This season, the Ducks have played just two opponents that would be considered outside the realm of the Power Four conferences: Montana State and Oregon State. 

Of the 11 teams Oregon has beaten this season, none have a better total offense or defense than the No. 12 seed James Madison University Dukes, who travel the 2,807 miles from Harrisonburg, Virginia, to take on the Ducks Saturday in the first round of the College Football Playoff. 

The story of the Dukes’ rise in the FBS has been of incredible coaches taking them to new heights, as now-No. 1 Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti took JMU up a level, and soon-to-be UCLA head coach Bob Chesney has taken them one step further. 

Chesney, who specializes in defense since his playing career as a defensive back, enters the playoffs with a 21-5 career record, a 2025 Sun Belt Conference Championship and the 2025 Sun Belt Coach of the Year honors under his belt. Defense has been a large part of the winning equation for JMU. This season, the Dukes are second in the country in yards allowed with 247.6 per game, second in rush yards allowed with 76.2 per game and No. 10 in points allowed per game with 15.8. 

The unit is led by Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year senior linebacker Trent Hendrick, who led the team this year with 96 tackles and tied for No. 4 in sacks with three. The most points that James Madison allowed since a Week 2 loss to the University of Louisville was in a 63-27 demolition of Old Dominion University. 

The Dukes also outscored their opponents by multiple possessions in all but one conference game this season, and won their last five games by a combined score of 207-77. Hendrick and the defense proved too much to handle for the Troy University Trojans in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game, which the Dukes won 31-14. The day was led by true freshman edge rusher Sahir West, who racked up 10 tackles and a whopping three sacks. 

The offense, meanwhile, has been a lot of the same story. 

James Madison would not be in the CFP without the incredible athleticism of junior quarterback and Sun Belt Player of the Year Alonza Barnett III. Barnett is a true dual-threat under center and along with junior running back Wayne Knight’s 1,263 rushing yards (No. 10 in FBS), nine touchdowns and 6.6 yards per carry (No. 15 in FBS), the Dukes are No. 5 in the country in rushing yards per game with 245.8.

Barnett added 544 yards and 14 touchdowns of his own on the ground. The 14 rushing touchdowns are tied for No. 7 in the country for quarterbacks, and it puts Barnett in some elite company in terms of running quarterbacks. Barnett added 2,533 yards and 21 touchdowns through the air while mitigating turnovers, which makes the Dukes’ passing attack one to look out for as well. 

Statistically speaking, the Ducks haven’t faced an offense or defense like this one since they lost to the No. 1 seed Indiana Hoosiers at home. In that game, Oregon allowed the Hoosiers’ defensive pressure to pile up and limit the run, while the defense failed to account for Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s running talent, especially on third downs. 

Those are the same mistakes that coach Chesney and James Madison hope to force the Ducks to make. That being said, this is a different Oregon team than it was against the Hoosiers, and being able to attack specific mishaps from that game will prove crucial for head coach Dan Lanning and his preparation. 

The game will kick off at 4:30 p.m. PST and will air on TNT, HBO Max and TruTV.