Why is James Madison in the playoffs? Explaining 2025 CFP autobid despite No. 24 ranking

College football is not exactly known for its Cinderella stories, at least when it comes to competing for national championships.

For much of the sport’s history, the idea of a playoff system was a distant thought. There was no formal national championship game, followed by the BCS system, which determined which two teams would play for the title. After a decade of a four-team playoff, expansion to 12 teams opened the door for some unlikely programs to take a shot at a championship.

The biggest underdog in this year’s playoff bracket is Sun Belt champion James Madison, which qualified for the 12-team field despite being ranked No. 24 in the final College Football Playoff rankings.

Here’s a look at how James Madison managed to reach the 12-team playoff and earn a first-round date with Oregon.

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How did James Madison make the playoffs?

The College Football Playoff is made up of 12 teams, but the bracket does not simply include the 12 highest-ranked teams in the nation. Instead, the field consists of the five highest-ranked conference champions and seven at-large bids.

In the first year of the 12-team format, it was widely assumed the five automatic bids would be split between the four Power Four conferences and the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion. That is exactly how it played out, with the SEC’s Georgia, Big Ten’s Oregon, Big 12’s Arizona State, ACC’s Clemson and Mountain West’s Boise State all earning automatic bids.

That was not the case in 2025. Because the format awards automatic bids to the five highest-ranked conference champions — rather than guaranteeing spots for all four Power Four champions — James Madison was included in the playoff bracket after ranking higher than ACC champion Duke.

The Blue Devils reached the ACC Championship Game via a convoluted tiebreaker and won it, but they finished the season with five losses, including non-conference defeats to UConn and Tulane. The selection committee determined that James Madison, the Sun Belt champion, was more deserving than five-loss Duke, resulting in two Group of 5 conference winners earning playoff berths while the ACC champion was excluded.

The ACC still received a bid, however, after Miami controversially jumped Notre Dame in the final rankings and secured the No. 10 seed, ahead of Group of 5 champions Tulane and James Madison.

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James Madison football record

James Madison enters the College Football Playoff with a 12-1 record. The Dukes' only loss came in their lone game against a Power Four opponent this season, a 28-14 defeat at Louisville despite leading the Cardinals at halftime. 

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Here are some of James Madison's most notable wins on the season:

James Madison vs. Old Dominion

The Dukes torched an Old Dominion team that actually blew out Virginia Tech and held Indiana to 27 points in non-conference play. After falling behind 20-14 in the first quarter with the help of a fumbled kickoff return, James Madison outscored the Monarchs 49-7 the rest of the way and finished with more than 300 yards on the ground and through the air. Old Dominion would finish 6-2 in the conference and 9-3 overall, with no loss rivaling the type of beating James Madison laid on Oct. 18.

James Madison vs. Washington State

The biggest scare for James Madison's playoff hopes came in a non-conference late-season matchup with Washington State on Nov. 22, as the Cougars led as late as the fourth quarter. Wayne Knight ran in the go-ahead touchdown from 58 yards out well into the fourth quarter, however, and the Dukes were able to get a fourth down stop on Washington State's ensuing possession. The matchup was a battle of coaches now headed to Power Four schools, as JMU's Bob Chesney was hired by UCLA while Washington State's Jimmy Rogers was tabbed as Matt Campbell's replacement at Iowa State.

James Madison vs. Troy

Troy finished tied with Old Dominion for the second-best record in the Sun Belt after giving Clemson a scare in September. The Trojans didn't face James Madison until the Sun Belt title game, where they held a lead for all of 14 seconds before ceding it back to the Dukes. Despite facing only a three-point deficit at halftime, Troy was shut out in the second half and James Madison coasted to the conference championship it needed to remain in playoff contention.

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College Football Playoff rankings 2025

James Madison was ranked No. 24 in the final College Football Playoff rankings.

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What conference is Tulane in?

Tulane is a fellow Group of 5 program, but the Green Wave come out of the American Conference. Formerly known as the AAC, the conference was widely expected to have the highest-ranked champion among the Group of 5 because many of its top teams picked up impressive wins in non-conference play.

Tulane earned wins over Northwestern and Duke, while USF beat Florida and Memphis toppled Arkansas. While Florida and Arkansas had difficult seasons all around, the wins proved the American's best could at least compete with programs that had SEC resources.

Sun Belt football standings

East Division

West Division