Jordan McCloud passed for 340 yards and three touchdowns as No. 25 James Madison held off visiting Old Dominion for a 30-27 win in their Sun Belt Conference matchup Saturday in Harrisonburg, Va.
McCloud completed 27 of 40 passes with two interceptions as the newly ranked Dukes (8-0, 5-0 Sun Belt) won their 11th straight game dating to last year.
Reggie Brown caught nine passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns and Elijah Sarratt added eight receptions for 139 yards and one score as James Madison thrived with its no-huddle, up-tempo offense.
A year ago, when James Madison cracked the top 25 for the first time in program history, it lost its next three games.
As a second-year team in the Football Bowl Subdivision, after promotion from the Football Championship Subdivision, the Dukes are not eligible for a conference title or a bowl game.
Grant Wilson completed 26 of 36 passes for 277 yards and two touchdowns without an interception for Old Dominion (4-4, 3-2).
Against James Madison’s defense, which is allowing only 49 yards per game on the ground, Keshawn Wicks carried 11 times for 74 yards and Kadarius Calloway added 65 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
The Monarchs trailed 30-17 late in the third quarter before staging their comeback.
Calloway capped a 75-yard drive with a 21-yard touchdown run to make it 30-24.
Then after Old Dominion stopped James Madison on a fourth-and-1 and took over on their own 42, the Monarchs drove to the Dukes’ 4 before settling for a 23-yard field goal by Ethan Sanchez that cut the deficit to 30-27.
But on Old Dominion’s final three possessions, the James Madison defense bottled the Monarchs up in their own territory.
James Madison’s Jalen Green stopped one of the drives as he threw Wilson for a loss on third down. Then on the final play of the game, Mikail Kamara sacked Wilson.
In the first half, after Shawn Asbury intercepted McCloud’s second pass of the game, Sanchez kicked a 22-yard field goal.
McCloud responded, throwing a 49-yard touchdown pass to Brown and adding a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Dukes a 14-3 lead.
In the third quarter, McCloud threw touchdown passes of 3 yards to Sarratt and 21 yards to Brown as James Madison increased its edge to 30-17.
–Field Level Media