James Madison tops ’Nova with Gameday in town
HARRISONBURG, VA. » Bryan Schor threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns, and defending FCS champion James Madison beat Villanova 30-8 on Saturday to set a conference record with 18 straight victories.
The Dukes broke Richmond’s Colonial Athletic Association mark, set from 200809. James Madison hasn’t lost to another FCS member since the second round of the 2015 playoffs against Colgate.
James Madison built a 13-0 lead at halftime after holding Villanova to just 58 yards with three sacks and an interception. The Wildcats pulled to 16-8 early in the fourth but Schor connected with David Eldridge for a 29-yard score. Brandon Hereford capped it with his first career pick and touchdown with 1:57 left.
Terrence Alls had seven catches for 83 yards for James Madison (6-0, 3-0), which hosted ESPN’s College Gameday for the second time. The popular pre-game program aired for the eighth time from a FCS location. It helped draw the second-largest crowd in school history with 25,993.
Freshman Kyle McCloskey started the second half at quarterback for Villanova (4- 3, 2-2). He threw for 15 yards and added 43 yards on the ground. The Wildcats, who en- tered allowing just 13.2 points per game, were held to 174 total yards.
COLLEGE GAMEDAY
The ESPN crew was also live from James Madison in 2015 in front of more than 12,000 fans. The game against Richmond drew a Bridgeforth Stadium-record crowd of 26,069.