JMU football (5-1, 1-1 SBC) returns from a mini bye week to play perhaps its biggest game of the year Saturday at Georgia Southern (4-2, 2-0 SBC). The Eagles currently lead the Sun Belt East, and a win over JMU would put them in ideal position to win the division.

For JMU, a win at Georgia Southern would be the team’s first in Statesboro. JMU is 0-5 all-time at Georgia Southern.

Here are a few keys to the game for the Dukes.

Manage the Environment

JMU’s players didn’t handle the road environment at ULM well in the Dukes’ 21-19 loss to the Warhawks. There were a handful of false start penalties related to stadium music, and the Dukes’ offense never seemed comfortable in the environment.

Georgia Southern’s home crowd is typically more boisterous than ULM’s, making Saturday’s game environment all the more intriguing. Can JMU, which lost to Georgia Southern in Statesboro in 2022, handle the noise and opposing fans?

The Dukes are focusing on the opposing crowd in practice this week.

“I think this week it’ll be a big emphasis,” cornerback Terrence Spence said. “I don’t think we put too much emphasis on it for ULM or as much as we should’ve.”

JMU has the better team, but Georgia Southern is a solid team playing at home. If the Eagles can take advantage of the crowd and secure a timely turnover in a win, they’ll be the team to beat in the East moving forward.

Find Consistent Offense

It’s easy to look at Georgia Southern’s season-long stats and assume the Eagles stink defensively. I’d push back on that assumption.

Georgia Southern allows a Sun Belt-worst 474.7 yards per game, but that’s largely because the Eagles played Boise State and Ole Miss this season. Those two teams rank second and third respectively in the FBS in yards per game. If you look at Georgia Southern’s two conference games, the Eagles are allowing 387 yards per game. That’s nearly 100 yards better than their nonconference numbers.

Georgia Southern is allowing 22 points per game in conference play, which ranks sixth among Sun Belt teams in league games. The Eagles are solid defensively, and they rank 36th nationally with a turnover margin of +0.5 per game. I don’t think Georgia Southern is elite defensively, but the Eagles are better than their season-long numbers suggest. This is a good team with enough talent on both sides of the ball to win the conference. Georgia Southern’s defense came up huge at the end of its comeback win over Marshall last week.

“You look at the last seven drives of that game, you’re talking about three, three-and-outs, a six-play drive that ended in a punt, and three turnovers,” Georgia Southern head coach Clay Helton said. “That gave us the ball back very quickly, and our offense finally got momentum and some playmakers really shined down the stretch.”

JMU’s offense averages a conference-best 39 points per game, but the Dukes haven’t been consistent this season. In a close call over Gardner-Webb, the group managed just 13 points. Against ULM, JMU scored only 19. Yes, scoring 70 against UNC and 63 against Ball State is impressive, but the offense has struggled at times.

The Dukes rank 3rd in special teams efficiency, 33rd in defensive efficiency, and 76th in offensive efficiency, per ESPN’s efficiency metrics. JMU can be explosive offensively, but the special teams and defense have both been more consistent units for the Dukes this fall.

Can quarterback Alonza Barnett and JMU’s offense deliver one of its strong performances in arguably its biggest game of the year? A win puts JMU in the driver’s seat in the East. A loss makes winning the division unlikely. It’s a huge game, and the offense needs to bring its best against an underrated defense.

Dial Up Pressure

The Eagles are expected to start JC French at quarterback, although he left Saturday’s win over Marshall with an injury and his backup Dexter Williams played tremendously. French has been solid this season, completing 63.1% of his passes and throwing for 1,316 yards and seven touchdowns with only two interceptions. He’s also a running threat, reaching the end zone on the ground against Boise State.

French has a 73.5 grade on Pro Football Focus with a clean pocket, but his grade dips to 44.3 when under pressure. He has a 68.5 grade when he isn’t blitzed and a 54.8 grade when he is blitzed.

Like Coastal Carolina’s Ethan Vasko, French isn’t going to win Sun Belt Player of the Tear, but he’s an above-average quarterback. JMU did well to pressure Vasko and force him into making questionable decisions with the football. Georgia Southern’s receivers are better than Coastal Carolina’s, so the Dukes might need to rely on blitzes to force throws into tight windows rather than giving French time to scan the field and hit receivers like Derwin Burgess Jr. down the field.

“We just played Coastal and they do a lot — these guys do even more offensively,” head coach Bob Chesney said of Georgia Southern’s offense. “It is impressive to watch.”

Look for JMU to bring linebackers Jacob Dobbs, Trent Hendrick, and Gannon Weathersby on blitz packages. Those three are the highest-rated pass rushers on the Dukes’ roster, per PFF. They’re good when blitzing, and they could be the difference Saturday in slowing down a high-powered offensive attack.

Photo courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications