NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Alonza Barnett III threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Yamir Knight to give James Madison the lead for good and ran for TDs of 50 and 8 yards Saturday to help the Dukes beat Old Dominion 35-32.
Barnett was 18-of-27 passing for 192 yards and added 70 yards rushing on 13 carries. George Pettaway ran 19 times for 82 yards and Wayne Knight had 74 yards rushing, including an 2-yard touchdown that capped a eight-play, 70-yard opening drive for JMU.
James Madison (8-2, 4-2 Sun Belt) is tied with Georgia Southern, which beat the Dukes 28-14 on Oct. 19, a game behind Marshall in the East Division. JMU plays the first-place Thundering Herd in the regular season finale on Nov. 30.
After three consecutive carries of 6, 51 and 8 yards by Aaron Young, quarterback Colton Joseph ran for a 10-yard touchdown with 2:13 left in the second quarter. The Dukes went three-and-out and Joseph connected with Isiah Paige for a 43-yard gain to set up a 23-yard field goal by Ethan Sanchez as time expired that gave Old Dominion (4-6, 3-3) a 24-21 halftime lead.
Knight raced past the defense, caught a long pass from Barnett in stride at about the 35 and went untouched for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:38 remaining in the third quarter and Barnett ran it in from the 8 to give JMU a 35-24 lead with 2:30 to play.
The Monarchs responded with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that made it a three-point game after Joseph ran for a 3-yard touchdown and then hit Pat Conroy for the 2-point conversion with 58 seconds left but Logan Kyle recovered the onside kick for JMU.
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