napier will take over for 2026.<\/p>\n<h3>Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n<p>Much will be made about whether James Madison should have been in the playoffs. Of course, had Virginia taken care of business in the ACC Title game, none of this would have mattered. After a dismal first half, the Dukes outscored the Ducks 28-17 in the second half. You could make the case that the Ducks took their foot off the gas after getting out to the big lead.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the day, it&#8217;s not about the margin of victory or style points; it&#8217;s survive and advance. That&#8217;s exactly what the Ducks did as Oregon takes care of James Madison 51-34.<\/p>\n<p>Main Image: Chris Pietsch\/The Register-Guard \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For anyone who watches the NCAA basketball tournament every year, the most probable upset is the 12 seed beating the 5. In the nightcap of the first round of the College Football Playoff in Eugene, James Madison looked for the Cinderella story against the Ducks. However, it was not to be as the Dukes ran [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877,"featured_media":84136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,35602],"tags":[32934,9148,935],"class_list":["post-84124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-oregon-ducks","tag-bob-chesney","tag-dan-lanning","tag-james-madison-dukes"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/877"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84124"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84137,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84124\/revisions\/84137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}