HARRISONBURG – James Madison acted like it had been there before.

“On the sidelines nobody panicked during the fourth quarter,” second-year JMU coach Mike Houston said.

The top-ranked Dukes could have on Saturday against rival Richmond.

For the first time since its 2016 national semifinal win at North Dakota State, JMU didn’t take a lead into the fourth quarter. The Dukes and Spiders were knotted at 10.

It took until the waning seconds for JMU to secure its 20-13 victory when junior running back Trai Sharp scored on a 7-yard touchdown run with less than a minute to play.

“I didn’t hear anybody griping at each other or anything like that throughout the day,” Houston said. “It was just determination every time we went back on the field.”

Houston said before the team’s final scoring drive he didn’t pressure his players either.

“I went over and told [senior quarterback] Bryan [Schor] to have fun and I said the same thing to the o-line,” Houston said. “The big thing is that I don’t want them uptight in situations like that.”

They weren’t.

The Dukes used 10 plays to chew more than three minutes off the clock and capture the win.

“That’s what national champions do,” Richmond coach Russ Huesman said. “They find a way to win those games.”

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- Before the final drive, Schor said he told the offensive line that the game was on their shoulders.

- JMU rushed for only 51 yards as a team before the final five minutes. The Dukes netted 62 rushing yards on the final drive led by Sharp’s 54 rushing yards. Schor said, “That last drive was special by our o-line.”

- Sharp said his mindset on the final series was simple, “Not to be denied.”

- With the win, JMU clinched at least a share of the CAA championship for a third-straight season. The Dukes can win it outright for a second-consecutive year with a win next week at Elon.

- JMU’s Division I-best 22-game winning streak also matches the fourth-longest winning streak in FCS history. Harvard (2013-15) won 22 in a row.

- Richmond quarterback Kyle Lauletta said he took too many sacks in JMU territory that inevitably cost the Spiders points. JMU sacked Lauletta four times. It was the fifth-straight game JMU had at least four sacks.

- Lauletta’s second-quarter, 18-yard pass to Gordon Collins put Lauletta over the 10,000-yard passing mark for his career.

- Lauletta was intercepted once, by JMU senior safety Jordan Brown early in the third quarter. Brown said he read Lauletta and had an opportunity to make a play on the ball.

- JMU’s defense still hasn’t yielded more than 14 points in a game all season.

- NFL scouts from the Chiefs, Packers and Steelers were in attendance.