App State beats James Madison 34-31
Team pages: James Madison · App State
App State beat James Madison 34-31. Share this game
We had James Madison favored. App State won.
Next: James Madison vs Troy, Thu Oct 29 · 7:30 PM ET
What it cost
James Madison’s chance to make the playoff fell from 22% to 13%.
Make the playoff
Win the conference
Before the game (October 21, 2026) → after this result, in our model.
James Madison plays vs Troy on Thu Oct 29 with a 13% chance to make the playoff. App State plays at Georgia Southern on Sat Oct 31 with a 3% chance to win the conference.
Box score
App State 34, James Madison 31
App State covered +12.5 by 15.5. The total, 65, went over 56.5.
| Team totals | James Madison | App State |
|---|---|---|
| Total yards | 423 | 366 |
| Passing | 27 of 46, 331 yds | 29 of 44, 285 yds |
| Rushing | 30 for 92 yds | 31 for 81 yds |
| First downs | 19 | 22 |
| Third down | 2 of 15 | 7 of 18 |
| Fourth down | 3 of 3 | 0 of 0 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 0 |
| Penalties | 10 for 92 yds | 7 for 68 yds |
| Time of possession | 26:50 | 33:10 |
James Madison leaders
- Passing Camden Coleman 22 of 39, 232 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
- Rushing George Pettaway 15 for 57 yds, 1 TD; Seth Cromwell 4 for 18 yds
- Receiving Braeden Wisloski 2 for 84 yds, 1 TD; Jeremiah Harrison 6 for 59 yds
App State leaders
- Passing Malachi Singleton 26 of 40, 271 yds, 2 TD
- Rushing Jaquari Lewis 13 for 74 yds; Henry Hasselbeck 7 for 9 yds
- Receiving Nate Branch 6 for 73 yds; Sam Pickett III 6 for 63 yds
Before kickoff
Recent games, the series and the betting line below are as they stood going in; the season profile is the season so far.
Recent games
Last three games
James Madison · 7-0
Rated 85th in our preseason ratings, 37th now, up 48 spots.
Three straight wins — but still hunting a ranked opponent.
Last three games
App State · 4-2
Rated 98th in our preseason ratings, 119th now.
1-2 in its last three — but nothing on this résumé beats a top-40 team yet.
Week by week
App State
- Wk 2Wat East Carolina27-24
- Wk 3Wvs Charlotte26-21
- Wk 4Lat NC State31-41
- Wk 6Lvs Old Dominion3-10
- Wk 7Wat Coastal Carolina35-32
James Madison
- Wk 3Wat San Diego State26-13
- Wk 4Wat Old Dominion46-20
- Wk 5Wvs Marshall45-17
- Wk 6Wat Georgia Southern27-24
- Wk 7Wvs Georgia State49-22
Power rating by week
James Madison is rated 8.8 points ahead as of week 7. Our power rating by week; higher is better.
Matchups
Biggest mismatch: App State’s rushing EPA against James Madison, 63 points
Each row ranks the two sides among all teams. The longer the line, the bigger the mismatch.
App State’s rushing EPA against James Madison’s defense
App State offense, 21st percentile · James Madison defense, 84th
James Madison’s EPA/play against App State’s defense
James Madison offense, 87th percentile · App State defense, 52nd
James Madison’s explosive plays against App State’s defense
James Madison offense, 55th percentile · App State defense, 77th
Season profile, all the rows
Season profile
The series
App State leads the series 6-3
9 meetings since 1980 · James Madison won the last meeting
- 2025James Madison 58-10
- 2024App State 34-20
- 2023App State 26-23
- 2022James Madison 32-28
- 2008James Madison 35-32
Each line is App State’s chance to win through that meeting. Older meetings have no play by play, so no line.
Line, fans and home field
The betting line, and the fans
App State fans are in a better mood than James Madison fans (89th vs 73rd among FBS fanbases), even with James Madison favored.
James Madison favored by 12.5 · Total 56.5
The market
The spread moved 2 points toward James Madison.
Spread: +10.5 → +12.5
The books’ cut: 4.2%, the margin built into the odds
Home field
App State is worth +4.8 points (±3.6) more at home than on the road since 2018 — middle of FBS, 64th percentile.
77% at home, 49% on the road against FBS opponents (34-10 home, 24-25 away).
Our model gives every stadium the same flat 2.3-point home edge (why); the books use about 3. Against the closing line this stadium reads +0.9 at home vs. away over 103 games — inside the ±5.8 noise, so the flat number is the honest one here.
Night kickoff — historically worth about half a point more to the home side against the number, and not much more than that. The visitors travel about 218 miles to get here.
Last meeting in our History pages
- App State 26, James Madison 23Nov 18, 2023
Where next
Conference standings
Place in the conference, then conference record.
- App State6th1-1
- James Madison1st4-0