HARRISONBURG — Sandwiched between his starting quarterback and his senior linebacker, Richmond coach Danny Rocco sat at the podium at Robins Stadium disappointed for his team following the Spiders’ 47-43 loss to James Madison on Saturday.

In a battle of two teams vying for a Colonial Athletic Association title and a top seed for the FCS playoffs, JMU managed to be a few punches better in the back-and-forth fight.

And as upset as he was for his players, Rocco had an appreciation for what Madison had accomplished not only Saturday, but throughout the fall.

“Winning at Maine, winning at New Hampshire and winning at Richmond is not an easy task,” Rocco said. “They’re firing on all cylinders.”

JMU’s win in Richmond moved the Dukes to 3-0 in league road games. The road victories have provided JMU a direct path toward its goal of winning an outright CAA championship. Maine, New Hampshire and Richmond are all within two games of JMU in the conference standings.

In September, when JMU traveled to Maine to open CAA play, it squeaked by the Black Bears, 31-20. Maine rattled off five straight wins after losing to JMU.

New Hampshire is only one game behind JMU and before the two teams met in October, the Wildcats entered their matchup with the Dukes having won 49 of their last 55 home games.

Rocco’s squad could have muddled the title picture with a win over the weekend because a loss for JMU on Saturday would have created a four-way tie for first place. Instead, Richmond now has no shot of an outright title. The Spiders trail JMU by two games with two weeks left.

JMU coach Mike Houston said there a few reasons for his team’s road success.

“I think one is that we’ve kept our schedule pretty similar, both home and away,” Houston said. “Our Fridays and Saturdays don’t change much.”

The only difference between a Friday before a home game and Friday prior to an away game is the travel, he said.

“Then, I think for the most part we have an older team,” Houston said. “Most of these guys played last year, so you don’t have a bunch of rookies. That certainly helps with the travel.”

JMU starts all juniors and seniors on offense and eight juniors or seniors on defense.

The last part of the equation is a shift in attitude, according to the first-year coach.

“The way we’ve attempted to build this team since back in January to be a physical, hard-nosed football team because those are the teams that win on the road,” Houston said. “Those are the teams that win late in the season. I think our identity has changed a lot from last year and that certainly helped in those road venues.”

To remain in control of its CAA championship aspirations, JMU must pass one final road test — this Saturday at Villanova.

Villanova has one CAA loss and with a win, could send the unblemished Dukes into a tie for first place. The Wildcats boast the league’s top total defense, rushing defense and scoring defense.

Houston said his players wouldn’t have any problem moving on from the emotional road win at Richmond to concentrating on preparation for the Wildcats.

“We’re really late into the season, so this is a huge game for our team,” Houston said. “There was certainly a lot of emotion in that game the other night. You had two top-10 teams in a very tough road venue.

“That being said, it’s onto the next opponent and that’s been our motto all year. I think the players have done a great job of that and I think they’ll understand that whole deal as soon as we get back on it Tuesday and dial in on a very good Villanova team.”