Game Day Preview: Mountaineers Hit Road to Face First-Place JMU

David Katzenmaier

Football
11/13/2025 12:16:00 PM

HARRISONBURG, Va. — App State Football completes its 2025 highway schedule Saturday with a go to to James Madison, which has moved into the nationwide rankings at No. 24 within the AP Top 25 and No. 25 within the AFCA Coaches Poll.
 
Kickoff between the Mountaineers (4-5, 1-4) and Dukes (8-1, 6-0) in Bridgeforth Stadium is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The recreation will probably be obtainable by way of ESPN+ (stream) or the App State Sports Network (radio).
 
Whether it is rewinding again to the FCS period for each packages or taking a look at their latest historical past as Sun Belt counterparts, this collection has featured loads of dramatic, emotional video games. The visiting Dukes erased a 28-3 deficit to beat App State of their first-ever Sun Belt recreation in 2022, and the Mountaineers returned the favor by successful a 2023 additional time thriller in Harrisonburg on the day that unbeaten and 18th-ranked JMU hosted ESPN’s College GameDay.
 
Last season, after snow had blanketed Kidd Brewer Stadium an evening earlier than the Nov. 23 recreation in Boone, App State erased a 14-0 deficit in a 34-20 win witnessed by particular visitor Jason Kelce.
 
JMU enters the 2024 matchup with a 28-14 loss at Louisville on Sept. 5 as the one blemish on its document. App State, below the path of first-year head coach Dowell Loggains, has dropped three consecutive one-possession video games towards East Division opponents Coastal Carolina (45-37), Old Dominion (24-21) and Georgia Southern (25-23).
 
The Dukes are proficient in all three phases, highlighted by a protection that permits 16.9 factors per recreation, with stingy efforts to begin league play towards Georgia Southern (35-10), Georgia State (14-7) and Louisiana (24-14). They have been permitting 80.3 speeding yards per recreation previous to a 248-yard effort from Marshall, with cellular quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson contributing drastically to the bottom assault in a 35-23 loss to JMU.
 
App State rushed for 77 yards on 23 makes an attempt towards a Georgia Southern protection that had been struggling to cease the run, with AJ Swann finishing 34 of 51 passes for 348 yards in a late comeback effort that fell quick. The Mountaineers’ three highest speeding totals this season occurred of their first three victories, and so they’ve thrown for a minimum of 294 yards in three of their 4 wins thus far.
 
In making an attempt to decelerate JMU’s offense, App State will probably be challenged by the backfield combo of quarterback Alonza Barnett III and operating again Wayne Knight.
 
Barnett has accounted for two,182 offensive yards (together with 396 speeding) and 26 touchdowns (16 passing, 10 speeding) to associate with solely 4 interceptions. The speedy Knight has been productive as a runner (746 yards, six TDs), receiver (313 yards on 29 catches) and returner (22.2 yards per kickoff return, plus 9.3 yards per punt return). Richmond switch Landon Ellis, a 6-foot-2, 213-pound receiver, leads the best way with 30 catches for 486 yards and 5 scores.
 
Each aspect has inventive, profitable particular groups execution — JMU head coach Bob Chesney was a particular groups coach early in his collegiate teaching profession — so it can take an entire effort to take down an opponent that, in response to Loggains, has probably the most full roster that the Mountaineers could have seen this season.
 
App State leads the collection 14-5, together with 6-2 in Harrisonburg, and the Mountaineers are 3-11 in FBS video games towards ranked opponents. That features a 2-2 mark towards ranked Sun Belt foes, counting the 2023 win at JMU and a 2021 dwelling win towards No. 14 Coastal Carolina.