MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Some 232 years after James Madison helped pen the Constitution, the football team named in his honor will attempt re-writing the record book.
West Virginia has never lost to an FCS (Division I-AA) program. The Mountaineers are also one of 14 Power Five programs yet to lose to a non-Power Five program in the playoff era. But those distinctions will be put to the test when the Dukes visit Milan Puskar Stadium to open the 2019 season Saturday afternoon.
James Madison is the only program not named North Dakota State to win an FCS national championship in the past eight years, and that success has carried over when the Dukes play up a level.
Dating back to its upset win over Virginia Tech in 2010, JMU is 3-5 in FBS games. Last year N.C. State didn’t seal the deal on a 24-13 win until scoring a touchdown to put the game away with 1:05 left in the fourth quarter.
Perhaps the only downside to JMU’s success is that it has created a revolving door of coaches. Like the Mountaineers, the Dukes are breaking in a new coaching staff to open the season. Curt Cignetti is JMU’s fourth head coach since 2013, moving over from Elon when Mike Houston was hired by East Carolina.
The Dukes have been on Neal Brown’s radar almost as long as he has held the head coaching position at West Virginia. He’s not only had to scout James Madison, but the different FCS programs that the new coaching staff came from.
“I’ve watched them a bunch,” Brown said at Big 12 media days this July. “A similar challenge they have with us is bringing in different coaches from different places. But they have 20 of 22 starters returning. I would say they’re a Top-2 FCS program over the last five years.
“They’ve won a lot, and won’t be intimidated coming into our venue. I hope our fanbase understands what kind of program is coming in.”
New Kansas State coach Chris Klieman certainly understands. The former North Dakota State coach went 1-1 against the Dukes. That one loss represents one-sixth of Klieman’s defeats in his four seasons coaching the Bison.
“James Madison is a great program and will always be a great program,” Klieman said. “It’s a physical, hard-nosed, athletic team. You better strap it on. Because that was the most physical back-to-back games (2016 and 2017) that we played in the FCS.”
