Old Dominion vs James Madison Pick & Prediction - 10/18/2025
Updated July 9, 2026
Old Dominion and James Madison have been two of the more impressive teams in the Sun Belt Conference this season. They will meet on Saturday in a game that will have a huge impact on the race to reach the Sun Belt title game. Below, you will find my analysis for this game, along with my Old Dominion vs James Madison prediction.
Spread | Moneyline | Total (O/U) |
|---|---|---|
JMU –2.5 | JMU –140, ODU +120 | 47.5 |
It’s homecoming weekend for James Madison and a chance to solidify its standing atop the East division in the Sun Belt Conference. They’re undefeated at home in conference play so far and will lean on their home crowd to help keep Old Dominion's offense out of rhythm.
Old Dominion is coming off a blowout loss to the Marshall Thundering Herd on the road in their last game. The Monarchs have a ferocious defensive front and an offense that can be dangerous when it finds a rhythm. But they’ve lost All-American linebacker Jason Henderson earlier this season, which is a huge blow for their defense.
JMU is 3-0 in Sun Belt play and Old Dominion is 1-1 in league games. A 4-0 start to conference play would be huge for the postseason aspirations of the Dukes. But with the Sun Belt East race being as tight as it is, James Madison can't afford to take this game for granted.
Old Dominion signal caller Colton Joseph has shown growth in his sophomore season. He has enough arm strength and mobility to stress defenses. Joseph leads the Monarchs in both passing and rushing yardage. He will try to pass his biggest test of the conference season so far in this contest.
JMU's starting quarterback is Alonza Barnett III. He has been more of a game manager than anything else with seven touchdown passes and just two interceptions. As long as Barnett continues to avoid turning the football over, the Dukes will be in every game they play.
This should be a reasonably close game and I think that both defenses will have the upper hand throughout. But the Dukes will be just a little bit better on both sides of the ball to secure this win. I'll lay the points with JMU as they should get their fourth straight win against Sun Belt competition on the year.
Jay Sanin is the GM and Head of Sports at ATS.io. He has been writing about sports gambling since 2013, handicapping tens of thousands of sporting events. He plays sides and totals aggressively across most sports and is more selective in player prop markets. He does his own modeling across most sports, and his family is jealous of how much time he spends on his precious spreadsheets.
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