2019 James Madison Dukes football team

The 2019 James Madison Dukes football team represented James Madison University during the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Curt Cignetti and played their home games at Bridgeforth Stadium. They competed as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). They finished the season 14–2, 8–0 in CAA play to be CAA champions. They received the CAA's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Monmouth, Northern Iowa, and Weber State to advance to the FCS National Championship Game where they lost to North Dakota State.

2019 James Madison Dukes football
CAA champion
NCAA Division I Championship Game, L 20–28 vs. North Dakota State
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
Ranking
STATS	No. 2
FCS Coaches	No. 2
Record	14–2 (8–0 CAA)
Head coach	Curt Cignetti (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Shane Montgomery (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Corey Hetherman (1st season)
Home stadium	Bridgeforth Stadium (capacity: 24,877)
Seasons ← 2018 2020 →

2019 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 James Madison $^		8	–	0					14	–	2
No. 18 Albany ^		6	–	2					9	–	5
No. 15 Villanova ^		5	–	3					9	–	4
New Hampshire		5	–	3					6	–	5
Towson		4	–	4					7	–	5
Maine		4	–	4					6	–	6
Elon		4	–	4					5	–	6
Richmond		4	–	4					5	–	7
Delaware		3	–	5					5	–	7
William & Mary		3	–	5					5	–	7
Stony Brook		2	–	6					5	–	7
Rhode Island		0	–	8					2	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Dukes finished the 2018 season 9–4, 6–2 in CAA play to finish in second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Delaware in the first round before losing to Colgate in the second round.

On December 7, 2018, Mike Houston was formally announced and hired as the next coach of East Carolina, alongside nine staff members.^[1]

Preseason

CAA poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 23, 2019, the Dukes were predicted to finish in first place.^[2]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	James Madison	238 (20)
2	Towson	217 (3)
3	Maine	201 (1)
4	Elon	164
5	Delaware	162
6	Stony Brook	151
7	New Hampshire	109
8	Rhode Island	104
9	Villanova	84
10	Richmond	62
11	William & Mary	58
12	Albany	34

Preseason All–CAA team

The Dukes had six players selected to the preseason all-CAA team.^[2]

Offense Liam Fornadel – OL

Defense Ron'Dell Carter – DL Dimitri Holloway – LB Adam Smith – S Rashad Robinson – CB

Special Teams D'Angelo Amos – PR

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	2:00 p.m.	at West Virginia*	No. 2	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	AT&TSN Pitt	L 13–20	61,891
September 7	6:00 p.m.	Saint Francis (PA)*	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	NBCS WA	W 44–7	22,422
September 14	3:30 p.m.	Morgan State*	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	NBCS WA	W 63–12	19,777
September 21	4:00 p.m.	at Chattanooga*	No. 2	Finley Stadium Chattanooga, TN	ESPN+	W 37–14	8,795
September 28	2:00 p.m.	at No. 24 Elon	No. 2	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	FloSports	W 45–10	11,926
October 5	6:00 p.m.	at No. 24 Stony Brook	No. 2	Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium Stony Brook, NY	FloSports/SNY	W 45–38 ^OT	12,812
October 12	1:30 p.m.	No. 5 Villanova	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MASN	W 38–24	25,076
October 19	3:30 p.m.	at William & Mary	No. 2	Zable Stadium Williamsburg, VA (rivalry)	FloSports	W 38–10	11,821
October 26	3:30 p.m.	No. 16 Towson	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MASN/SNY	W 27–10	23,983
November 9	3:30 p.m.	No. 23 New Hampshire	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MASN/SNY	W 54–16	19,660
November 16	3:30 p.m.	Richmond	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA (rivalry)	MASN/SNY	W 48–6	21,947
November 23	12:00 p.m.	at Rhode Island	No. 2	Meade Stadium Kingston, RI	FloSports	W 55–21	2,815
December 7	1:00 p.m.	No. 14 Monmouth*	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN3	W 66–21	10,881
December 13	7:00 p.m.	No. 6 Northern Iowa*	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN2	W 17–0	8,741
December 21	6:30 p.m.	No. 4 Weber State*	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA (NCAA Division I Semifinal)	ESPNU	W 30–14	10,487
January 11	12:00 p.m.	No. 1 North Dakota State*	No. 2	Toyota Stadium Frisco, TX (NCAA Division I Championship Game)	ABC	L 20–28	17,866
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[3]

Game summaries

at West Virginia

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Dukes	7	0	3	3	13
Mountaineers	0	3	7	10	20

See also: 2019 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

Saint Francis (PA)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Red Flash	0	0	0	7	7
No. 2 Dukes	14	13	10	7	44

See also: 2019 Saint Francis Red Flash football team

Morgan State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	3	0	9	12
No. 2 Dukes	7	21	0	35	63

See also: 2019 Morgan State Bears football team

at Chattanooga

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Dukes	14	6	10	7	37
Mocs	14	0	0	0	14

See also: 2019 Chattanooga Mocs football team

at Elon

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Dukes	14	7	17	7	45
No. 24 Phoenix	7	0	0	3	10

See also: 2019 Elon Phoenix football team

at Stony Brook

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
No. 2 Dukes	14	14	3	7	7	45
No. 24 Seawolves	14	7	7	10	0	38

See also: 2019 Stony Brook Seawolves football team

Villanova

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Wildcats	0	10	14	0	24
No. 2 Dukes	7	10	0	21	38

See also: 2019 Villanova Wildcats football team

at William & Mary

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Dukes	7	14	10	7	38
Tribe	3	0	7	0	10

See also: 2019 William & Mary Tribe football team and James Madison–William & Mary football rivalry

Towson

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Tigers	0	10	0	0	10
No. 2 Dukes	7	17	3	0	27

See also: 2019 Towson Tigers football team

New Hampshire

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Wildcats	10	0	6	0	16
No. 2 Dukes	10	20	14	10	54

See also: 2019 New Hampshire Wildcats football team

Richmond

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spiders	0	6	0	0	6
No. 2 Dukes	10	14	14	10	48

See also: 2019 Richmond Spiders football team and James Madison–Richmond football rivalry

at Rhode Island

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Dukes	10	21	7	17	55
Rams	0	0	14	7	21

See also: 2019 Rhode Island Rams football team

FCS Playoffs

The Dukes entered the postseason tournament as the number two seed, with a first-round bye.^[4]

Monmouth–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Hawks	14	7	0	0	21
No. 2 Dukes	21	17	14	14	66

See also: 2019 Monmouth Hawks football team

Northern Iowa–Quarterfinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Panthers	0	0	0	0	0
No. 2 Dukes	7	3	0	7	17

See also: 2019 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Weber State–Semifinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Wildcats	0	7	0	7	14
No. 2 Dukes	10	14	3	3	30

See also: 2019 Weber State Wildcats football team

vs. North Dakota State–Championship

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 2 Dukes	7	3	3	7	20
No. 1 Bison	7	14	0	7	28

See also: 2019 North Dakota State Bison football team

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
STATS FCS	2 (14)	2 (11)	2 (9)	2 (8)	2 (4)	2 (7)	2 (1)	2 (2)	2 (3)	2 (1)	2 (1)	2	2	2	2
Coaches	2 (1)	2 (1)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

Players drafted into the NFL

See also: 2020 NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
7	231	Ben DiNucci	QB	Dallas Cowboys

References

1. Pace, Blake (December 5, 2018). "Nine former staff members from JMU join Mike Houston at ECU". www.breezejmu.org. The Breeze. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
2. Washburn, Rob (July 23, 2019). "James Madison Picked to Capture CAA Football Championship in 2019". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
3. "2019 James Madison Dukes Football Schedule". James Madison University Department of Athletics. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
4. "FCS bracket revealed for 2019 Division I football championship". ncaa.com. November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.