Monday morning the Colonial Athletic Association held its weekly coaches teleconference. James Madison coach Mike Houston and Rhode Island coach Jim Fleming took questions from reporters on this weekend’s contest between the Dukes and Rams. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., on Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg.

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- With the bye week in the books, Houston said the downtime came at the right time. The first-year JMU coach said he was able to rest some of his players that needed it and after the staff returned from recruiting at various high schools up and down the east coast, those assistants were able to have Saturday off. The physical break for the players and mental break for the coaches were equally as important, he said.

- Only four weeks remain in the regular season and the CAA standings are jam-packed near the top. There are five teams within a game of first place. JMU and Stony Brook are tied for atop the league with 4-0 conference records. Houston said with how many older players he has on his roster that his team understands how competitive the league is. All season JMU has approached it on a game-to-game basis, so Houston said the team would keep the same approach going during the stretch run.

- In the last two weeks, Rhode Island has dropped back-to-back games to Stony Brook and Maine by an average of only eight points. Houston said the Rams have either had the game tied or held the lead with a chance to win both games in the fourth quarter. Even though Rhode Island is 1-7 overall and without a CAA win, Houston said his team is treating this Saturday like the most important game of the year.

- Houston said Rhode Island’s freshman quarterback Jordan Vazzano played very well in URI’s 28-21 loss to Maine. Houston added Vazzano and Rhode Island’s receivers provide a dangerous challenge.

- Rhode Island coach Jim Fleming said Vazzano continues to improve as he’s played more and more. The freshman threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns against Maine. Fleming said Vazzano, “has a big arm” but the one area he needs to see Vazzano progress in is with his accuracy.

- Fleming said JMU’s defense would provide a tough task for Vazzano and the Rams offesnive line. Fleming said JMU has, “probably as good of a defensive line as I’ve seen in this league.”

- The third-year Rams coach also said his coaching staff was still figuring out how to approach stopping JMU’s offense. “The run-game numbers are sick,” Fleming said of JMU’s attack. JMU is averaging 316 rushing yards per game.