7

Ball St.
BSU

1-3, 0-1

63

winner

James Madison
JMU

4-0, 0-0

7

63

James Madison
JMU

4-0, 0-0

winner

Points by quarters

team	1	2	3	4	F
BSU Ball St.	7	0	0	0	7
JMU James Madison	22	7	20	14	63

Match Review: Football | 09/28/2024 7:51:00 p.m

HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison dominated every phase and Alonza Barnett III delivered another outstanding performance with six total touchdowns, leading the Dukes to a convincing 63-7 Family Weekend win over Ball State on Saturday afternoon in front of sold-out Bridgeforth Stadium.

The Dukes went 4-0 on the year while the Cardinals fell to 1-3. It was JMU’s first win over a Mid-American Conference team in its third attempt and the fifth straight season in which the program began with at least a 4-0 record.

The second straight scoring outburst brought JMU’s two-game points record to 133 points as the win follows JMU’s 70-50 win at North Carolina on Sept. 21. The 133 points in the final eight quarters surpassed the previous record of 131 points set by JMU on October 29, 2016 (84-7 vs. Rhode Island) and November 5, 2016 (47-43 at Richmond).

Barnett III rushed for 324 yards and six touchdowns as he went 20 of 28 for 280 yards and five touchdowns while rushing for 44 yards and a score. In his last two appearances, he totaled 13 touchdowns (10 passing, 3 rushing) and 811 yards on offense, including 668 passing yards.

Four different Dukes caught touchdown passes, including Yamir Knightwho had four receptions for 44 yards and two touchdowns, the best of his career. Taylor Thompson made a career-best five catches for 91 yards and a score. Omarion Dollison caught four balls for 48 yards and a touchdown while Cam Ross added a touchdown and made three grabs for 46 receiving yards.

The Dukes were strong in the ground game, racking up 236 rushing yards, an average of 6.9 per carry. Three players had at least 50 rushing yards, led by Wayne Knightwho had a career-best six carries for 63 yards and a length of 37. Apart from Barnett III’s 60, Jobi Malary managed a tackle for 50 yards on just five runs and scored his first JMU touchdown to complete the scoring. George Pettaway added a touchdown after contributing 35 yards.

The Dukes scored eight times on offense and didn’t punt once, marking the first time since December 7, 2019 that the punt team didn’t have a single snap. JMU significantly outscored Ball State 522-250, including 236-77 on the floor.

Defensively, JMU forced three interceptions, including a pick-six, and also stopped Ball State three times on fourth down. Terrence Spence made five tackles and had one interception to tie a career single-season high with three, following his two a week ago. Eric O’Neill posted a season-best 2.0 sacks and returned an interception 27 yards to the house for his first career touchdown. Khairy Manns He also recorded a pair of sacks for a new career high DJ Barksdale produced his first career interception.

The Cardinals were led by Kadin Semonza, who went 22 of 35 for 168 yards and a touchdown with three interceptions. Braedon Sloan rushed for a game-high 72 yards.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• JMU opened the game with scoring drives on its opening two drives when Barnett III drove the length of the field and scored Yamir Knight on his first career touchdown with a 12-yard pass.
• After an interception by Spence, JMU needed just 35 yards to score again, while Pettaway hit paydirt from 24 yards out to score. Thompson scored two more points and made it 15-0 after just over eight minutes.
• Ball State responded with several chunk plays and Semonza threw a dart to Tanner Koziol for the 15-yard touchdown, cutting JMU’s lead to 15-7.
• JMU came back with another touchdown drive, converting a 30-yard pass on fourth down Logan Kyle before Dollison caught a five-yard throw in the back corner of the end zone to make it 22-7 after one.
• Possession was tight in the second as Ball State raced to close the quarter with nearly eight minutes left, but sacks from O’Neill and Manns thwarted the push.
• JMU made the most of its only full possession of the quarter, as Barnett III racked up 46 of 59 yards, capped off by a 10-yard pass on the ball Yamir Knight for the score, making it 29-7.
• Ball State threatened, but an intercepted pass from Barksdale, his career first pick, made it 22 points at halftime.
• The interception move continued into the first minute of the second half when O’Neill bounced a pass at the line of scrimmage and returned it for his first career pick-six, making the score 35-7.
• JMU extended the lead to 49-7 with consecutive touchdown drives that ended with a 26-yard touchdown catch by Ross and an 18-yard rush by Barnett III.
• In the fourth, Barnett III ended his day with a dime to Thompson from 22 yards out for a 56-7 lead.
• Late in the game, JMU managed another drive to the goal line when Malary found space for a 32-yard touchdown sprinter.

GAME NOTES

• The Dukes averaged 8.3 yards per play while Ball State was limited to 3.5 yards per snap.
• JMU delivered arguably its best third-down performance in recent memory, scoring 9 out of 10 in extending drives. Ball State also did a good job on third down, finishing the game 7 of 16.
• On fourth down, JMU went 1-of-1 while Ball State was 2-of-5.
• JMU had five sacks, compared to the Cardinals’ three. JMU also had an 8-3 edge in tackles for loss.
• After Ball State’s touchdown drive, its last eight possessions consisted of two interceptions (one pick-six), three turnovers on downs and two three-and-outs.
• The 63 points were the second-most points JMU has ever scored against an FBS opponent, behind the 70 it scored just last week at UNC.
• In the last two games, JMU has scored a total of 47 points in the first quarter, including 25 on Sept. 21 at North Carolina.
• JMU was outnumbered 33-41 to 26-19 in the game. Despite only having 2:09 of possession in the third quarter, JMU outscored Ball State 20-0 in that stanza.

NEXT

JMU opens Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday, Oct. 5, with a trip to Monroe, La., to face ULM. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on ESPNU.