BOONE, N.C. -- James London kicked a walk-off 40-yard field goal in overtime as Appalachian State beat previously undefeated James Madison 34-31 on Thursday night to severely damage the Dukes' hopes of returning to the College Football Playoff.
With James Madison's loss, there are five unbeaten FBS teams remaining: Miami, BYU, Utah, Texas Tech and UCLA.
James Madison, who was the No. 12 seed in last year's College Football Playoff field, entered Thursday's game with an edge over Boise State for the best chance to return to the CFP from the Group of 6 teams this season, according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor.
Coupled with its narrow 27-24 victory earlier this season against Georgia Southern, a sub-.500 Sun Belt team, the Dukes' hopes of returning to the College Football Playoff took a potentially fatal blow Thursday night. JMU's strength of schedule entering the game was 131st out of 138 teams -- compared to Boise State at No. 59.
London also made field goals of 48, 27 and 36 yards for Appalachian State (5-2, 2-1 Sun Belt Conference). Malachi Singleton was 26-of-40 passing for 271 yards and two touchdowns.
JMU's Morgan Suarez missed a 47-yard attempt from the right hash that bounced off the left upright on the first possession in overtime. Suarez had tied his career long with a 47-yard field goal that gave the Dukes a 24-21 lead in the fourth quarter.
Colton Phares intercepted a pass and returned it 21 yards to the JMU 14 with 6:03 to play, and two plays later, Henry Hasselbeck's 4-yard touchdown pass to Luke Douglas gave the Mountaineers their first lead of the game at 31-24.
Camden Coleman was 22-of-39 passing for 232 yards with a touchdown and an interception and added a 6-yard rushing TD with three seconds left in regulation for JMU (7-1, 4-1).
On fourth-and-3, Coleman hit Jeremiah Harrison for a 3-yard gain that made it first-and-goal from the 6 with 12 seconds to play. On the next play, Coleman scored on a quarterback draw that made it 31-31 with three seconds left in regulation and forced OT.
JMU running back George Pettaway, who finished with 57 yards rushing and a touchdown on 15 carries, left the game because of an apparent left hamstring injury late in the fourth quarter and did not return. The North Carolina transfer had his string of four consecutive games with at least 100 yards rushing snapped.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
