Football Adds FBS Game to 2015 Schedule at SMU on Sept. 26

HARRISONBURG, Virginia – The James Madison University football team will take on Southern Methodist University of the American Athletic Conference, Sat., Sept. 26 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas, Director of Athletics Jeff Bourne announced today.

"We are very excited about this chance for our football program to play Southern Methodist University," Bourne said. "Playing SMU is consistent with our approach to have a top-level game of this type every year on the schedule. It is a great opportunity for our fans to travel to the southwest and reinforces our focus on increasing revenues."

To accommodate this game, the Liberty road contest, originally scheduled for September 26, will be moved to a later season.

"I want to specifically thank Athletics Director Jeff Barber and his staff at Liberty for working with us on this change," Bourne added. "We look forward to finding a mutually-agreeable date in the future to place this game back on our respective schedules."

"The opportunity to have an FBS opponent on our schedule is always a goal for our football program at James Madison," Head Coach Everett Withers said. "In years when we have a 12-game schedule, we would like to have two such games. The national exposure for our university and football program is paramount to the growth of the JMU brand. Playing SMU in Dallas gives our Texas alumni a chance to experience a JMU football game in their own backyard. We are excited about the addition of SMU to our 2015 schedule."

This will be the first-ever meeting between the Dukes and Mustangs, but not the first time that JMU has played a current member of the AAC. Navy joins the AAC this year, a team that Madison has a 2-1 all-time lead over with all three games against the Midshipmen as a I-A team. Additionally, UConn was previously in I-AA/FCS football and JMU held a 4-1 advantage in five meetings from 1993-99 over the Huskies. The Dukes also split a pair of games with South Florida, then also a member of I-AA, in 1999 and 2000.

Coming off a 9-4 mark and a berth in the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs in Withers' first season at the helm, the Dukes open the 2015 season at Bridgeforth Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 5, hosting Morehead State. Season tickets for the 2015 slate are available for purchase now and can be ordered online at JMUSports.com/tickets or by contacting the JMU Ticket Office at 540-568-DUKE (3853). A full stadium reseating is scheduled for this June and will allow season ticket holders to select their seat location based on their Duke Club Priority.

2015 JMU Football Schedule

Day	Date	Opponent	Time	Series Record	Last Meeting
Sat.	Sept. 5	Morehead State	TBA	JMU leads 5-2	2010 - at JMU 48, MSU 7
Sat.	Sept. 12	Lehigh	TBA	JMU leads 3-0	2014 - JMU 31, at LU 28
Sat.	Sept. 19	Albany*	TBA	JMU leads 2-0	2014 - JMU 31, at UA 28
Sat.	Sept. 26	at SMU	TBA	First Meeting	N/A
Sat.	Oct. 3	Stony Brook* (Family Weekend)	TBA	Series tied 1-1	2014 - JMU 27, at SBU 24
Sat.	Oct. 10	at Towson*	TBA	JMU leads 19-6-1	2014 - at JMU 62, TU 7
Sat.	Oct. 17	at Elon*	TBA	JMU leads 2-0	2001 - at JMU 42, EU 21
Sat.	Oct. 24	Richmond* (Homecoming)	TBA	UR leads 17-15	2014 - JMU 55, at UR 20
Sat.	Oct. 31	at William & Mary*	TBA	JMU leads 21-16	2014 - at JMU 31, W&M 24
Sat.	Nov. 7	OPEN
Sat.	Nov. 14	at Delaware*	TBA	UD leads 14-8	2014 - UD 30, at JMU 23 (ot)
Sat.	Nov. 21	Villanova*	TBA	Series tied 11-11	2014 - at VU 49, JMU 31

Calendar