Story by Matthew Heiserman

After a dominant 45-10 victory over Weber State this past Saturday, James Madison is set to face off against the Louisville Cardinals this Friday, in one of their biggest matchups of this season. This contest takes place at 7 p.m. at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium, and can be watched live on ESPN2.

How to watch

Kickoff time: 7 p.m. 

TV: ESPN2, Anish Shrof (play-by-play), Andre Ware (analyst), and Paul Carcaterra (sideline reporter) will be on the call. 

Weather: Friday’s high is 86 degrees — the temperature should be closer to 80 degrees at kickoff. Unfortunately, there’s about a 40% chance of thunderstorms from 6-8 p.m. suggesting there’s at least a possibility of a weather delay. 

Opponent preview: Louisville Cardinals

Record: 1-0

Coach: Jeff Brohm, 86-52 career record, 20-8 at Louisville

Top Players:

Isaac Brown, RB: Brown, who might be a top five running back in all of college football this season, really starred during the Cardinals’ season opener against Eastern Kentucky, amassing six carries for 126 yards and two touchdowns, averaging an astonishing 21 yards per attempt.

Miller Moss, QB: Moss, a quarterback transfer from USC, is currently in his final year of eligibility at the college level. After spending four seasons with the Trojans, Moss had his debut with the Cardinals this past Saturday, completing 68% of his passes for 223 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions in a win over the Colonels.

Chris Bell, WR: Bell emerged as Moss’ top target last week, hauling in five receptions for 63 receiving yards. Bell finished last season extremely strong, averaging 89 receiving yards per game during his last four games, and should continue to make things happen for the Cardinals offense going forward.

Key to the game: Stopping the run

Both James Madison and Louisville have been great at stopping the run in recent years. In 2023, both teams placed top 10 in fewest rushing yards allowed per game. While both squads saw more struggles against the run last season, their goal seems to be getting back to that 2023 form, with the Cardinals and Dukes both allowing under 75 rushing yards in their season openers.

These are also two teams with very solid run games. Brown leads the way for Louisville, while George Pettaway and Wayne Knight both saw ample opportunity on Saturday for JMU, each rushing for 89 yards or more. The Dukes also had three different quarterbacks find the endzone with their legs; Matthew Sluka, Alonza Barnett III, and JC Evans.

Whichever team does a better job at containing their opponents run game should have the big advantage in this matchup.

Score prediction

This game could definitely be closer than many people expect, as long as JMU can find success running the ball, and Barnett makes careful decisions in the air. That said, this is still one of the Dukes’ tougher opponents in 2025, and a win in this game is likely a big stretch for Bob Chesney’s group.

While an upset is more than possible, I have the Cardinals taking this one 38-21, handing JMU their first loss of the year, putting their record at 1-1.

The pick: Louisville 38, JMU 21

Photo courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications