HARRISONBURG — Through the first half of its conference schedule, James Madison has used a stingy defense to stifle opponents.

The Dukes haven’t given up more than 14 points in a game this season and have held three of their first four Colonial Athletic Association foes to 10 points or fewer. But today, that defense will be given a tougher test as No. 17 New Hampshire (5-2, 3-1 CAA) visits top-ranked JMU (7-0, 4-0 CAA) for a rematch of last year’s second-round FCS playoff contest.

Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. at Bridgeforth Stadium.

A win for JMU would push its longest active winning streak in Division I to 20 straight victories, which would include three wins over UNH. JMU won both the regular-season matchup and the postseason meeting with the Wildcats last year.

“This is probably going to be the biggest task we’ve had defensively, at least since East Carolina,” JMU coach Mike Houston said. “But maybe overall this year.”

UNH boasts the league’s third-best scoring offense (29.9 points per game), third-best total offense (422.6 yards per game) and second-best passing offense (283.7 yards per game) led by junior quarterback Trevor Knight and junior wide receiver Neil O’Connor. The quarterback-receiver combination has connected nine times for touchdowns.

“I think some of it goes back to last year as I started to play more and get in the game,” O’Connor said. “I had tons of reps with Trevor and we were able to get our chemistry down.”

Over the last month, though, opposing quarterbacks haven’t fared well versus JMU’s productive pass rush. In their four league games, the Dukes registered at least three sacks. Two Saturdays ago against Villanova, and this past Saturday at William & Mary, JMU notched six sacks in each contest, which led to repeated turnovers for both the Wildcats and the Tribe.

Villanova committed three turnovers. William & Mary gave the ball away six times leading to 33 points off those miscues for JMU.

Houston and his staff are hoping for more of the same.

“Every game is a little different because every quarterback is a little different,” JMU defensive coordinator Bob Trott said. “Last week we were able to cover [William & Mary] and sit on the passes pretty well, so they didn’t have very many open receivers to throw to.

“The challenge with New Hampshire is that they do a lot of stuff. They challenge you with assignments and getting everything right. Throw in a quarterback that’s hard to tackle and that can move around like [JMU quarterback] Bryan Schor does, it’s an extra weapon for them. So it’s a tough challenge.”

What UNH wants to do is maximize one-on-one matchups for Knight by using pre-snap shifts and adjustments to get its receivers in the best possible situations.

UNH’s offensive system can be traced back to Chip Kelly, formerly of the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles and Oregon, who used to work for 19th-year Wildcats coach Sean McDonnell.

“You have to pick and choose [coverage] and that’s what you’ve seen the last two weeks,” Trott said. “William & Mary had a plan for our man coverage, so sometimes we played man and sometimes we didn’t. Sometimes we disguised it and if you can mix it up, sometimes you can confuse the offense, too.

“But it still comes down to that if we can win first and second down, and get them in third-and-long, the odds are in our favor.”

Trott’s defense has scored a touchdown in each of the past three games. Junior cornerback Jimmy Moreland had a 38-yard interception return for a score at William & Mary. Senior linebacker Brandon Hereford had a 5-yard interception return for a score against Villanova and senior defensive end Andrew Ankrah had a 23-yard scoop-and-score at Delaware.

When JMU has the ball, Houston and company will ask Schor to exploit UNH’s defense like he did last season. In the two games against UNH, Schor combined to throw for 635 yards and nine touchdowns.

Schor is one touchdown throw shy of setting the JMU school record for career touchdown passes.

“I think they’re going to come out here and be aggressive,” JMU senior wide receiver John Miller said. “We beat ‘em up there and then they came down and we beat ‘em in the playoffs, so they’re going to come out and be really aggressive.”