Weber State vs James Madison Prediction 8/30/2025 Today’s College Football Picks

The Weber State Wildcats and the James Madison Dukes meet Saturday in college football action from Bridgeforth Stadium. Here’s a Weber State vs James Madison prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Weber State vs James Madison pick. We will examine:

The Weber State Wildcats recent form and player performance

The James Madison Dukes recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Weber State Wildcats

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the James Madison Dukes

Recent betting trends in games played between Weber State and James Madison

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Weber State vs James Madison game

Weber State Wildcats Betting Preview

Weber State had a pretty forgettable campaign in 2024. The Wildcats went just 4-8 overall and 3-5 in Big Sky Conference games, which left them pretty far down the standings. Weber State finished ahead of only Portland State, Cal Poly, Sacramento State and Northern Colorado. Following a 3-3 start that featured a pretty nice win over Montana, Weber State lost five straight games to Northern Colorado, Sacramento State, Northern Arizona, Idaho State and Idaho before a season-ending win over Cal Poly on November 23.

Head coach Mickey Mental will be back on the job in 2025, also handling play-calling duties on offense. Defensive coordinator Joe Dale is back for his fifth season in the role as well. That means Weber State will have some much-needed consistency on their side. Trouble is, the schedule doesn’t look to favorable for the Wildcats. The first three games are on the road, including a September 6 matchup with Arizona. Four home games come over the next six outings, then a couple more road matchups (one at Montana State) and a home finish versus Northern Arizona.

James Madison Dukes Betting Preview

Over on the James Madison side, they didn’t exactly perform all that well in the conference last season but did finish on a high note. The Dukes were initially picked to land in second place among the East Division behind Appalachian State in the preseason media poll. James Madison ended up in third behind Marshall and Georgia Southern, going 9-4 overall and 4-4 in Sun Belt matchups. A couple of late-season losses to App State and Marshall finished off the regular season, but the Dukes were able to bag a Boca Raton Bowl berth where they beat Western Kentucky 27-17 on December 18.

Now that Bob Chesney has a full year of head coaching experience under his belt, this season should go pretty smoothly overall. Chesney will have offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy back at his side, but we’ll have a new defensive coordinator on the sidelines in Colin Hitschler. The bad news is that the Dukes lost a ton of players to outgoing transfer, including OL Tyshawn Wyatt and WR Cam Ross (Virginia) as well as OT Cameron Jones (Kentucky) and CB Tyjai Hopper (Oregon State). In their places are a slew of incoming names, headlined by ex-UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka.

Why the James Madison Dukes will win

• James Madison has won 15 of its last 17 games in Virginia.
• James Madison has covered the spread in each of its last three games against non-conference opponents.

Total Points Facts

• Seven of James Madison’s last nine games have gone UNDER the total points line.

Weber State vs James Madison Prediction

I’m sticking with the Dukes. Even with all the turnover in the offseason, James Madison still has quite a bit of hype and expectation behind them. The team was picked to finish first in the East Division during the preseason media poll this year, by quite a large margin to boot. The team has plenty of talent on paper, and with leading rusher George Pettaway back in the fold the offense should get a nice kick in the pants with the ground game. The line’s not exactly deep but it’s solid, and there are a lot of new names in the receiving corps. That said, provided everyone can gel quickly JMU should be off and running. Weber State should serve as a relatively soft landing for the opener, and I like the Dukes to thrive here.