James Madison — Sun Belt
HC
Billy Napier · Bridgeforth Stadium · Harrisonburg, VA · 24,877 cap
PPA off / def
0.23 / 0.00
2025
Class rank
#80
class of 2026
Returning PPA
8%
returning production
2026 schedule
2025 results (12–2)
Statistical comps — 2025 James Madison's closest analogs
Nearest neighbors by z-scored success rate, explosiveness, run rate & havoc (offense + defense), 2015–25.
2025 leaders
Transfer portal — 2026 (37 in / 31 out)
| Incoming |
|---|
| Jeremiah Harrison | WR | ← East Tennessee State | ★★★ |
| Corey Scott | WR | ← West Florida | ★★★ |
| Noah Grevious | WR | ← VMI | ★★★ |
| Micah Matthews | WR | ← Virginia Tech | ★★★ |
| Ernest Willor Jr. | EDGE | ← Wisconsin | ★★★ |
| Kaedin Massey | OT | ← Kansas State | ★★★ |
| Jayon Harvey | CB | ← Findlay | ★★★ |
| Damier Minkah | CB | ← Shepherd | ★★★ |
| + 29 more |
| Outgoing |
|---|
| Joseph Simmons | OT | → Auburn |
| Sahir West | EDGE | → UCLA |
| Aiden Gobaira | EDGE | → UCLA |
| Riley Robell | IOL | → UCLA |
| Josh Phifer | TE | → UCLA |
| Lacota Dippre | TE | → Florida |
| Wayne Knight | RB | → UCLA |
| Amar Thomas | EDGE | → uncommitted |
| + 23 more |
Origins
Two FCS national titles, then a move up in 2022 and an immediate 8-3 season the NCAA would not let them take to a bowl. Cignetti went 19-4 here before leaving for Indiana and doing it again.
Founded 1908 · A women's normal school named for the fourth president · first football 1972 · defined by Curt Cignetti
All-time record
Win %
69.3%
38 seasons played
Winning seasons
23
61% of seasons
By level: D-III 0–1 (1978–1978) · D-II 0–3 (1979–1979) · FCS 177–81 (1980–2021) · FBS 40–11 (2022–2025)
| Best seasons | W | L | Conference |
|---|
| 2017 | 14 | 1 | CAA |
| 2016 | 14 | 1 | CAA |
| 2019 | 14 | 2 | CAA |
| 2025 | 12 | 2 | Sun Belt |
| 2021 | 12 | 2 | CAA |
Season records from CollegeFootballData, which is why the span starts at 1978 — that is where its coverage of this program begins, not necessarily the first year it fielded a team.
Play-calling tendencies (2025 · garbage time excluded)
| Situation | Plays | Run % | Success % | Nat'l | Avg yds | Expl % |
|---|
| 1st down | 371 | 60% |
44% | 63 of 136 | 6.8 | 15% |
| 2nd down | 274 | 62% |
45% | 29 of 136 | 5.5 | 10% |
| 3rd & short (≤3) | 47 | 81% |
81% | — | 6.3 | 9% |
| 3rd & medium (4–7) | 50 | 28% |
46% | — | 6.7 | 12% |
| 3rd & long (8+) | 70 | 24% |
21% | — | 5.3 | 17% |
| 4th down | 20 | 65% |
55% | — | 4.9 | 10% |
178 drives · 37% ended in points · 6.8 plays and 40.2 yards per drive · 1.12 PPA per drive
Success: 50% of yardage needed on 1st, 70% on 2nd, 100% on 3rd/4th. Explosive: 12+ yd rush / 16+ yd pass. National rank is shown only for 1st and 2nd down, where every team has 100+ plays; the later buckets average 18-43 and a rank there would be noise.
League leaderboard →Most valuable plays (by PPA, 2025)
| Wk | Opp | Play | Yds | PPA |
|---|
| 10 | Texas State |
(14:25) No Huddle-Shotgun #14 A.Barnett III pass complete deep middle to #11 N.DeGennaro c… |
76 | 6.88 |
| 11 | Marshall |
(07:55) No Huddle-Shotgun #14 A.Barnett III pass complete deep middle to #0 J.Sanchez caug… |
80 | 6.39 |
| 14 | Coastal Carolina |
No Huddle-Shotgun #28 J.Malary rush middle for 73 yards gain to the Chants00 TOUCHDOWN, cl… |
73 | 6.18 |
| 14 | Coastal Carolina |
No Huddle-Shotgun #9 M.Sluka pass complete deep middle to #17 M.Scott caught at Chants00, … |
32 | 6.16 |
| 15 | Troy |
(13:53) No Huddle-Shotgun #3 W.Knight rush middle for 73 yards gain to the TROY00 TOUCHDOW… |
73 | 5.93 |
| 1 | Weber State |
Wayne Knight 59 Yd Run (Morgan Suarez Kick) |
59 | 5.73 |
| 13 | Washington State |
(06:33) No Huddle-Shotgun #3 W.Knight rush middle for 58 yards gain to the WSU00 TOUCHDOWN… |
58 | 5.71 |
| 13 | Washington State |
(02:26) No Huddle-Shotgun #14 A.Barnett III pass complete deep middle to #10 B.Wisloski ca… |
68 | 5.52 |