Abdullah leads Dukes to FCS title

FRISCO, Texas - Khalid Abdullah ran for 101 yards and two touchdowns as James Madison won its second Football Championship Subdivision title, beating Youngstown State 28-14 on Saturday.

It is the first time in six years a team other than North Dakota State raised the FCS championship trophy. James Madison (14-1) was the team that made it from Fargo to Frisco instead, winning its semifinal game on the road against the five-time defending champion Bison.

“A lot of the country probably thought when we beat North Dakota State that we’d have a really great chance to win the championship,” Dukes junior quarterback Bryan Schor said. “Something we really focused on the whole week … we have got to earn the right to win it, and that’s something we came out and I think we did today.”

Schor threw two touchdown passes in the first 51⁄2 minutes of the game, the first after James Madison blocked a punt and the other after a shanked kick set the Dukes up at midfield.

“We didn’t start the way we wanted, and got behind the eight-ball,” Youngstown State coach Bo Pelini said. “The way we started didn’t help.”

Abdullah finished the season with a school-record 1,809 yards rushing and a FCS-best 22 touchdowns.

The four-time champion Penguins (12-4), who finished their second season under Youngstown native Pelini, made it to the title game for the first time since 1999. Their four titles came during the 1990s under Jim Tressel, now the school’s president after winning a national championship at Ohio State in 2002.