Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 110. James Madison
"But they've only played 1 year, for cryin' out loud!"
James Madison is the newest FBS team in this list, last year having been their first year in the big leagues. The FCS was getting boring for JMU—from 2014 to 2021, in the FCS final rankings, they finished #18, #11, #1, #2, #9, #2, #3, and #3. In an 8 year stretch JMU won 6 conference titles, made the playoffs 8 times, semifinals 5 times, championship game 3 times, and won the national title 1 time in 2016. They accomplished everything they could, short of being North Dakota State, so it was time to move up.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+---------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+---------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 32 | James Madison | 2022 | 8.631 | 8-3 |
+------+---------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 1145 (110th)8-3 record
0 conference titles
0-0 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
0 NFL players drafted
It took James Madison just 1 year to have a better season than any of the following have had since 1983: UMass, New Mexico State, UL Monroe, Texas State, UTEP, Charlotte, Akron, Georgia State, South Alabama, Old Dominion, and New Mexico. And that’s only including the programs we’ve seen so far. They were ineligible for a bowl, hence the 0-0 record, and 0 NFL players drafted is just for the 2023 NFL Draft. Overall they’ve had 16 players drafted since 1983, including NFL cult hero QB Ben DiNucci.
So…why are they above Tulane, who had both a 12-0 season and just won a NY6 bowl? It comes down to the method used rank these programs. Tulane had just 8 winning seasons in 40 years, while James Madison is 1 for 1. And it wasn’t a mediocre season either. 2022 JMU was a borderline top 25 team, finishing #32 in my rankings. Had James Madison gone 6-6 or lower, they’d likely be in the bottom 5-10 of this list.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2022 (8-3 overall, 6-2 Sun Belt)
Didn’t finish in the top 25. Couldn’t even make a bowl game (ignore the fact that they were ineligible). Made the top 25 and immediately lost to a Clay Helton-led Georgia Southern. Backup QB threw for just 2 TD and 5 INT. Didn’t have a 1000+ yard rusher. Only 3 of their 4 defensive linemen made the All-Sun Belt Team. Actually gave up points (a whole 3 of them) to 3-9 rival Old Dominion.
1. 2022 (8-3 overall, 6-2 Sun Belt)
Whew, now that we got that out of the way, let’s look at 2022 objectively. James Madison CAME TO PLAY. It was interesting to see how a FCS team coming off a top 5 finish nationally would do in the FBS, and we got our answer. JMU started by whooping Middle Tennessee 44-7 to start the year, and MTSU finished the year 8-5! After blowing out Norfolk State 63-7, they came back from down 3-28 to beat Appalachian State 32-28, and won 2 more blowouts against Sun Belt opponents to start 5-0. They became the first ever first-year FBS program to be ranked in the AP Top 25, at #25. 2 close losses to Georgia Southern and Marshall would drop them out though, and Louisville grinded out a 34-10 win to have JMU fall to 5-3. They finished even stronger than they started, though, going 3-0 in their last 3 weeks with a 37-3 win over rival Old Dominion, and a truly shocking 47-7 win over 9-1 Coastal Carolina to cap the year. JMU would’ve made the Sun Belt title game had they been eligible, but need to wait until 2024 because of FCS → FBS transition rules.
At #32 in my ranking, James Madison finished as the 5th best Group of 5 team in 2022, and the 2nd best Sun Belt team behind Troy. QB Todd Centeio won Sun Belt Offensive POTY and Newcomer OTY, throwing for 2697 yards 25 TD 5 INT on 9.5 YPA. He also added 366 yards and 7 TD on the ground. The 5’8 164 lb WR Kris Thornton caught 59 balls for 1015 yards and 7 TD. Taurus Jones, James Carpenter, Jamare Edwards, and Isaac Ukwu all ranked top 15 in the Sun Belt for total TFL with 10+ each, and all made the all-conference team.
5th Quarter
James Madison appears set to immediately compete at the FBS level. It’s unfortunate they have to wait until 2024 to compete for conference titles/bowls, but they have the makings of a potential Sun Belt dynasty.
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