Dukes Pull Away from Arkansas State, Move to 5-0 with 42-20 Win

Saturday, October 8

Jonesboro, Ark.

7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT

James Madison University

5-0 , 3-0

Arkansas State

2-4 , 1-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

James Madison

Arkansas St.

Dukes Pull Away from Arkansas State, Move to 5-0 with 42-20 Win

10/8/2022 11:04:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

JONESBORO, Ark. – James Madison exploded for nearly 600 yards, as Kris Thornton and Percy Agyei-Obese had career outings to lead the Dukes to a 42-20 victory at Arkansas State in Sun Belt Conference action Saturday night at Centennial Bank Stadium.

The Dukes remained unbeaten, moving to 5-0 on the year and 3-0 in Sun Belt play, while the Red Wolves fell to 2-4 and 1-2 in the team's inaugural meeting.

Todd Centeio finished 28-of-37 for 394 passing yards and four touchdowns. He's now up to 15 touchdown passes with just one interception this season.

Kris Thornton had a big night in the passing game, as he made 9 receptions for a career-high 173 receiving yards to surpass 2,000 career yards with the Dukes and move into sixth on JMU's all-time receiving list. He also finished with an incredible 115 yards after the catch.

On the ground, Percy Agyei-Obese also had a huge night, rushing for a career-high 158 yards and two touchdowns, the 34th and 35th scores of his career. He did so on 21 carries, averaging 7.5 per rush. Latrele Palmer added 34 rushing yards, as JMU compiled 204 as a team.

Other notable pass catchers included Drew Painter, who had career highs of five catches for 44 yards and a huge fourth-quarter touchdown. Solomon Vanhorse and Devin Ravenel each had multi-catch outings while scoring a touchdown, respectively. Zach Horton also scored a receiving touchdown, the first trip to the end zone of his career.

Defensively, Taurus Jones had a career-high 13 tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack, one of five JMU collected as a team. Isaac Ukwu contributed six stops with 2.5 TFL and a sack, and Jailin Walker had six tackles with a sack. James Carpenter and Jamare Edwards also each had a sack, as Edwards made a fumble recovery on Ukwu's strip sack.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After a scoreless first, Arkansas State opened the scoring with 11:09 remaining in the second on a 25-yard field goal from Dominic Zvada.
The Dukes responded with consecutive touchdown drives to end the half, as Centeio connected on a 13-yard swing pass to Vanhorse and a 10-yard strike over the middle to Ravenel to make it 14-3 at the break.
The Red Wolves cut into the lead on the first drive of the third, settling for a 37-yard field goal after Walker's third-down sack.
JMU answered right back on a four-play, 75-yard drive, as Centeio connected on a 54-yard pass to Thornton before Agyei-Obese scampered 17 yards to the pylon for his third rushing score of the year.
A-State went right back to the air as well, as Jeff Foreman made a diving catch for a 13-yard score to make it 21-13 with 6:13 left in the third.
Into the fourth, JMU got nice field position on a Josh Sarratt punt return, and three plays later, Centeio found Zach Horton on a nine-yard pass for the tight end's first career touchdown, extending JMU's lead to 28-13 with 11:39 to play.
On the ensuing drive, a pair of deep completions set up a 10-yard touchdown pass to Te'Vailance Hunt to cut JMU's lead to 28-20 with 10:21 to go.
Agyei-Obese broke off a tackle on fourth and short and took it 31 yards to the house for his second touchdown with 8:37 to play.
Less than a minute later after the Ukwu strip sack, Painter caught a 28-yard pass down the sideline to move the lead to 42-20 and cap the scoring.

GAME NOTES

JMU outgained Arkansas State, 598-267, which included 204-20 on the ground. A-State was held to just 0.7 per rush, while JMU was at 4.7 per attempt.
This was the third time JMU held an opposing rushing attack to 20 yards or fewer this season.
JMU limited A-State to just 77 first-half yards, while gaining 255. Aside from a 47-yard catch, the Red Wolves were held to just 30 total yards on the other 22 first-half snaps.
The Dukes were 6-of-12 on third down while holding the Red Wolves to 4-for-13 (30.8%), the 28th consecutive game JMU has held its opponent under 50% on third down
JMU had its third game of the season without committing a turnover and forced the only miscue of the game on a fumble recovery.
The time of possession was heavily in the Dukes' favor at 36:45-23:15.
A-State became the first team this season to score first against the Dukes on its second-quarter field goal.
Thornton went over 100 yards for the third time this season, his sixth as a JMU Duke, and for the 13th time of his career. He also moved into sixth place all-time at JMU in career receiving yards, as he now sits at 2,041.
Agyei-Obese's second score was also his 35th total touchdown, which ranks third all-time at JMU.
JMU becomes the third team to start 5-0 in its first FBS season, joining UTSA in 2012 and Florida Atlantic in 2004.

UP NEXT
JMU remains out on the road on Saturday, Oct. 15 when it travels to Statesboro, Ga., to face Georgia Southern. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at Allen E. Paulson Stadium and will be streamed on ESPN+.