2019 James Madison Dukes football team

2019 James Madison Dukes football
CAA champion
NCAA Division I Championship Game, L 20–28 vs. North Dakota State
Conference	CAA Football
Ranking
STATS	No. 2
FCS Coaches	No. 2
Record	14–2 (8–0 CAA)
Head coach	Curt Cignetti (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Shane Montgomery (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Spread[1]
Defensive coordinator	Corey Hetherman (1st season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Bridgeforth Stadium
Seasons ← 2018 2020 →

2019 Colonial Athletic Association football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 James Madison $^		8	–	0					14	–	2
No. 18 Albany ^		6	–	2					9	–	5
No. 15 Villanova ^		5	–	3					9	–	4
New Hampshire		5	–	3					6	–	5
Towson		4	–	4					7	–	5
Maine		4	–	4					6	–	6
Elon		4	–	4					5	–	6
Richmond		4	–	4					5	–	7
Delaware		3	–	5					5	–	7
William & Mary		3	–	5					5	–	7
Stony Brook		2	–	6					5	–	7
Rhode Island		0	–	8					2	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

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.^[a] 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.^[2]

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.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	2:00 p.m.	at West Virginia*	No. 2	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	AT&TSN Pitt	L 13–20	61,891
September 7	6:00 p.m.	Saint Francis (PA)*	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	NBCS WA	W 44–7	22,422
September 14	3:30 p.m.	Morgan State*	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	NBCS WA	W 63–12	19,777
September 21	4:00 p.m.	at Chattanooga*	No. 2	Finley Stadium Chattanooga, TN	ESPN+	W 37–14	8,795
September 28	2:00 p.m.	at No. 24 Elon	No. 2	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	FloSports	W 45–10	11,926
October 5	6:00 p.m.	at No. 24 Stony Brook	No. 2	Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium Stony Brook, NY	FloSports/SNY	W 45–38 OT	12,812
October 12	1:30 p.m.	No. 5 Villanova	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MASN	W 38–24	25,076
October 19	3:30 p.m.	at William & Mary	No. 2	Zable Stadium Williamsburg, VA (rivalry)	FloSports	W 38–10	11,821
October 26	3:30 p.m.	No. 16 Towson	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MASN/SNY	W 27–10	23,983
November 9	3:30 p.m.	No. 23 New Hampshire	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MASN/SNY	W 54–16	19,660
November 16	3:30 p.m.	Richmond	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA (rivalry)	MASN/SNY	W 48–6	21,947
November 23	12:00 p.m.	at Rhode Island	No. 2	Meade Stadium Kingston, RI	FloSports	W 55–21	2,815
December 7	1:00 p.m.	No. 14 Monmouth*	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, 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 Stadium Harrisonburg, VA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN2	W 17–0	8,741
December 21	6:30 p.m.	No. 4 Weber State*	No. 2	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, 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 Stadium Frisco, TX (NCAA Division I Championship Game)	ABC	L 20–28	17,866
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[3]

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.^[4]

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
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

References