The way the students swarmed the court after James Madison beat George Mason on Saturday, you would have thought the Dukes had done something momentous. Maybe they did. JMU fans have been waiting for a revival of a basketball program that once mingled among the hierarchy of the Colonial Athletic Association. They may have found optimism in first-year coach Matt Brady.

His first “go-to guy” is gone, so James Madison coach Matt Brady says the Dukes are searching for another. Senior forward Juwann James may be putting in an application. James has scored 24 points in each of JMU’s past two games. His dunk with 44 seconds left put the Dukes ahead of Drexel in Monday’s 66-60 victory. The Dukes lost all-conference guard Abdulai Jalloh (15.5 points per game last year) for the season with a partly torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder. The senior’s career likely is finished.

When Chase Reynolds was in high school, he played eight-man football. In Montana, that’s not so unusual because there aren’t large-enough enrollments at many schools for the normal 11-man game.

HARRISONBURG - James Madison coach Mickey Matthews lost his star quarterback late in the first half of Friday night’s Football Championship Subdivision semifinal game. His defense was unable to contain the well-balanced attack of fourth-seeded Montana for most of the evening. But Matthews was adamant about what cost his top-seeded Dukes most dearly in a 35-27 loss that ended their season.

Unfortunately for the top-seeded Dukes last night, Rodney Landers went down with a sprained ankle late in the first half, and with him went JMU’s chances of reaching next week’s championship game.

All of the players have changed. The game is being played in a different location. Not to mention it is a different round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. But one thing remains the same when top-seeded James Madison (12-1) meets No. 4 seed Montana (13-1) tonight in Harrisonburg in an FCS semifinal. The coaches.

For the first time in a decade, the Dudley Award winner is not a Hokie or a’Hoo. He’s a Duke.

JMU senior quarterback Rodney Landers has passed for 21 touchdowns and rushed for 16 more. For the first time in a decade, the Dudley Award winner is not a Hokie or a ‘Hoo. He’s a Duke, and he’s having one of the greatest seasons in the history of college football in this state. SLIDESHOW: 2008 Dudley Award Winner

Beware of the Grizzlies! When it comes to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, the Grizzlies of the University of Montana are a threat to claw their way to the title every season. Or at least it seems that way. For an NCAA-record 16th consecutive season, Montana (13-1) has earned a berth in the FCS (previously Division I-AA) playoffs. The Grizzlies will meet James Madison (12-1) in the semifinals tomorrow at 8 p.m. in Harrisonburg.

Question: Who are Theo Sherman, Arthur Walker, Scott Lemn, Dorian Brooks and Terrence Apted? Answer: While their names aren’t mentioned often, these are the starting offensive linemen for James Madison, and the guys who are chiefly responsible for most of the exploits of quarterback Rodney Landers. “I don’t think I’m the player I am without them,“ said Landers, who is a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the best player in Football Championship Subdivision. “They’re tremendous.

A questionable unsportsmanlike penalty for excessive celebration against Villanova played a big role in James Madison’s winning drive in yesterday’s 31-27 victory, and Wildcats’ coach Andy Talley wasn’t happy about it. Villanova took its first and only lead of the game when wide receiver turned quarterback Matthew Szczur found tight end Stephen Pimm for a 13-yard touchdown pass with 6:54 left.

So which team really has the psychological advantage in today’s Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinal between James Madison and Villanova in Harrisonburg?

Dave Stannard could have completed his degree at James Madison earlier this year and entered the business world. Instead, he stuck around for one more season as JMU’s kicker, and the Dukes were more than happy to have him.

Whooooosssssh. That was the air going out of a football in a team meeting room at Villanova University on Oct. 26, the day after the Wildcats lost to top-ranked James Madison. In an effort to get his players to forget about the excruciating 23-19 defeat—which came on a last-second, Hail Mary pass that was batted in the air by a Villanova defender in the end zone and into the arms of JMU’s Bosco Williams—Wildcats coach Andy Talley had plunged a knife into the pigskin.

The Walter Payton Award, given to the best player in Football Championship Subdivision, appears to have come down to two quarterbacks: Rodney Landers of James Madison and Armanti Edwards of Appalachian State. Running back Herb Donaldson of Western Illinois is also among the final three for the award, which is chosen by a nationwide panel of sports information directors, writers and broadcasters.