No. 1 James Madison's triumph worthy of high rating

By AP
Published

(STATS) - After hosting a show on Saturday, defending FCS champion James Madison put on one of its own.

The top-ranked and defending FCS champion Dukes looked as good on the field as they did in hosting ESPN's "College GameDay," beating No. 11 Villanova 30-8 for their 18th straight win, a CAA Football record.

An estimated crowd of 14,000 packed the Quad on the Harrisonburg, Virginia, campus, for the iconic preview show. Later, in front of 25,993 at Bridgeforth Stadium, JMU (6-0, 3-0) smothered an injury-riddled Villanova offense for three takeaways and six sacks while allowing just 174 yards on 67 plays.

Senior Bryan Schor threw the 49th and 50th touchdown passes of his career and also surpassed 5,000 passing yards in a 271-yard performance. Tyler Gray kicked three field goals.

"I thought our kids just showed a tremendous amount of toughness, unity and just finding a way to make plays when we had to make plays," second-year coach Mike Houston said. "Extremely pleased with the victory today. Great day for JMU."

Villanova (4-3, 2-2) trailed 16-0 after three quarters but cut the deficit in half to begin the fourth. True freshman quarterback Kyle McCloskey, who came on in relief of struggling starter Jack Schetelich, ended an 18-play drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass to freshman tight end Todd Summers and followed it with a completion to Aaron Forbes for a 2-point conversion.

The Wildcats even got the ball back when Jaquan Amos intercepted Schor on James Madison's next drive, but the Dukes' relentless defense tightened again. Simeyon Robinson came up with a big sack of McCloskey to help give the Dukes excellent field position for its next possession, which Schor capped with a 29-yard touchdown pass to David Eldridge with 7:02 to play. Linebacker Brandon Hereford later scored on a 5-yard interception return with 1:57 remaining to seal the win.

Safety Jordan Brown totaled a game-high 12 tackles and linebacker Kyre Hawkins added 10.

"We are more confident as a unit," Hawkins said. "We communicate very well, we have great chemistry together. We've also been playing for a long time together."

Schor's 23-yard touchdown pass to freshman tight end Clayton Cheatham in the second quarter helped stake the Dukes to a 13-0 halftime advantage. Schor (5,158 career passing yards) is one TD pass shy of the school record of 51, shared by Vad Lee and Justin Rascati.

In continuing the longest winning streak in Division I, James Madison broke the CAA consecutive wins record that it previously shared with the 2008-09 Richmond teams. The Dukes could get another chance to impress the ESPN cameras later this season - perhaps deep into another playoff run.