2015 James Madison Dukes football team

2015 James Madison Dukes football
CAA co-champion
FCS Playoffs Second Round, L 38–44 vs. Colgate
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
Ranking
STATS	No. 11
FCS Coaches	No. 11
Record	9–3 (6–2 CAA)
Head coach	Everett Withers (2nd season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Brett Elliott (1st season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Zak Kuhr (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Steve Sisa (2nd season)
Home stadium	Bridgeforth Stadium
Seasons ←  2014 2016  →

2015 Colonial Athletic Association football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Richmond +^		6	–	2					10	–	4
No. 11 James Madison +^		6	–	2					9	–	3
No. 12 William & Mary +^		6	–	2					9	–	4
Towson		5	–	3					7	–	4
New Hampshire ^		5	–	3					7	–	5
Villanova		5	–	3					6	–	5
Stony Brook		3	–	5					5	–	5
Delaware		3	–	5					4	–	7
Elon		3	–	5					4	–	7
Maine		3	–	5					3	–	8
Albany		2	–	6					3	–	8
Rhode Island		1	–	7					1	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2015 James Madison Dukes football team represented James Madison University during the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Everett Withers and played their home games at Bridgeforth Stadium and Zane Showker Field. They were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). The Dukes finished the regular season 9–2 to share the CAA championship with William & Mary and Richmond, who all finished with identical 6–2 conference records. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they lost in the second round to Colgate and finish the season 9–3.

On January 6, 2016, Withers resigned to become the head coach at Texas State. ^[1] He finished at James Madison with a two-year record of 18–7.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	6:00 pm	Morehead State *	No. 12	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MZ	W 56–7	22,080
September 12	4:00 pm	Lehigh *	No. 13	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MZ	W 55–17	15,949
September 19	3:00 pm	Albany	No. 12	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	CSN	W 42–28	18,659
September 26	7:00 pm	at SMU *	No. 9	Gerald J. Ford Stadium University Park, TX	ESPN3	W 48–45	22,314
October 3	12:00 pm	Stony Brook	No. 6	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	CSN	W 38–20	21,653
October 10	3:00 pm	at Towson	No. 5	Johnny Unitas Stadium Towson, MD	CSN	W 51–30	8,224
October 17	3:00 pm	at Elon	No. 5	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC		W 51–0	8,342
October 24	3:30 pm	No. 11 Richmond	No. 4	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA (College Gameday, rivalry)	CSN	L 49–59	26,069
October 31	4:00 pm	at No. 16 William & Mary	No. 9	Zable Stadium Williamsburg, VA (rivalry)	NBCSN	L 41–44	9,414
November 14	3:30 pm	at Delaware	No. 14	Delaware Stadium Newark, DE (rivalry)	CSN	W 24–21	16,994
November 21	12:00 pm	Villanova	No. 12	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	CSN	W 38–29	17,028
December 5	1:00 pm	Colgate *	No. 8	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	L 38–44	15,045
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[2]

Game summaries

Morehead State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	7	0	0	7
#12 Dukes	14	14	21	7	56

See also: 2015 Morehead State Eagles football team

Lehigh

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mountain Hawks	7	7	3	0	17
#13 Dukes	10	28	7	10	55

See also: 2015 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team

Albany

	1	2	3	4	Total
Great Danes	7	7	0	14	28
#12 Dukes	14	0	21	7	42

See also: 2015 Albany Great Danes football team

SMU

	1	2	3	4	Total
#9 Dukes	10	7	17	14	48
Mustangs	7	7	17	14	45

See also: 2015 SMU Mustangs football team

Stony Brook

	1	2	3	4	Total
Seawolves	7	0	0	13	20
#6 Dukes	21	7	10	0	38

See also: 2015 Stony Brook Seawolves football team

Towson

	1	2	3	4	Total
#5 Dukes	14	10	17	10	51
Tigers	6	11	6	7	30

See also: 2015 Towson Tigers football team

Elon

	1	2	3	4	Total
#5 Dukes	13	21	10	7	51
Phoenix	0	0	0	0	0

See also: 2015 Elon Phoenix football team

Richmond

	1	2	3	4	Total
#11 Spiders	7	21	14	17	59
#4 Dukes	14	14	7	14	49

See also: 2015 Richmond Spiders football team

ESPN's College GameDay broadcast from the JMU campus for the first time.

William & Mary

	1	2	3	4	Total
#9 Dukes	21	6	7	7	41
#16 Tribe	9	14	7	14	44

See also: 2015 William & Mary Tribe football team

Delaware

	1	2	3	4	Total
#14 Dukes	7	0	7	10	24
Fightin' Blue Hens	7	0	14	0	21

See also: 2015 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team

Villanova

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	0	7	15	29
#12 Dukes	14	7	3	14	38

See also: 2015 Villanova Wildcats football team

FCS Playoffs

Second Round–Colgate

	1	2	3	4	Total
Raiders	10	14	14	6	44
#8 Dukes	0	28	3	7	38

See also: 2015 Colgate Raiders football team

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend:██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	12	13	12	9	6 (4)	5 (8)	5 (12)	4 (18)	9	14	14	12	8	11
Coaches	13	11	10	8	5 (1)	5	5 (2)	3 (3)	9	14	11	10	6	11

References

1. "Texas State hires JMU's Withers as head coach". January 7, 2016.
2. "2015 James Madison Dukes Football Schedule". James Madison University Department of Athletics. Retrieved February 2, 2015.