HARRISONBURG, Va. — App State Football completes its 2025 road schedule Saturday with a visit to James Madison, which has moved into the national rankings at No. 24 in the AP Top 25 and No. 25 in the AFCA Coaches Poll.
Kickoff between the Mountaineers (4-5, 1-4) and Dukes (8-1, 6-0) in Bridgeforth Stadium is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The game will be available via ESPN+ (stream) or the App State Sports Network (radio).
Whether it's rewinding back to the FCS era for both programs or looking at their recent history as Sun Belt counterparts, this series has featured plenty of dramatic, emotional games. The visiting Dukes erased a 28-3 deficit to beat App State in their first-ever Sun Belt game in 2022, and the Mountaineers returned the favor by winning a 2023 overtime thriller in Harrisonburg on the day that unbeaten and 18th-ranked JMU hosted ESPN's College GameDay.
Last season, after snow had blanketed Kidd Brewer Stadium a night before the Nov. 23 game in Boone, App State erased a 14-0 deficit in a 34-20 win witnessed by special guest Jason Kelce.
JMU enters the 2024 matchup with a 28-14 loss at Louisville on Sept. 5 as the only blemish on its record. App State, under the direction of first-year head coach
Dowell Loggains, has dropped three consecutive one-possession games against East Division opponents Coastal Carolina (45-37), Old Dominion (24-21) and Georgia Southern (25-23).
The Dukes are talented in all three phases, highlighted by a defense that allows 16.9 points per game, with stingy efforts to start league play against Georgia Southern (35-10), Georgia State (14-7) and Louisiana (24-14). They were allowing 80.3 rushing yards per game prior to a 248-yard effort from Marshall, with mobile quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson contributing greatly to the ground attack in a 35-23 loss to JMU.
App State rushed for 77 yards on 23 attempts against a Georgia Southern defense that had been struggling to stop the run, with
AJ Swann completing 34 of 51 passes for 348 yards in a late comeback effort that fell short. The Mountaineers' three highest rushing totals this season occurred in their first three victories, and they've thrown for at least 294 yards in three of their four wins to date.
In attempting to slow down JMU's offense, App State will be challenged by the backfield combo of quarterback Alonza Barnett III and running back Wayne Knight.
Barnett has accounted for 2,182 offensive yards (including 396 rushing) and 26 touchdowns (16 passing, 10 rushing) to go along with only four interceptions. The speedy Knight has been productive as a runner (746 yards, six TDs), receiver (313 yards on 29 catches) and returner (22.2 yards per kickoff return, plus 9.3 yards per punt return). Richmond transfer Landon Ellis, a 6-foot-2, 213-pound receiver, leads the way with 30 catches for 486 yards and five scores.
Each side has creative, successful special teams execution — JMU head coach Bob Chesney was a special teams coach early in his collegiate coaching career — so it will take a complete effort to take down an opponent that, according to Loggains, has the most complete roster that the Mountaineers will have seen this season.
App State leads the series 14-5, including 6-2 in Harrisonburg, and the Mountaineers are 3-11 in FBS games against ranked opponents. That includes a 2-2 mark against ranked Sun Belt foes, counting the 2023 win at JMU and a 2021 home win against No. 14 Coastal Carolina.
