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\n Football
\n 12\/21\/2025 1:00:00 AM
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EUGENE, Ore. \u2013 No. 12-seeded James Madison capped its first-ever Sun Belt championship season with the conference\u2019s first-ever berth into the College Football Playoff. The Dukes scored 28 second-half points in a 51-34 loss to No. 5-seeded Oregon at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., on Saturday, going over 500 yards of total offense in the process.\u00a0
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\nJames Madison\u2019s 34 points scored and 509 yards of total offense were the most conceded by Oregon this season. No other team even tallied over 400 yards of total offense against the Ducks and just one scored 30-or-more points\u2014No. 1 Indiana, which handed Oregon its lone loss of the season.
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\nExplosive plays were the catalyst for the Oregon offense, which scored on its first five drives of the night to open up a 34-3 advantage. James Madison also put together a pair of extended drives on its first two possessions\u2014a 15-play, 63-yard drive that resulted in a 30-yard field goal from redshirt senior kicker Morgan Suarez and a 10-play, 53-yard possession that led to a 40-yard attempt that was blocked.\u00a0
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\nA double-pass play by the Dukes on 3rd and 9 kept the second drive alive, as redshirt senior wide receiver Nick DeGennaro hit junior wideout Landon Ellis for a 50-yard strike.\u00a0
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\nAn interception by redshirt senior defensive back Elijah Culp at midfield with 1:00 to play in the half set up another Suarez field goal heading into the break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Dukes characteristically found their stride in the second half, outscoring the Ducks 28-17 and outgaining Oregon 312-154, to trim the final margin to just 17\u2014matching the narrowest defeat for a non-autonomy conference team in College Football Playoff history.\u00a0\u00a0
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\nJames Madison used a fake punt to extend its first drive of the third quarter, as redshirt sophomore tight end Lacota Dippre caught the snap and rushed for 16 yards to convert on a 4th and 3 opportunity. Two plays later, Sun Belt Player of the Year redshirt junior quarterback Alonza Barnett III found DeGennaro on a short pass to the right and he made a defender miss near the boundary for a 47-yard touchdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following three-straight three-and-outs by the Dukes offense, redshirt junior defensive back Justin Eaglin intercepted an Oregon pass near the goal line and returned it 61 yards to give James Madison optimal field position. The offense capitalized on the complimentary football play, when redshirt junior running back George Pettaway leaked out of the backfield and Barnett III found him in the back corner of the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown.\u00a0
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\nShort runs from Dippre and Barnett III would cap a nine-play, 89-yard drive and a nine-play, 99-yard possession in a fourth quarter in which the Dukes outgained Oregon, 194-29. For the 11th time in the past 12 games, James Madison did not concede a fourth-quarter touchdown.\u00a0
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\nBarnett III threw for 273 yards and two touchdowns, with DeGennaro (5 catches, 90 yards, 1 touchdown), Ellis (3 catches, 83 yards) and junior wide receiver Braeden Wisloski (6 catches, 52 yards) serving as the Dukes top targets.\u00a0
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\nFresh off a Sun Belt Championship Game-record 234 all-purpose yards in a Most Valuable Player performance, redshirt junior running back Wayne Knight carded 128 all-purpose yards, including 110 rushing yards on 17 attempts to lead the James Madison ground attack. Knight set the James Madison single-season record for all-purpose yardage, finishing with 2,039\u2014a total that will lead the nation following Saturday\u2019s College Football Playoff First Round matchups.\u00a0
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\nSun Belt Defensive Player of the Year senior linebacker Trent Hendrick led all Dukes with 10 tackles and 1-of-2 tackles for loss for the defensive unit.\u00a0
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\nDespite Saturday\u2019s result, the 2025 campaign will be remembered as a banner year for James Madison and the Sun Belt.\u00a0
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\nThe Dukes competed in, hosted and won their first Sun Belt Football Championship Game, becoming the seventh team all-time to post an unbeaten Sun Belt regular-season and the second to do so and also win the Sun Belt Football Championship Game (Louisiana, 2021). James Madison was 1-of-2 teams in the country to go undefeated against conference opposition this season, alongside No. 1 Indiana.\u00a0
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\nThe sixth Sun Belt team to be listed in the College Football Playoff Selection Day Rankings over the past seven seasons, the Dukes were the first to break into the College Football Playoff field. The appearance provided a climactic moment in what has been a 25-year rise of Sun Belt football<\/a>, which has crescendoed over the past four seasons since the Sun Belt expanded to 14 football-playing members\u2014including the addition of James Madison.\u00a0
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Football
12\/21\/2025 1:00:00 AM
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