Never has a program this new to the Bowl Subdivision qualified for the College Football Playoff.
In only its fourth season at the sport’s highest level, Sun Belt Conference champion James Madison earned the final spot in the 12-team bracket unveiled Sunday.
When JMU’s logo popped onto the screen, ESPN’s cameras showed players celebrating in the team room as streamers engulfed them, much as they do at Bridgeforth Stadium when the Dukes score a touchdown.
As the playoff’s No. 12 and bottom seed, JMU heads to fifth-seeded Oregon for a first-round game Dec. 20. The Big Ten Ducks (11-1) have lost only to top-seeded Indiana; the Dukes (12-1) have lost only to Louisville.
JMU had to do more than emphatically win the Sun Belt. For multiple Saturdays, the Dukes had to hope.
They had to hope that Cal, fresh off an embarrassing loss to rival Stanford and coach Justin Wilcox’s subsequent dismissal, would upset SMU in the regular-season finale, knocking the Mustangs out of the ACC championship game.
SMU’s loss sent 7-5 Duke to the ACC title game against 10-2 and 17th-ranked Virginia. A UVA win Saturday would have blocked 25th-ranked JMU from being one of the five top conference champions guaranteed a playoff bid.
So Saturday night, 24 hours after their Sun Belt title-game conquest of Troy, the Dukes had to hope Duke upset Virginia in a rematch of a regular-season encounter won by the Cavaliers 34-17.
In an overtime affair that didn’t end until 12:09 a.m. Sunday, the Blue Devils did just that, leaving the selection committee with a choice for the fifth conference champion’s spot in the field.
JMU or Duke.
The choice was clear, and JMU becomes the first Sun Belt program to make the playoff.
As the top four seeds, Indiana, Ohio State, Georgia and Texas Tech receive first-round byes. The other first-round games are: American champion Tulane at Ole Miss, Alabama at SEC rival Oklahoma and Miami at Texas A&M.
The 10th-seeded Hurricanes (10-2) received the final at-large bid to the field over Notre Dame (10-2), a team they defeated in the season-opener but were ranked behind by the selection committee — until Sunday.
Consider it justice delayed.
David Teel, david.teel@virginiamedia.com
