Long story short, it hasn’t been good.
Currently James Madison leads the all-time series against Liberty 12-5, but the real storyline is their current six game winning streak. The last time Liberty was able to knock off the Dukes was a 37-34 victory on November 7, 1992. Since then, its been a struggle:
2000: Liberty 7 JMU 38
Liberty would get on the board first behind a three yard pass from Biff Parsons to Trey Miller, but that would be Liberty’s only score of the day. JMU would go on to dominate, scoring 38 unanswered points.
2001: Liberty 7 JMU 14
In the 2001 season finale, Liberty would hold the Dukes scoreless for three quarters, taking a 7-0 lead into the fourth, but JMU would score twice in the final quarter to take a 14-7 win. There were 18 total punts in the defensive struggle.
2003: Liberty 6 JMU 48
James Madison running back, Alvin Banks, led the 48-6 rout in 2003 with 157 yards on the ground. The Flames wouldn’t score until fourth quarter garbage time.
2009: Liberty 10 JMU 24
The score was knotted up at 10 apiece with 14:55 to go in the game, but two Corwin Acker rushing touchdowns later, Liberty was buried by the Dukes. The Flames struggled to get any sort of offense going, totaling 217 yards in downpour conditions.
2010: Liberty 3 JMU 10
Liberty would strike first against the number 3 ranked Dukes, courtesy of a 19 yard Matt Bevins field goal, but that would be the last score of the day for the Flames. Liberty would be held to 1.9 yards per carry on the day, and neither team would eclipse 300 total yards. 283 yards would be enough for JMU though, as their defense would hold up for the win.
2011: Liberty 24 JMU 27
B.J. Hayes went for 158 receiving yards and a score, but that wouldn’t be enough to overcome the Dukes. Behind an impressive rush defense, Mike Brown and Aldreakis Allen were held to a combined 67 yards on the ground. James Madison would go on to kick a field goal as time expired.
There is no sugarcoating it, Liberty has pretty much been awful against JMU as far back as most of us can remember. There would certainly be no better time to buck the trend than in Liberty’s first ever playoff appearance.
