# 2019 James Madison Dukes football team

The 2019 James Madison Dukes football team represented James Madison University during the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Curt Cignetti and played their home games at Bridgeforth Stadium. They competed as a member of CAA Football. They finished the season 14–2, 8–0 in CAA play to be CAA champions. They received the CAA's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Monmouth, Northern Iowa, and Weber State to advance to the FCS National Championship Game where they lost to North Dakota State.

## Preseason
### CAA poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 23, 2019, the Dukes were predicted to finish in first place.
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | James Madison | 238 (20) |
| 2 | Towson | 217 (3) |
| 3 | Maine | 201 (1) |
| 4 | Elon | 164 |
| 5 | Delaware | 162 |
| 6 | Stony Brook | 151 |
| 7 | New Hampshire | 109 |
| 8 | Rhode Island | 104 |
| 9 | Villanova | 84 |
| 10 | Richmond | 62 |
| 11 | William & Mary | 58 |
| 12 | Albany | 34 |

### Preseason All–CAA team

The Dukes had six players selected to the preseason all-CAA team.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 31 | 2:00 p.m. | at West Virginia* | No. 2 | Mountaineer FieldMorgantown, WV | AT&TSN Pitt | L 13–20 | 61,891 |
| September 7 | 6:00 p.m. | Saint Francis (PA)* | No. 2 | Bridgeforth StadiumHarrisonburg, VA | NBCS WA | W 44–7 | 22,422 |
| September 14 | 3:30 p.m. | Morgan State* | No. 2 | Bridgeforth StadiumHarrisonburg, VA | NBCS WA | W 63–12 | 19,777 |
| September 21 | 4:00 p.m. | at Chattanooga* | No. 2 | Finley StadiumChattanooga, TN | ESPN+ | W 37–14 | 8,795 |
| September 28 | 2:00 p.m. | at No. 24 Elon | No. 2 | Rhodes StadiumElon, NC | FloSports | W 45–10 | 11,926 |
| October 5 | 6:00 p.m. | at No. 24 Stony Brook | No. 2 | Kenneth P. LaValle StadiumStony Brook, NY | FloSports/SNY | W 45–38 $^{OT}$ | 12,812 |
| October 12 | 1:30 p.m. | No. 5 Villanova | No. 2 | Bridgeforth StadiumHarrisonburg, VA | MASN | W 38–24 | 25,076 |
| October 19 | 3:30 p.m. | at William & Mary | No. 2 | Zable StadiumWilliamsburg, VA (rivalry) | FloSports | W 38–10 | 11,821 |
| October 26 | 3:30 p.m. | No. 16 Towson | No. 2 | Bridgeforth StadiumHarrisonburg, VA | MASN/SNY | W 27–10 | 23,983 |
| November 9 | 3:30 p.m. | No. 23 New Hampshire | No. 2 | Bridgeforth StadiumHarrisonburg, VA | MASN/SNY | W 54–16 | 19,660 |
| November 16 | 3:30 p.m. | Richmond | No. 2 | Bridgeforth StadiumHarrisonburg, VA (rivalry) | MASN/SNY | W 48–6 | 21,947 |
| November 23 | 12:00 p.m. | at Rhode Island | No. 2 | Meade StadiumKingston, RI | FloSports | W 55–21 | 2,815 |
| December 7 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 14 Monmouth* | No. 2 | Bridgeforth StadiumHarrisonburg, VA (NCAA Division I Second Round) | ESPN3 | W 66–21 | 10,881 |
| December 13 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 6 Northern Iowa* | No. 2 | Bridgeforth StadiumHarrisonburg, VA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal) | ESPN2 | W 17–0 | 8,741 |
| December 21 | 6:30 p.m. | No. 4 Weber State* | No. 2 | Bridgeforth StadiumHarrisonburg, VA (NCAA Division I Semifinal) | ESPNU | W 30–14 | 10,487 |
| January 11 | 12:00 p.m. | No. 1 North Dakota State* | No. 2 | Toyota StadiumFrisco, TX (NCAA Division I Championship Game) | ABC | L 20–28 | 17,866 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time ||||||||

## Game summaries
### At West Virginia

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 2 Dukes | 7 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| Mountaineers | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 20 |

### Saint Francis (PA)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Red Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| No. 2 Dukes | 14 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 44 |

### Morgan State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 12 |
| No. 2 Dukes | 7 | 21 | 0 | 35 | 63 |

### At Chattanooga

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 2 Dukes | 14 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 37 |
| Mocs | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |

### At Elon

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 2 Dukes | 14 | 7 | 17 | 7 | 45 |
| No. 24 Phoenix | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 |

### At Stony Brook

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Total |
| No. 2 Dukes | 14 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 45 |
| No. 24 Seawolves | 14 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 38 |

### Villanova

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 5 Wildcats | 0 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 24 |
| No. 2 Dukes | 7 | 10 | 0 | 21 | 38 |

### At William & Mary

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 2 Dukes | 7 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 38 |
| Tribe | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 |

### Towson

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 16 Tigers | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| No. 2 Dukes | 7 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 27 |

### New Hampshire

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 23 Wildcats | 10 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 16 |
| No. 2 Dukes | 10 | 20 | 14 | 10 | 54 |

### Richmond

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Spiders | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| No. 2 Dukes | 10 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 48 |

### At Rhode Island

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 2 Dukes | 10 | 21 | 7 | 17 | 55 |
| Rams | 0 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 21 |

## FCS Playoffs

The Dukes entered the postseason tournament as the number two seed, with a first-round bye.

### Monmouth–Second Round

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 14 Hawks | 14 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| No. 2 Dukes | 21 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 66 |

### Northern Iowa–Quarterfinals

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 6 Panthers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No. 2 Dukes | 7 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 17 |

### Weber State–Semifinals

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 4 Wildcats | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
| No. 2 Dukes | 10 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 30 |

### Vs. North Dakota State–Championship

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 2 Dukes | 7 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 20 |
| No. 1 Bison | 7 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 28 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Final |
| STATS FCS | 2 (14) | 2 (11) | 2 (9) | 2 (8) | 2 (4) | 2 (7) | 2 (1) | 2 (2) | 2 (3) | 2 (1) | 2 (1) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Coaches | 2 (1) | 2 (1) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |

## Players drafted into the NFL

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | NFL Club |
| 7 | 231 | Ben DiNucci | QB | Dallas Cowboys |

## Footnotes

* ↑ CAA Football is operated by the multi-sports Colonial Athletic Association but is a separate legal entity.