James Madison is in the College Football Playoff because it earned one of the automatic bids reserved for conference champions in the new 12‑team format, and that bid became available to a Group of Five champion.

CFP format and auto bids

The 12‑team CFP guarantees spots to the five highest‑ranked conference champions, which do not have to be from the “power” leagues. When an ACC tiebreaker and results elsewhere removed the ACC champion from taking one of those guaranteed champion slots, that spot effectively opened for another league winner.

What JMU did on the field

James Madison finished 12–1, won the Sun Belt championship by beating Troy, and entered the final rankings as a highly ranked Group of Five champion. Their strong record, conference title, and position in human polls and computer metrics made them the committee’s choice for that fifth conference‑champion place.

Help from other results

Duke’s upset win in the ACC title game over a higher‑ranked Virginia team meant the ACC champion was not among the top five champions by ranking, which freed up the automatic bid that JMU then claimed. In short, JMU’s Sun Belt title plus that ACC chaos is why the Dukes ended up in the playoff bracket.