NEW ORLEANS — Coming off the first Sun Belt championship in program history and the first College Football Playoff appearance in conference history, James Madison will kick off its 2026 campaign on Saturday, Sept. 5, when it hosts in-state rival Liberty at 12:00 p.m. ET/11:00 a.m. CT on ESPNU.  
 
The Dukes are 13-6 all-time against the Flames, including a 1-0 mark at the FBS level. James Madison defeated Liberty, 31-13, in Lynchburg, Va., to commence a 10-game winning streak to close out the 2025 regular season en route to a Sun Belt championship and a College Football Playoff berth. 
 
James Madison’s non-conference schedule includes a home date with Wagner (Sept. 12) and a trip to San Diego State (Sept. 19), ahead of a late-season visit to UConn (Nov. 14). In addition to annual dates with their East Division foes, the Dukes will host Sun Belt West Division favorite Troy (Oct. 29)—in a rematch of the 2025 Sun Belt Football Championship Game—and visit Southern Miss (Nov. 5) in a pair of nationally-televised Thursday night clashes. 
 
The Dukes were picked to finish atop the Sun Belt East Division and to earn the right to defend their title in the Sun Belt Football Championship Game, while garnering 11-of-14 first-place votes in last month’s 2026 Sun Belt Conference Football Preseason Coaches Poll. 
 
First-year head coach Billy Napier, who led Louisiana to four-straight Sun Belt West Division titles and Sun Belt Football Championship Game berths ahead of a four-year stint as the head coach at Florida, will guide a roster that returns two All-Sun Belt selections from 2025 and had three players named to the 2026 Preseason All-Sun Belt Teams. 
 
James Madison went 12-2 in 2025, with both losses coming to autonomy conference opposition in Louisville, 28-14, during the regular season and Oregon, 51-34, during the College Football Playoff First Round. The Dukes were part of the Sun Belt’s 10-team Bowl Season contingent that paced the non-autonomy conferences for the fourth-straight year, advancing to their third-straight bowl game. 
 
The Dukes are 40-11 in four FBS seasons, reaching eight-or-more wins in each of their FBS campaigns. In 2025, James Madison became the second team in conference history to complete an unblemished run through the Sun Belt regular season and win the championship game, joining the 2021 Napier-led Louisiana team. 
 
To listen to head coach Billy Napier, graduate student offensive lineman Zach Greenberg and redshirt senior defensive lineman Amar Thomas’s comments from the 2026 Sun Belt Football Media Days, visit the Sun Belt Conference YouTube page. 



2026 SCHEDULE

9/5	Liberty
9/12	Wagner
9/19	at San Diego State
9/26	at Old Dominion*
10/3	Marshall*
10/10	at Georgia Southern*
10/17	Georgia State*
10/22	at App State*
10/29	Troy*
11/5	at Southern Miss*
11/14	at UConn
11/28	Coastal Carolina*

 
* Sun Belt Conference Game 
 
2025 ALL-SUN BELT RETURNERS
Second Team
OL – Zach Greenberg, James Madison (Gr., OL – Livingston, N.J.) 
 
Honorable Mention
DL – Amar Thomas, James Madison (RS Sr., DL – Upper Marlboro, Md.) 

2026 PRESEASON ALL-SUN BELT SELECTIONS
First Team
OL – Zach Greenberg, James Madison (Gr., OL – Livingston, N.J.) 
DL – Amar Thomas, James Madison (RS Sr., DL – Upper Marlboro, Md.) 

Second Team
RB – George Pettaway, James Madison (RS Sr., RB – Suffolk, Va.)