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The 2020 FCS Championship game between North Dakota against James Madison will be played Saturday, January 11 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. It’s been a long road to redemption for James Madison, but it’s finally going to get its chance.
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The Dukes last saw North Dakota State in the 2017-18 national championship game, when they lost 17-13 in a game that ended their hopes of winning back-to-back titles.
JMU bowed out early in the playoffs last season before losing its coach to East Carolina soon after. But under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti, the Dukes have revived their program and cruised through the FCS playoffs to set up another showdown with cross-country rival NDSU.
The FCS regular season has come to a conclusion and we’re now looking forward to the FCS championship game. North Dakota State will be making their third straight appearance in the game, and eighth appearance in the last nine years. They will be facing off against James Madison. James Madison is making their third appearance in the last four years.
The Bison have turned in one of the most impressive decades of football in FCS history. NDSU has missed two title games since 2010. North Dakota State is led by first year head coach Matt Entz. Entz was promoted into the job after Chris Klieman left for a job at Kansas State. James Madison is led by first year head coach Curt Cignetti. Cignetti was previously the head coach at Elon and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Cignetti came to James Madison after coach Mike Houston left for East Carolina.
North Dakota State entered the FCS playoffs as the overall number one seed. James Madison entered the playoffs as the overall number two seed. The Bison defeated Nicholls State, MVFC foe Illinois State, and Montana State on their way to the title game
James Madison arrived at the title game after defeating Monmouth, Northern Iowa, and Weber State. Generally speaking the FCS playoff bracket played out mostly predictable, with the exception of #4 Sacramento State and #8 Central Arkansas taking second round losses to unseeded teams.
North Dakota State generally had a favorable schedule throughout the year. The Bison played at home for ten of their fifteen games. Two of those games were against teams who made the FCS playoffs, and three of the five having winning records. The Bison, however, dominated in nearly every game they played. The only real tough games the Bison played this season was their early season match-up with UC-Davis, their annual tussle with South Dakota State, and a 9-3 win over Illinois State in the quarterfinals.
The win over Illinois State was a defensive slug fest and had it not been for a called back touchdown on a defensive turnover, that came could have gone a different direction.
North Dakota State has generally followed the same recipe as they have for the last ten years. Be strong at running the football and controlling the clock. They will force teams to play their brand of football and most teams are not as good at playing that brand as NDSU is. The NDSU offensive line is obviously a strength again this season, with two of them gaining all-American honors and a third getting all-conference honors.
One of the biggest surprises for most of people, maybe not the NDSU faithful, was the emergence of freshman quarterback Trey Lance. Lance showed a lot of promise in his inaugural season, accounting for over 3700 yards of total offense and 41 touchdowns. Lance is also a finalist for the Doak Walker award that will be handed out prior to the championship game. Lance could very easily follow in the footsteps of Brock Jensen, Carson Wentz, and Easton Stick in a line of above average quarterbacks that also wear green and gold.
On defense it’s more of the same for North Dakota State. The Bison are still very talented and very hard hitting on that side of the football. Jabril Cox had a terrific season from the linebacker position. Derrek Tuszka piled up an eye opening 12.5 sacks on the season. Needless to say, the Bison can easily live in your backfield if your offensive line isn’t up to snuff. The only team better at defense in terms of total defense, is the team they are playing in Frisco.
James Madison is making yet another appearance in the FCS championship game. They will be seeking their first title since 2016 when they defeated Youngstown State 28-14. The only blemish on the record of the Dukes this season was a first game loss at West Virginia. The Dukes managed only two field goals in the second half after taking a lead to the locker room at halftime.
A Ben DiNucci interception led to an easy Mountaineer score which gave them the lead that would hold for the game. After that game the Dukes wouldn’t play another close game, unless you count a 17-0 shutout of Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals a close game. James Madison dominated every team they played in the playoffs.
James Madison follows a similar recipe as NDSU in the offensive department. The Dukes are very talented on the offensive line and has allowed quarterback Ben DiNucci and running backs Percy Agyei-Obese and Jawon Hamilton to carry the ball for nearly 2800 yards. DiNucci isn’t a slouch behind center, however, throwing for over 3000 yards. DiNucci came to the Dukes from Pittsburgh, where he palyed parts of two seasons for the Panthers before transferring to James Madison. Brandon Polk was the target of a third of those passing yards from DiNucci and hauled in 11 touchdowns.
Defensively the Dukes have playmakers in Dimitri Holloway, John Daka, and Ron’Dell Carter. Those three Dukes combined for 62.5 tackles for loss and 30 sacks. The defensive front of James Madison should provide the Bison offensive line with a good test. This match-up could end up being a smash mouth football lover’s dream in the trenches.
