JMU ranked #3

JMU soars to #3 with 30 first place votes in the latest polls after their big upset of VT. That's up nine spots from last week. JMU even got 11 points in the FBS rankings.

Good article on ESPN regarding last week's game:

The night before James Madison University pulled off the biggest upset of the 2010 college football season, Dukes coach Mickey Matthews asked his players if any of them made a recruiting visit to Virginia Tech.

None of the Dukes raised his hand.

Matthews' promise proved prophetic as the Dukes did the unimaginable Saturday, shocking the No. 13 Hokies 21-16 at Lane Stadium. It was Virginia Tech's first home loss to a Football Championship Subdivision foe since falling to Richmond 24-14 in 1985.

"The dirty little secret is the top six to eight teams at our level can play with anyone," Matthews said. "We struggle to find guaranteed games because no one wants to play us. I don't know if we're a Top 25 team on the FBS level, but I'm sure we're better than Virginia Tech wanted us to be. They needed to play somebody they could dominate."

More and more, FBS teams are having difficulty beating FCS foes, let alone dominating them. FBS teams looking for easy victories might have more luck scheduling New Mexico than FCS teams like James Madison.

In the first two weeks of the season alone, five FCS teams have defeated FBS opponents: Jacksonville (Ala.) State stunned Ole Miss 49-48 in two overtimes, North Dakota State beat Kansas 6-3, South Dakota defeated Minnesota 41-38, Gardner-Webb beat Akron 38-37 in overtime and Liberty shocked Ball State 27-23.

It was the second time in as many seasons that James Madison had an ACC opponent on the ropes. In their 2009 opener, the Dukes led Maryland 35-28 late in the second half before losing 38-35 in overtime.

"There are great players, no matter what league or what division," James Madison quarterback Drew Dudzik said. "We've got great players. We just don't have the same number of scholarships and don't have the depth. It just goes to show that on any given day anyone can beat anyone."

Appalachian State proved that point when it stunned Michigan 34-32 at Michigan Stadium on Sept. 1, 2007.

"I think when Appalachian State beat Michigan, you didn't hear any football coaches saying it was a big upset," Matthews said. "You heard a lot of media saying it was the greatest upset in college football history, but you didn't hear any football coaches saying it."

Matthews believed his team would have a chance to be competitive against the Hokies, who were playing their second game in six days. Virginia Tech lost to No. 3 Boise State 33-30 on Labor Day night.

"The biggest thing when you play Virginia Tech is surviving the first quarter," Matthews said. "They blow everybody out in the first quarter at Lane Stadium. I told the kids, 'Let's make sure it's a game at the end of the first quarter. Let's survive the noise and the crowd.' I told them we weren't playing the concrete and their fans."

The Dukes trailed Virginia Tech 7-0 after the first quarter and were behind 13-7 at the half.

When Matthews walked back on to the field for the second half, he told his coaches the Dukes had a chance to win the game.

"I don't know if we're going to beat them, but it's going to be close," Matthews told his coaches. "Our kids believe they can beat them."

After falling behind 16-7, James Madison took the lead for good after Dudzik scored on two touchdown runs.

"We've got a great bunch of guys, and we've all bought into the program," Dudzik said. "All week we believed we could win, and we believed we could win throughout the whole game. We believed we were going to win the game."

The Dukes might have defeated more than Virginia Tech on Saturday, too. Their stunning upset of the Hokies also put a dent in Boise State's chances of playing in the BCS National Championship Game.

The Broncos' come-from-behind victory over Virginia Tech looked a lot less impressive less than a week later. Boise State plays only one more team from a BCS conference, hosting Oregon State at Bronco Stadium on Sept. 25.

At least two voters in the Associated Press Top 25 poll were impressed by the Dukes. James Madison received 11 points in this week's AP poll, with Ray Ratto of Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and Jon Wilner of the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News including the Dukes on their ballots.

The AP changed its voting rules to include FCS teams after Appalachian State stunned Michigan three years ago.

Matthews doesn't care what others say about his team's monumental upset. He knows the Dukes were better than the Hokies, for one day at least.

"Their top 50 players are better than our top 50 players," Matthews said. "But when you get out there 11-on-11, we can play with anyone."