The James Madison Dukes, who were 7-0 and talked about as a possible College Football Playoff team not long ago, have dropped two consecutive games, and fans are now questioning the hire of head coach Billy Napier. Both losses came in overtime against Appalachian State and Troy, two games in which the Dukes were healthy favorites and built sizable first-half leads before fading after halftime.
The pattern is not new. James Madison has been outscored in the final 30-plus minutes in four of its eight games against FBS opponents this season. For a team that had been running up the scoreboard, the second-half collapses have shifted the mood in Harrisonburg quickly, and the College Football Playoff conversation has effectively ended for now.
Much of the criticism traces back to Napier's time at Florida, where he was head coach before arriving in Virginia. Former Florida supporters spent the offseason warning Dukes fans about Napier's approach to coaching, and the criticism centered on the same issues now appearing at James Madison: poor clock management, stagnant second-half offenses and questionable play calling in high-leverage moments. Those supporters argue that these problems are not a sudden development but a consistent part of how Napier coaches.
Napier had addressed some of those concerns after leaving Florida. He spoke publicly about looking in the mirror and taking ownership of how things unraveled in Gainesville, and he hired an offensive coordinator, a move critics had long urged him to make during his four years with the Gators. The national media also took notice of the James Madison start, with some commentators wondering whether Florida had been a difficult situation for even strong coaches.
Critics point to Napier's career history to argue that his style leaves little room for error. At Louisiana, his final season as head coach of the Ragin' Cajuns included the phrase "scared money don't make money," which drew attention during the 2021 hiring cycle. At Florida, many games came down to a single score in the fourth quarter, even when the Gators were dominating. Critics cite a 29-21 upset of then-No. 10 Texas as an example, saying Florida had the Longhorns beaten on both lines of scrimmage before playing conservatively in the second half and allowing Texas a chance to tie late.
The comparison that stings most for Dukes fans involves Napier's predecessors. Curt Cignetti and Bob Chesney, who coached James Madison before him, are widely regarded as analytically driven and efficient coaches whose teams were well prepared and rarely squandered leads. Fans now face a sharp contrast between that approach and the recent results under Napier. Whether James Madison can recover its season from here is still unresolved, but the two overtime losses have made the earlier warnings harder to dismiss.