James Madison Stuns Virginia Tech

It wasn't long ago that it looked like Virginia Tech was going to be good enough to spoil Boise State's championship dream. With a quick turnaround, most probably figured the Hokies still had a layup Saturday, as they opened their home schedule with a date against FCS opponent James Madison.

The Dukes are a good FCS team, but they still weren't going to beat a team that was in the top 10 of the polls as recently as Monday. Right?

Wrong.

James Madison used a timely running game and three Hokies turnovers to shock Virginia Tech, 21-16, at Lane Stadium.

Quarterback Drew Dudzik only hit five passes on the afternoon, but one of them was a 77-yard score to Jamal Sullivan in the second quarter. JMU trailed 10-0 at the time, but it could have been worse. Earlier in the quarter, Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor fumbled inside the James Madison 35, the first of three turnovers in JMU territory by Virginia Tech.

The last of those was the most costly. After a great run by Ryan Williams to get the ball to the JMU 21, Darren Evans fumbled two plays later, and the Dukes ran out the clock from there.

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Taylor also threw an incomplete pass on a fourth-and-two from the Dukes' 17 in the fourth quarter, which came on the drive after Dudzik's second touchdown run of the game gave the Dukes their first lead at 21-16.

James Madison, of the powerful Colonial Athletic Association, hadn't beaten a team from the Football Bowl Subdivision since 1990. It become the fifth FCS team to beat an FBS team -- joining Gardner-Webb (Akron), South Dakota (Minnesota), Jacksonville State (Mississippi), and North Dakota State (Kansas) -- in the first two weeks of the season.

Dudzik scored on second-half runs of seven and 12 yards as the Dukes (2-0) became only the second team from the Football Championship Subdivision to beat the Hokies. Richmond did it in 1985, a year after the Spiders dropped down to the Football Championship Subdivision.

The team most affected by this could be one that wasn't even on the field Saturday. Boise State plays a relatively weak schedule, especially if you take out its games against Virginia Tech and Oregon State. The Broncos need their opponents to appear as strong as possible, and having Virginia Tech turn around and lose to a lower-division opponent could be a big blow to their national title hopes.