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12/04 09:40 CST Dukes for Duke: No. 19 James Madison's CFP hopes could hinge on
Blue Devils winning ACC
Dukes for Duke: No. 19 James Madison's CFP hopes could hinge on Blue Devils
winning ACC
By MIKE BARBER
Associated Press
James Madison coach Bob Chesney and athletic director Matt Roan didn't know
until after the team's charter flight home from Saturday's lopsided win at
Coastal Carolina that California was threatening to upset visiting SMU --- a
game with a potential impact reaching all the way across the country to the
Dukes' campus in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
There's a good chance they'll be better prepared for scoreboard watching this
weekend.
When Cal finished off the Mustangs, it kept SMU out of the Atlantic Coast
Conference championship game, opening a path for JMU to reach the 12-team
College Football Playoff if it beats Troy in Friday's Sun Belt championship
game. The Dukes could earn the final automatic bid that goes to the five
highest-ranked conference champions, especially if five-loss Duke beats No. 16
Virginia (No. 17 CFP) in Saturday's ACC title game.
"We were big Cal fans on Saturday night and, obviously, we're big Duke Blue
Devil fans now," Roan said. "I think that creates a legitimate path."
JMU --- in just its fourth season competing as an FBS program --- cracked the
CFP rankings at No. 25 on Tuesday night after being ranked in the AP Top 25
poll for four straight weeks.
Two Group of Five conference teams are ranked ahead of JMU, though No. 20 North
Texas (No. 24 CFP) and No. 21 Tulane (No. 20 CFP) play each other in Friday's
American Conference title game for a likely win-and-in scenario.
Virginia would be poised to earn the other automatic bid if it beats Duke. But
a Blue Devils win as a currently unranked team raises the possibility that the
Dukes (11-1) could stand as the fifth highest-rated conference champion and
squeeze the ACC out of the playoff entirely.
"That's where we're at this point in time," said Chesney, who is expected to
take over at UCLA after this season. "If the committee isn't going to do it or
not allow us in, let's find another way in. And that's another alternative
route."
Not that Chesney thinks his current team should need that other path.
The Dukes' lone loss came Sept. 5 at Louisville, which at the time still had
star running back Isaac Brown. JMU led that game 7-6 at the half and was tied
14-14 after three quarters. But the Cardinals recovered a fumble in the end
zone for the winning score and then got a 78-yard touchdown run from Brown to
finish with a two-score victory.
Since then, the Dukes have won 10 straight, including a 63--27 win against Old
Dominion on Oct. 18 and a 24-20 win against Washington State on Nov. 22.
"We've done everything in our power with the schedule that we faced and that's
all that we could do," Chesney said. "Put our best foot forward every single
week, handle our business and do what we're supposed to do. I think the one
little blemish on our record, I think when you go back and look at the time and
who it was against, it's very different than maybe some other people's losses."
Of course, there is no path to the CFP without a win against Troy. That's why,
even as the talk of playoff paths and Chesney's imminent departure for UCLA
swirls around the team, the Dukes are trying to focus on the task at hand.
"I think if you chose to get away from it it's not that hard," senior defensive
back and team captain Jacob Thomas said. "My phone's on ?do not disturb' all
the time. The noise is the noise and you can't really worry about it. We're
focused on doing our job this Friday and whatever happens after that happens
after that."
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