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RICHMOND, Ky. – Cameron Starke’s 35-yard field goal as time expired gave James Madison a thrilling 20-17 win over the Eastern Kentucky University football team Saturday afternoon in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs at Roy Kidd Stadium.

EKU (7-5) was seeking to become the first current Ohio Valley Conference team to notch a playoff victory since Murray State in 1996.

EKU led JMU (8-4), 17-7, with 5:55 remaining in the third quarter. However, the Dukes scored 13 unanswered points to finish the game. JMU converted a crucial 4th-and-2 at the EKU 43-yard line with less than two minutes to play to set up Starke’s game-winning kick.

Junior Matt Denham led EKU with 125 yards on the ground, the eighth-straight game in which he eclipsed the 100-yard mark. His 66-yard scamper that set up EKU’s only points of the second half was the longest run of his career and EKU’s longest offensive play of the season.

JMU had three players rush for more than 70 yards in the game, and the Dukes outgained the Colonels 393-213 overall on the afternoon. James Madison also had a decisive edge in time of possession in the win – 40:30 to 19:30.

After senior Jeremy Caldwell went down with an injury on the game’s opening kick-off, junior Justin Bell spelled him and made the first big play of the day when he busted a 75-yard punt return to position EKU at JMU’s 16-yard line with 6:30 remaining in the first quarter. Unfortunately two plays later, junior quarterback #T.J. Pryor# was picked off in the end zone by Leavander Jackson and JMU took over at its own 20-yard line.

JMU capitalized on that turnover as the Dukes marched 80 yards in 6:55 and scored on a one-yard run up the middle by Jordan Anderson to take a 7-0 advantage just over a minute into the second quarter.

The Colonels responded with a seven-play, 2:41 drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown rumble by senior #H.B. Banjoman# to tie the score, 7-7, with 7:41 left in the first half. Two key receptions, a 14-yard catch by junior Cameron Bailey and a 23-yard catch by junior Tyrone Goard, set up the touchdown run by Banjoman.

The EKU defense then stepped up with a big fourth down stop, as the Dukes drove deep into EKU territory before junior Robert Knowles sacked JMU quarterback Justin Thorpe on 4th-and-6 to give the Colonels the ball on downs with four minutes on the clock.

The Colonels forced a three-and-out on the Dukes’ next possession and used a few short passes to drive to JMU’s 30-yard line before sophomore Luke Pray connected on a 48-yard field goal as time expired to send EKU into halftime up 10-7.

JMU chewed up over seven minutes of clock to open the second half, but it was all for naught as Starke’s 36-yard field goal attempt went wide right and gave EKU possession at its own 20-yard line. The Colonels took advantage of the missed field goal, as Denham shed tackles on his way to a 66-yard run to the JMU one-yard line. Banjoman then punched it in from one yard out for his second touchdown of the day to make it 17-7 with 5:55 remaining in the third quarter.

The Dukes responded with an 11-play, 5:21 drive to the EKU four-yard line, but the Colonel defense stiffened at the goal line and held JMU to a 21-yard field goal that made it 17-10 with less than a minute to play in the third quarter.

After EKU went 3-and-out on its next possession, JMU converted a 26-yard pass play on 3rd-and-13 to set up a 24-yard touchdown run by Anderson that tied the game, 17-17, with 10:01 remaining in the game.

James Madison now moves on to face No. 2 seed North Dakota State next Saturday in Fargo, N.D.

NOTES:
--This was the first ever meeting between James Madison and Eastern Kentucky.

--This was the first game all year that the Colonel defense did not force a turnover. EKU came into the game ranked fourth nationally in turnover margin at +16.

--Eastern was making its 20th appearance in the NCAA FCS playoffs, second most in FCS history behind only Montana. The Colonels are now 16-18 all-time in the playoffs and have not won a playoff game since 1994.

--Eastern Kentucky was held to 1-of-8 (12.5 percent) on third-down conversions and was had the ball for three plays or less on seven possessions.