JMU football (8-2, 5-2 Sun Belt) picked up a bounce-back win over Southern Miss on Thursday, winning 54-23.

Here are three takeaways from the victory.

JC Evans is the team’s QB

After a disjointed offensive effort in a loss to Troy, JMU tossed its quarterback rotation aside. The Dukes aren’t rolling with Camden Coleman and JC Evans anymore; it’s JC Evans’ show.

In his second start of the season — he started the season opener before suffering an injury — Evans completed 19 of 26 passes for 251 yards and a touchdown. He added 47 rushing yards and three scores on 13 carries.

Giving Evans the keys to the offense makes sense. He’s been the best quarterback on the team when healthy. He’s averaging 10 yards per pass attempt this fall, completing over 70% of his throws. He also has five rushing touchdowns.

While Coleman was good in Evans’ injury absence, he made costly mistakes in losses to App State and Troy. Coleman has 15 turnover-worthy plays this season, which ranks among the bottom 10 for FBS quarterbacks, according to Pro Football Focus. Evans (one turnover-worthy play) has made more consistently good decisions with the football.

It’s tough luck for Coleman, who played winning football for a long stretch of the season, even with a few risky throws into tight windows. He’d be an unquestioned starter at many other Group of Six schools. But the Dukes have a stacked quarterback room, and Evans will steer the ship the rest of the season.

Penalty woes

Another game, another 60 minutes of penalties. JMU committed nine penalties for 91 yards in Thursday’s win, with six for 60 yards in the first half.

Coach Billy Napier said after the game that he could live with a lot of Thursday’s calls because they were technical or questionable calls. He’s more accepting of a close holding penalty than an unforced false start or unsportsmanlike call.

Still, the penalties were crucial Thursday when the game was still in doubt. JMU kept Southern Miss’ first scoring drive alive with penalties, and the Dukes missed out on a fourth-down stop because of a silly roughing the passer foul from Turner Schmidt, who has otherwise been wonderful in recent weeks. Another drive stalled out because of an offensive pass interference that Corey Scott didn’t sell well — he was held a bit, which didn’t help — but the call probably goes against him 90% of the time. It’s about the only thing Scott did wrong in an elite performance.

Regardless of how much Napier is OK with a certain type of infraction, the penalties are a lingering concern. Against Troy and App State, the Dukes made far too many self-inflicted mistakes. JMU keeps shooting itself in the foot, with 29 penalties over the past three games.

When JMU gets out of its own way and plays clean football, the Dukes are the best team in the conference. A cleaner second half Thursday made that obvious.

Can the Dukes avoid committing 10 penalties against UConn? If not, that road game will be a toss-up.

The sky isn’t falling

The second half Thursday showed how talented and efficient the Dukes can be when they aren’t getting flagged every drive or turning the ball over five times. The loss to Troy was self-inflicted, and the App State game was one the Dukes would like back, too.

But through 10 games, JMU has eight wins. The Dukes have won six of those games by double digits, and the season-opening win over Liberty is one of the best G6 vs. G6 wins of the year.

Yes, JMU could be 9-1 or 10-0. It’s frustrating that the team is outside the College Football Playoff picture, given the 7-0 start. But this isn’t a full rebuilding season or a lost year. A 10-win season is within reach, and JMU gets to sit back and watch Georgia Southern and App State attempt to navigate four more conference games each. The Dukes’ only remaining conference matchup? Nov. 28 at home against Coastal Carolina. Playing in the Sun Belt title game is still within the realm of possibility because the Dukes get to spend most of November without any conference stumbling blocks.

Thursday’s win was much-needed and stabilizing. It showed that the first seven weeks weren’t a fluke. Yes, this team is good. There’s work to be done, but there’s also a lot to like about Napier’s first year in Harrisonburg.

Photo courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications