HARRISONBURG – When this Saturday’s contest wraps up, James Madison will have played three straight and four of its first six games away from home this season.

“I don’t really see it as an issue,” Dukes coach Curt Cignetti said Monday during the Colonial Athletic Association coaches teleconference. “It’s just a different routine on Friday.”

That stretch ends this weekend when JMU travels to Stony Brook for a 6 p.m. game at LaValle Stadium on Long Island.

And to this point, Madison players have handled whatever test the opposing venue provided them – excessive heat and giving up 14 points within a few plays of each other during the first quarter in the non-conference finale to win at Chattanooga, compartmentalizing Cignetti’s return to his former program this past Saturday at Elon for a victory or even managing the loud crowd at FBS West Virginia in the season opener to stay with the Mountaineers.

JMU combined to outscore Chattanooga and Elon 82 to 24 over the last two weeks.

Cignetti said he tries to keep his players and coaches on as close to the same routine as possible in the days leading up to kickoff.

“Our weekly preparation is going to be the same,” Cignetti said. “… We try to have our meetings late on Friday in the afternoon, so the guys don’t miss class. We handle all our meetings and our walkthrough here.

“Then we get on the bus or plane and we go to where we got to get to. Then we get to the hotel around 8, 8:30, give ‘em a snack, watch a hype video and put ‘em to bed. So there’s not much disruption with their class schedule, which is really important, and I don’t like sitting around a hotel too long, so we try to get in there as late as possible and get a goodnight sleep.”

He said on Saturday’s prior to kickoff the team holds a meeting and has a pregame meal at the hotel before getting to the stadium.

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- Cignetti said he thought senior center Mac Patrick played his best game of the season in the Dukes’ win over Elon. Cignetti said the entire offensive line is coming together. The unit didn’t allow a sack or tackle for loss this past weekend and paved the way for 336 rushing yards.

- Dukes redshirt freshman running back Solomon Vanhorse was named CAA Rookie of the Week for the second time this season. Vanhorse rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown, and recovered his own fumble for a second touchdown in JMU’s win at Elon this past Saturday.

- Cignetti said he thinks Stony Brook is built similarly to JMU. The Dukes and Seawolves are first and second in the league for both rushing and rushing defense.

- About Stony Brook quarterback Tyquell Fields, Cignetti said Fields is always threat because he can pull the ball and takeoff on a run. Fields had a 50-yard game-winning touchdown run to lift the Seawolves past Rhode Island this past Saturday.