Indiana vs. James Madison Could Become the College Football Playoff’s Perfect Storyline

The College Football Playoff’s expansion to 12 teams devalued the already plummeting stock put into bowl games, but this year’s edition of the collegiate gridiron tournament just might give rise to a new postseason extravaganza: The Cignetti Bowl.

Imagine a Playoff bracket that pits Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers against his former program, James Madison. It’s not such a far-fetched idea, moving a step closer to reality in Week 11 — or, perhaps more accurately, moving a toe-tap closer.

Indiana receiver Omar Cooper Jr. provided perhaps the definitive highlight of this college football season on Saturday with his spectacular grab in the back of the end zone, hauling in a desperation heave from Fernando Mendoza as blitzing Nittany Lions bore down on him.

Around the time that Cooper’s catch completed a 27-24 Hoosiers comeback win, James Madison was putting the finishing touches on its seventh consecutive win: a 35-23 victory at Marshall.

James Madison moved to 8-1 with the win and 6-0 in the Sun Belt Conference. It’s been two years since a Cignetti-coached Dukes team, in the program’s second year of FBS membership, garnered support among the college football commentariat as a Playoff party crasher.

Aside from the NCAA-mandated eligibility rules that barred James Madison from appearing in the Playoff rankings, the pleas for the 2023 Dukes to be in the conversation proved premature.

College Gameday was on James Madison’s Harrisonburg campus the November Saturday in which Appalachian State stunned the Dukes in overtime, 26-23. Any populist groundswell to rewrite the postseason rules for James Madison’s benefit ended that Saturday, and 12 days later, Cignetti was introduced as head coach at Indiana.

Skip to November 2025, and many of the key figures in James Madison’s 11-win, 2023 season are gone — most notably Cignetti. Bob Chesney stepped in after leading Holy Cross to four consecutive FCS Playoff appearances.

Chesney may have been nearing the end of his run in Worcester when James Madison stumbled late in 2023, but the current head Duke understands the gauntlet November football creates.

“It’s one of those things, you have to be able to play those close games,” Chesney told reporters following Saturday’s win, which was one such game. James Madison did not slam the door on defending Sun Belt champion Marshall until running back Wayne Knight hauled in a short dump-off from Alonza Barnett III and erupted for a 49-yard touchdown with 2:16 remaining.

Although not as dramatic as Cooper’s catch in Happy Valley — and without the ear-piercing shrieks Gus Johnson let out on the Fox telecast — Knight’s touchdown reception had a similar effect in preserving his team’s conference championship aspirations.

As for their squads’ respective Playoff outlooks, however, Knight’s touchdown is the more significant.

With its 10th win, Indiana became all but bulletproof for a return to the tournament. The Hoosiers can’t lose both of their final two games against sub-.500 Wisconsin and Purdue teams.

Losing one, however? A résumé with 11 wins that include two over quality opponents like Oregon and Iowa negates even a bad loss.

Not that that’s likely. Even though Wisconsin stunned No. 23-ranked Washington on Saturday, neither the Badgers nor the Boilermakers are likely to unseat Indiana from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Cignetti’s teams have been exceedingly dominant against opponents they should dominate — which makes both the Week 1 near-miss at Penn State and the loss to Appalachian State two seasons ago such aberrations.

Still, Cignetti’s current team has margin for error in the Playoff chase. His former team has about as much real estate to slip up as Cooper had to drop his foot in the end zone.

James Madison presumably needs to extend its winning streak to 11 games with a 3-0 close to the regular season and a Sun Belt Championship Game win over what is increasingly looking likely to be Southern Miss — a team coached by 2024 Sun Belt title-winner Charles Huff. The Dukes also need help.

Fortunately for them, they’re getting it.

The American Athletic Conference has been a grind at the top, a trend continuing in Week 11 with Tulane beating Memphis. The Tigers are now effectively eliminated from Playoff consideration, leaving Week 12 opponents USF and Navy in a matchup that could determine the American’s postseason prospects.

James Madison can also say “mahalo” to Timmy Chang’s University of Hawai’i squad. The Rainbow Warriors set San Diego State’s Playoff hopes adrift in Week 11, opening another lane for the Dukes to claim the Group of Five conferences’ automatic berth.

Such a scenario is fate practically begging the Playoff committee to set up a contest between Indiana and James Madison. The College Football Playoff will never be March Madness by virtue of the differences between the two sports themselves.

At the very least, though, setting up the Dukes against their former coach is the exact kind of scenario the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament committee seems to live for.

And why not take the prospective Cignetti Bowl a step further, kicking it off with the Heisman Trophy presentation a week before the Playoff begins.

Indiana’s Mendoza is both a betting and media favorite heading into the final three weeks. The phrase “Heisman moment” was used with some frequency following the Penn State win, a sentiment somewhat belying Mendoza’s middling play before the final drive.

Nevertheless, he added a highlight clip sure to bolster his standing in what has been one of the less interesting Heisman races in recent memory. The pursuit of college football’s most prestigious individual award would add some spice with the addition of James Madison’s Barnett.

OK, so that suggestion’s far less likely than James Madison landing the Group of Five Playoff berth. But it does segue into an opportunity to spotlight Barnett’s outstanding play. He’s passed for 16 touchdowns on the season with only four interceptions, and against Marshall, delivered two of the prettiest scoring throws seen anywhere all season.

Off of play-action, Barnett hit Braeden Wisloski in the end zone with a 26-yard dart. The Dukes quarterback later aired out the ball to Jaylen Sanchez for an 80-yard score.

Add the passing production to dual-threat ability that’s accounted for almost 400 yards rushing with 10 touchdowns, and Barnett has an impressive résumé. He’s likely to end the regular season in the neighborhood of 2,500 yards passing and 550 rushing and fly past the 20-plus passing touchdown/10-plus rushing touchdown milestone.

A high school recruit of Cignetti’s and the rare underclassman quarterback who stays at his original program to blossom, Barnett’s outstanding play is central to a potential James Madison Playoff run.

Heisman talk may be too outlandish, but he’s the ideal star for a not-so-outlandish Cignetti Bowl come Playoff time.