Harrisonburg, Va. — For the second time this season, the James Madison University football team came out of a bye week with a dominant victory. After putting up 70 points against North Carolina following their bye week in September, the Dukes used their second bye week to prepare for then roll past the Georgia State Panthers, 38-7, on November 9 in Harrisonburg.
“Good win,” JMU head coach Bob Chesney said. “A great team effort all the way around from our guys. We learned not to rush too quickly into this Georgia State team, but focus first on us, and first focus on knowing that it’s us against us.”
With the win, JMU goes into their final three games alive for the Sun Belt East Division crown and can reach 10 regular-season victories for a second consecutive season. The Dukes are one game back in the East Division standings, behind Georgia Southern and Marshall.
James Madison received significant contributions in all three phases of the game. The offense gained 452 total yards, while the defense only gave up 259, with only 46 coming on the ground.
“It started with [defensive coordinator Lyle Hemphill], he had a great game plan for us,” JMU redshirt senior linebacker Taurus Jones said. “Allowing us to be able to put us in the right spots and be able to fly around from the first snap.”
JMU redshirt junior running back George Pettaway kept the momentum from his career-high 119 yards against Southern Miss, finishing the contest with 95 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
Pettaway’s touchdown came on the first Dukes’ possession of the game. After redshirt sophomore quarterback Alonza Barnett III found sophomore receiver Yamir Knight for 29 yards, Pettaway carried in a 1-yard rushing touchdown to give JMU a 7-0 lead.
Facing a 4th-and-10 on the ensuing drive, James Madison redshirt junior defensive lineman Eric O’Neill got into the backfield and took down Georgia State quarterback Zach Gibson for an 11-yard sack, giving the Dukes the ball back near midfield.
“I needed to improve, and I think I did a decent job with it,” O’Neill said. “I think I’m not as one-dimensional as I was the first couple weeks, and I think being able to use power and speed helped me get [to the quarterback]a lot more than even I expected to.”
James Madison didn’t take long to get the 52 yards needed for a touchdown as Barnett found senior receiver Omarion Dollison. The speed of Dollison tripped up one defender and made another one miss the tackle as the Dukes led 14-0 late in the first quarter.
“[The safeties] tend to lean towards one hash or the other,” Barnett said. “I wanted to give him a chance. Safety was to the right hash, it might be a laser ball instead of a layer ball, and [Omarion Dollison] made a tremendous catch, and obviously, when I put the ball in my playmakers’ hands they make it easy for me.”
Georgia State would need some big plays to get themselves back into the game. Gibson found sophomore tight end Dorian Fleming for 36 yards, then redshirt junior running back Freddie Brock for 18 to close out the first frame. The drive was capped off with a 9-yard reception by junior receiver Ted Hurst on the first play of the second quarter to cut the lead to 14-7.
On the second play of the ensuing drive, James Madison could’ve had another quick score. Senior tight end Taylor Thompson was wide open with no defenders between him and the end zone, but the pass fell out of his hands. That play didn’t faze Thompson or the Dukes as they continued to move down the field. Then facing a 3rd-and-7, Thompson was in position to make another play and wouldn’t let this opportunity slip away as he made the catch on a 12-yard touchdown reception.
After forcing back-to-back Georgia State punts, the Dukes were set up on their own 11 yard line with 1:30 left on the clock before halftime. Following an injury to redshirt senior center Tanner Morris, redshirt junior offensive lineman Brett Davis (Stone Bridge/2021) entered the game as the JMU offense continued to gain yards with ease. Pettaway had big rushes of 25 and 18 yards, but redshirt sophomore running back Wayne Knight finished the drive with a 7-yard score.
With less than a minute left in the first half, it seemed as though the teams would head into the locker room with JMU leading 28-7, but a roughing the passer penalty on the Dukes moved the Panthers into field goal territory. They brought on redshirt sophomore kicker Liam Rickman to try to cut into the lead, but James Madison senior defensive back Terrence Spence—who returned from an injury earlier in the second quarter—blocked the field goal attempt.
On the Dukes’ second drive of the third quarter, Knight—who scored his second touchdown of the game and of his career—caught a pass from Barnett and made a defender miss for an 18-yard touchdown.
“Really exciting for me, but it’s definitely bigger than that,” Knight said. “We got a lot of things ahead of us. We still got a few games to finish and being able to just keep the foot on the gas pedal.”
James Madison (3-2 Sun Belt East, 7-2) now turns their attention to in-state rival Old Dominion on November 16 in Norfolk. Georgia State (0-5 Sun Belt East, 2-7) will try to win their first conference game of the season when they host Arkansas State on the same date.
“All of our dreams and aspirations are in front of us,” Barnett said. “If I know the guys in that locker room, that’s not enough for us. We still have our eyes on that Sun Belt championship. We knew that, these last four games, we’d have to run the table. And we have a big one next week.”
Derrick Jerry captured 250+ photos at the game!
Scoring Plays
| Period | Time | Team | Play | Score |
| 1Q | 8:21 | James Madison | George Pettaway 1-yard TD run (Noe Ruelas PAT) | 7-0 |
| 1Q | 3:19 | James Madison | Alonza Barnett III to Omarion Dollison 52-yard TD pass (Noe Ruelas PAT) | 14-0 |
| 2Q | 14:55 | Georgia State | Zach Gibson to Ted Hurst 9-yard TD pass (Liam Rickman PAT) | 14-7 |
| 2Q | 9:18 | James Madison | Alonza Barnett III to Taylor Thompson 12-yard TD pass (Noe Ruelas PAT) | 21-7 |
| 2Q | 0:49 | James Madison | Wayne Knight 7-yard TD run (Noe Ruelas PAT) | 28-7 |
| 3Q | 6:21 | James Madison | Alonza Barnett III to Wayne Knight 18-yard TD pass (Noe Ruelas PAT) | 35-7 |
| 3Q | 1:24 | James Madison | Noe Ruelas 38-yard field goal | 38-7 |