James Madison is unbeaten

• Mark Schlabach, ESPN

  • Elder WriterOct 19, 2023, 07:00 AM ET Close Senior college football author Author of seven books on college football
  • Graduate of the University of Georgia

In simply its second season as an FBS football program, James Madison has actually attained an unmatched 6-0 start, becoming the first string to do so while making the shift from the FCS to the FBS.The Dukes have currently defeated 5 FBS opponents this season, the most by a team in the 2nd year of shift, and they have actually won nine consecutive games dating back to last season, the sixth-longest active winning streak in the FBS.But unless there aren’t enough 6-6 or better groups to fill 82 spots in 41 bowl games at the end of the routine season, the Dukes will most likely be sitting in your home again this postseason. Under NCAA guidelines, teams making the shift from the FCS to FBS are disqualified for the postseason the very first 2 years.The NCAA denied

the school’s appeal to complete the two-year transition in only one year on April 27. James Madison was the very first school to appeal the two-year period. “It was a very challenging

choice to need to take, although we did know ahead of time that we had 2 years in front of us,” James Madison athletic director Jeff Bourne stated.”The reason I say that is that things modification, right? Scenarios alter, environments alter. I believe there are waivers that are out there and put in place for a factor, and they’re put in location for teams similar to where JMU was this year.”I can’t consider another organization that’s had the ability to do what we’ve been able to do or was truly as prepared as we were to move into this transition, so I do consider us very much an exception because light.” The Dukes also aren’t qualified to play in the Sun Belt Championship game game, despite being the only team that’s still unbeaten in league play. Sun Belt laws do not allow groups disqualified for a bowl to compete in the league champion game.Editor’s Picks 1 Related James Madison coach Curt Cignetti is holding out hope that”sound judgment prevails,”and an NCAA committee– or the Sun Belt Conference

— ultimately changes its mind about not permitting the Dukes to complete in the postseason.In his first team conference before this season, Cignetti told his players, “Look, we have actually got to take control of what we manage, control the controllables, and if we take care of that, then a lot can take place. “”I’m a firm believer that sound judgment overrides all the rules, “Cignetti said.Cignetti likewise realizes the odds of the NCAA reversing its denial of the Dukes’bowl waiver demand are most likely longer than Iowa’s offense scoring 30 points in a game, USC’s defense making back-to-back stops or Texas A&M winning a roadway game.”I wish to play in the championship game game,” Cignetti said.”That’s our objective– to be the conference champ. We currently beat last year’s champ [the Dukes won 16-14 at Troy on Sept. 16] We want to bet the conference championship at JMU. However there’s a great deal of football to be played, so let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.” The Dukes definitely can’t look previous Thursday night’s game at Marshall(7 ET/ESPN, ESPN App ), which has actually never ever lost to James Madison. The Roaring Herd are 3-0 in the series, consisting of a 26-12 victory last season in which James Madison led 12-2 after the first quarter. The Dukes still play road games

against surprising Georgia State on Nov. 4 and Coastal Carolina on Nov. 25.”I feel like we need to remain grounded, never ever get too high and never ever get too low,”JMU quarterback Jordan McCloud stated after recently’s 41-13 thrashing of Georgia Southern.”Keep on handling what we can manage and absolutely keep away from the outside sound.” Quarterback Jordan McCloud says James Madison needs to” keep on managing what we can manage.”Hannah Pajewski/USA TODAY Sports No matter what occurs at the end of the routine season, one thing is clear: James Madison has currently shown itself as an FBS program, and it’s simply getting started.The Dukes have won 14 of their very first 17 games as an FBS team, including 9 of their first 11 Sun Belt contests. This season, they defeated Virginia 36-35 on the road, throwing the winning touchdown with only 55 seconds left, and won 45-38 at Utah State.JMU’s defense leads the FBS in run defense, enabling just 42.8 lawns per game, and is connected for 3rd in sacks with 26. Senior Jalen Green is third in the FBS with

8 sacks.”Probably the best defense that we have actually seen, and that’s consisting of NC State,”Marshall coach Charles Huff stated.”They’re excellent. That’s not a pump- ’em -up, make-’em -feel-good thing. You look at their stats, you look at their consistency. You look at the players they have on all 3 levels. You take a look at the scheme. It’s going to be an obstacle. “After suffering a three-game slide in the middle of the 2022 season

, the Dukes haven’t lost given that.”There’s been an excellent custom here, an exceptional winning custom,”Cignetti said. “I think there’s an expectation level, a sense of duty amongst the players, to preserve and uphold that tradition. I think we’re all set from a center perspective, a budgetary standpoint, and really a skill viewpoint. There were unknowns. How are you going to measure against Appalachian State and those individuals? However our guys compete hard and they think they’ll win.”Cignetti indicates the 2022 opener versus Middle Tennessee, a 44-7 victory, as the turning point that gave his players the self-confidence that they could contend at the FBS level. Three weeks later, the Dukes fell behind 28-3 at Appalachian State but rallied for a 32-28 victory.”That game there, I think if there were any doubts in any of our guys’minds, that removed the remainder of the doubts,”Cignetti said.There were likewise questions about Cignetti when he came to James Madison in December 2018. A

previous quarterback at West Virginia in the early 1980s, Cignetti seemed to be on the course of a profession assistant. From 1983 to 2010, he coached at Pittsburgh, Davidson, Rice, Temple, NC State and Alabama, where he was part of Nick Saban’s very first staff.At the age of 50, Cignetti decided to make the leap in ending up being the head coach at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2011. His daddy, Frank Cignetti Sr.

, had a 182-50-1 record at the school from 1986 to 2005. Frank Cignetti Sr., who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Popularity in 2013, died in September 2022 at 84. Cignetti’s bro, Frank Jr., is the offending coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Pittsburgh.”I didn’t wish to go out as a profession assistant,”Cignetti stated.”I always felt like I might be an actually effective head coach. I had actually discovered a lot, clearly, from my daddy. I gained from Johnny Majors, everybody I worked for, however discovered a ton from Nick [Saban], and it was simply time for me to take that possibility. And there were a lot of early mornings I awakened and believed I was crazy and, ‘What did I do?’Because you’re taking a

huge pay cut, too, however it worked out.” Cignetti acquired an IUP group that had lost 10 of its last

14 conference games the previous two seasons under previous Illinois coach Lou Tepper. The Crimson Hawks went 7-3 in his first season in 2011, then won a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title and reached the Division II playoffs with a 12-2 mark the next year. His groups went 53-17 over six seasons.Cignetti jumped to another challenge at FCS program Elon in North Carolina in 2017. The Phoenix went 2-9 in 2016, their 5th straight losing project. They went 8-4 in Cignetti’s first season, defeating 4 nationally ranked groups and reaching the

FCS playoffs. The next year, Elon upset No. 2 James Madison 27-24 on the road, ending the Dukes’ record 20-game winning streak in the Colonial Athletic Association and a 19-game home winning streak, the longest in the FCS at the time.When East Carolina employed James Madison’s Mike Houston as its coach in December 2018, Bourne had a respectable concept of who he wished to change him.”

He’s a specific with extremely deep football acumen,” Bourne stated of Cignetti. “I imply, he grew up in a football family. His daddy was an incredible coach, both children are actually good coaches. I saw how well-prepared they were when they played us earlier. He’s a guy that just enjoys the game of football and is really well-prepared for games. I think they’re excellent teachers, but kid, they’re outstanding at getting ready for the opposition.” The Dukes went 37-6 and won the 2016 FCS championship game under Houston. Cignetti assisted James Madison to CAA titles in each of its last 3 seasons in the FCS, reaching the FCS championship game game

in his first season in 2019. The Dukes lost to North Dakota State 28-20. Since the start of the 2019 season, James Madison is 47-8, winning 85.5%of its games. Just two-time safeguarding nationwide champ Georgia(91.7%), Ohio State (88.7 %)and Alabama(88.3 %) have a greater winning portion over the previous 5 seasons.Only one of those programs is in threat of missing out on the postseason this year. Virginia Chief Law Officer Jason Miyares, a JMU alumnus, even weighed in on the Dukes ‘predicament, writing a letter last month to NCAA president Charlie Baker, urging him to allow James Madison to play in a bowl game.The letter didn’t work.Baker responded to Miyares in a letter on Wednesday, congratulating him on JMU’s 6-0 start and composing that the Division I Transformation Committee bought an evaluation of the FBS membership requirements over the previous a number of months, which caused the” adoption of considerably increased financial assistance requirements and an increased fee to reclassify from FCS to FBS.” The increased costs will not apply to JMU, according to Baker.”The Division I Board of Directors and council believe clear standards and timelines for reclassification processes will promote strategic membership development and permit an uniform experience for all reclassifying institutions,”Baker wrote.”The board and council agreed that if changes to the FCS-to-FBS reclassification procedure are required, these

must be handled through legislation that applies to all schools reclassifying from FCS to FBS.”Miyares spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita stated,”The Attorney General is disappointed with the NCAA’s response and waits the point in his letter.”If the Dukes keep winning, they will not hesitate to call themselves Sun Belt Conference champs, even if they can’t play in the postseason. Last season, James Madison and Coastal

Carolina connected for initially in the Sun Belt East with 6-2 records in conference play. The Dukes could not play in the national championship, but still stated themselves”Kings of the East “because they squashed the Chanticleers 47-7 in the routine season. “We’ve got to just take care of the day,”Cignetti said.” The kids have been really focused, the organization’s focused. Stay focused, remain humble, stay starving, have good practices, put it on the field on Saturday. Play physically, clever

and with a great deal of energy and grace, keep getting the outcome we want and let’s see what happens. You understand what I indicate? There’s no telling.”