James Madison picked up its second win of the season on Saturday, knocking off Central Connecticut State, 56-21.

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- Senior running back Khalid Abdullah ran for 113 yards and a touchdown on Saturday. Abdullah’s effort helped him surpass the 2,000-yard mark for his career.

- Junior running back Cardon Johnson ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns against Central Connecticut State. Johnson has rushed for 100 yards in back-to-back games.

- Seniors Rashard Davis and John Miller each scored on punt returns. It’s only the second time in JMU program history that the team returned two punts for touchdowns in the same game. The first time came on Sept. 17, 1983 against the University of Virginia.

- Dukes coach Mike Houston said he’s excited to be 2-0. “It’s always good to get a fast start at the beginning of the year to build momentum early on,” he said.

- The first-year coach said he very pleased with how Madison played in the first half. JMU scored 35 of its 56 points during the first 30 minutes of the contest. He also added that he was disappointed with how his players started the second half. CCSU actually outscored JMU 14-7 in the third quarter. Houston said despite the slow second-half start, the two second-half punt returns for touchdowns by Davis and Miller, “put the game out of reach.”

- Junior quarterback Bryan Schor threw for three touchdowns in the win. Houston said Schor’s ability to extend plays, helped him throw well on Saturday. Schor managed to escape pressure on his first-quarter touchdown pass to Abdullah and his second-quarter touchdown pass to senior Brandon Ravenel.

- Schor’s three touchdowns set a personal single-game high. The previous high came in 2015. He threw two touchdowns in games against Villanova and Colgate.

- Schor said it was exciting for him to throw the ball as much as he did on Saturday. The junior added that JMU called for the pass 21 times because the CCSU defense stacked the box. Houston said because JMU has run the ball so well that opposing defenses are starting to play near the line of scrimmage, so receivers like Ravenel and Domo Taylor are beginning to see single coverage from the secondary.

- On the throw to Ravenel, Schor said he actually thought about throwing the ball away, but at the last second Ravenel “made a nice move” which opened up a window for him to throw the ball.

- Senior linebacker Gage Steele dressed for the game, but did not play. Steele wasn’t full go at practice last week, so junior Brandon Hereford got the start in his place. Hereford led the defense with 12 tackles. He had two tackles for loss also. Hereford said he knew early in the week that he’d get the start.

- Typically Hereford plays the WILL linebacker spot. He’s No. 2 on the depth chart at WILL behind sophomore Dimitri Holloway, but with Steele out at MIKE backer, the coaching staff asked Hereford to slide over. Hereford said in the preseason that the staff wanted him to learn both positions, so he said the biggest adjustment to make is covering more of the field at MIKE.

- Hereford’s two tackles for loss came on screen passes by CCSU. The Glen Allen native said the coaching staff showed him the screen plays on film earlier in the week, so he was ready for it.

- CCSU coach Pete Rossamondo said JMU is a good team that will achieve a lot this season.

- Rossamondo said Schor is a good quarterback, but that his cornerbacks didn’t challenge JMU’s wide receivers well throughout the game. The Blue Devils coach added that his corners played 10 or 12 yards off the ball, which wasn’t good enough.

- On the two punt returns, Rossamondo said the punt to Davis was bad because it was angled toward the middle of the field while the coverage was aimed at the boundary. Rossamondo said his coverage was good on the punt that Miller returned, but that Miller pulled off a “Houdini Act.”