Barnett and Ellis connect for 3 touchdowns and James Madison defeats Louisiana 24-14

HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) — Alonza Barnett III threw three touchdown passes to Landon Ellis and James Madison defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 24-14 on Saturday.

The Dukes (5-1, 3-0) joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2022 and have compiled a 20-7 record in conference games. This was the first meeting between the Dukes and Ragin’ Cajuns.

Barnett’s 62-yard touchdown pass to Ellis on the first play of the third quarter tied the score at 14 and a 4-yard pass to Ellis made it 21-14 in the fourth quarter. Morgan Suarez added a 24-yard field goal for the final margin.

Lunch Winfield’s two first-half touchdown passes — 5 yards to Brock Chappell and 69 yards to Dale Martin — led the Ragin’ Cajuns to a 14-7 halftime lead.

Barnett completed 26 of 40 passes for 290 yards and was intercepted once. Ellis had 120 receiving yards on six catches. Wayne Knight rushed for 111 yards.

Winfield was 14-for-28 passing for 243 yards. Robert Williams had 134 yards receiving on five receptions for the Ragin’ Cajuns (2-4, 1-1).

Winfield was making his first career start after coming off the bench to lead ULL’s 54-51 double-overtime victory over Marshall in its last game two weeks ago.

Winfield threw two touchdown passes and ran for three more scores to lead a comeback from a 17-point deficit against the Thundering Herd.