James Madison (7-0, 4-0 Sun Belt) at App State (4-2, 1-1 Sun Belt). Thursday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m. ET, Kidd Brewer Stadium, Boone, N.C.
Your hosts are Zeb Coldiron, a fourth-generation Watauga County whittler, and Lila Shenandoah, a former JMU cheer captain who turns every stat into a chant.
Zeb: Come on up the mountain. Bring your grandma a jacket.
Lila: Purple reign, y'all! Give me a J, give me an M, give me an 8-0!
Players to watch
James Madison scores 42.9 points per game, third in FBS, and runs for 223.6 yards per game, 14th. Quarterback Camden Coleman has more than 1,300 passing yards, 13 touchdown passes and just one interception. Running back George Pettaway has seven touchdowns and more than 750 rushing yards. Wide receiver Ja'Corey Scott has 333 receiving yards, and linebacker Nakian Jackson leads the Dukes in tackles (50) and sacks (2.5).
App State quarterback Malachi Singleton is 113 of 169 for 1,429 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Running back Jaquari Lewis has eight touchdowns, and wide receiver Sam Pickett III has 411 receiving yards. Defensive lineman Caleb Sandstrom has five sacks, and linebacker Colton Phares leads the team with 38 tackles.
Lila: Give me an N! Give me a J! Nakian Jackson, y'all!
What happened last week
App State rallied past Coastal Carolina 35-32 on Oct. 16. The Mountaineers trailed 24-14 at halftime, then came back behind four Lewis touchdown runs and ran out the clock. Singleton went 12 of 14 for 151 yards. Backup Henry Hasselbeck ran 21 times for 125 yards and threw his first college touchdown pass, a 31-yarder to Pickett.
Zeb: Steady as a mule on a ridge, that Hasselbeck.
James Madison beat Georgia State 49-22 on Oct. 17. Coleman went 13 of 19 for 185 yards and two touchdowns, and Pettaway ran for 119 yards and a score.
Injuries and availability
No official conference availability report has been published for this game. App State hasn't said how it will split quarterback snaps after both Singleton and Hasselbeck played big roles at Coastal. No injury news has surfaced for either team.
What the coaches are up to
Billy Napier is in his first season at James Madison. He went 40-12 at Louisiana from 2018 to 2021 and then coached Florida from 2022 to 2025. His first JMU team is 4-0 at home and 3-0 on the road, and its closest games were a 20-13 opening win over Liberty and a 27-24 win at Georgia Southern. One thing to fix: 71.1 penalty yards per game, 119th in FBS.
Dowell Loggains is in his second season at App State after serving as South Carolina's offensive coordinator. He was also an NFL offensive coordinator for the Titans, Bears, Dolphins and Jets, and he played quarterback at Arkansas. His offense throws for 267.7 yards per game, and his team is plus-4 in turnover margin.
Player storylines
Lewis's four-touchdown night is the App State story. Lila's story is the Dukes' perfect start, and a JMU win would make it 8-0 and 5-0 in the Sun Belt. The matchup to watch is JMU's run defense, which allows 3.31 yards per carry and has 18 sacks, against an App State team that just won a game on the ground.
What's happening on campus
Thursday is Family Weekend in Boone. Gates open at 5 p.m., and there's no Yosef's Yard Party for this Thursday game, so bring your own cowbell energy. This is also one of the Sun Belt's two midweek games on ESPN linear networks this week.
Zeb: Some programs got a stadium. We got a mountain with a stadium on it.
Lila: And we've got a cheer for altitude. Give me some OXYGEN!
Anything else fun and true
App State leads the series 14-6. But last year's game went to the Dukes, 58-10 in Harrisonburg on Nov. 15, 2025. App State's two losses this year came at NC State, 41-31, and at home to Old Dominion, 10-3.
Zeb: Fourteen to six. My granddaddy carved every one of those into a porch post.
Lila: And we've chanted the 58-10 all year. Respect the history. Cheer the present.
Zeb: Steady climbing, honest footing, then a view at the top. See y'all Thursday.
The Cover Window
My call: James Madison Dukes 35, App State Mountaineers 21.