The release of the second College Football Playoff rankings for the 2023 season promises to stir up plenty of controversy among fans of the sport, but not for the placement of usual suspects like Ohio State, Michigan or Georgia. James Madison’s exclusion from the Top 25 might just be the hottest topic.
James Madison’s undefeated football team ranks among the most intriguing stories in college sports in November 2023 — alongside James Madison men’s basketball, which opened the 2023-24 season, giving Michigan State its only home loss in November during Tom Izzo’s illustrious tenure as head coach.
The Dukes’ current place in the spotlight is part of a long and impressive history that has grown through its long tenure in the Coastal Athletic Association.
James Madison football becomes a perennial power
Few currently successful programs in the Div. The footballer has more modest origins than James Madison. Launched as Div. Program III in 1972the Dukes spent their first nine seasons playing non-scholarship ball.
Coach Challace McMillin led the transition to Div. The Dukes and I’s first ever appearance in the NCAA Division. I-AA playoffs before Joe Purzycki took a few other teams to the playoffs. But it wasn’t until James Madison joined the Yankee Conference, the forerunner of CAA football, that the program really took off.
In 1994, their second season as a member of the Yankee Conference, the Dukes qualified for the NCAA Division. I-AA quarterfinals and won 10 games for the first time in program history. It was the first of 16 playoff appearances carrying the league banner, two of which resulted in national championships.
Tough leagues build tough teams
Although James Madison had its best season to date in its second year in the Yankee Conference, establishing the foundation for its steady title challenge in the iterations of the league that became the CAA, the Dukes did not finished with the highest mark in the Yankee Conference: the distinction belonged to New Hampshire.
And, in fact, it was a recurring theme during James Madison’s time in the 10 Yankee/Atlantic conferences and later in the CAA.
When the 2004 Dukes won the NCAA championship, they shared the A-10 title three-way with in-state rival William & Mary and league stalwart Delaware.
James Madison didn’t win its first conference outright until 2008, the second year after the Atlantic 10 became the CAA. The 2008 campaign wasn’t memorable for the Dukes claiming the CAA crown – it was for Richmond winning the national championship.
The Spiders’ 2008 national title was the first of two consecutive championships claimed by the CAA, under legendary coach Villanova. Andy Talley puts the highlight on his impressive career CV in 2009.
CAA teams played in five consecutive national championship games from 2006 to 2010: UMass, Delaware (twice, 2007 and 2010), Richmond and Villanova.
Going back to Delaware’s national championship in 2003 and James Madison’s in 2004 and adding the Towson race in 2013, the CAA has produced title teams in 8 of 11 seasons. Even more impressive, six programs different ones qualified for the championship match.
Competing in the CAA for James Madison was analogous to competing nationally, and success atop the FCS provided the springboard for the Dukes’ move to FBS.
Meanwhile, with James Madison achieving a likely perfect record and an unofficial but undeniably outright Sun Belt Conference regular season title, it’s worth nothing that the Dukes shared the CAA crown in their last season before reclassifying.
A 28-27 loss in an instant classic with Villanova split the 2021 conference championship.
A lasting impression of the CAA
Curt Cignetti is at the forefront of James Madison’s current FBS prominence, marking another impressive milestone in what has been a meteoric rise. Cignetti is part of an exclusive fraternity of currently successful FBS coaches with the notable Div. He returns to training, with names as remarkable as Brian Kelly of LSU And New Mexico State’s Jerry Kill.
Cignetti may have won the JMU head coaching job with his brief but winning run at Elon, highlighted by a Dukes loss at Phoenix in 2018.
This game is remarkable for the current state of the CAA. As expected, there are plenty of names on the Dukes 2023 roster who have already shined in the CAA, including one who did so at another program – running back Ty Son Lawton, a former Stony Brook star – as well as a budding playmaker from the 2019 national runner-up team who is now the national leader in FBS sacks, Jalen Green.
On the other hand, Cignetti’s departure from Elon resulted in the promotion of Tony Trisciani to head coach. Trisciani has made Elon an annual challenger in the CAA, with the 2023 Phoenix heading toward the league’s first-ever championship.
Raising SBC Basketball
As Dukes football flourishes in the FBS, James Madison’s basketball upset of Michigan State scored a huge win for Sun Belt basketball’s profile.
CAA basketball has long been stronger than the SBC. Produce two Final Four teams in the last 17 years is a testament to the CAA’s hardwood prowess, and College of Charleston’s breakthrough into the 2022-23 Top 25 continued the league’s basketball tradition.
JMU has, for most of its tenure in the CAA, been an equally active player in basketball. However, the hiring of Mark Byington – himself a former College of Charleston coach – immediately elevated the Dukes as their CAA tenure ended.
The 2020-21 regular season co-championship shared with Northeastern was a high point for Dukes basketball and foreshadowed James Madison’s impending fight for the Sun Belt title.
It also gave Byington some familiarity with how to beat a Tyson Walker-led team: JMU already knocked off current Michigan State star when he was at Northeastern.
