HARRISONBURG – Aaron Stinnie said it didn’t take long for him to “buy in.”

He understood new coach Mike Houston was changing the philosophy of how the James Madison offensive line would play moving forward.

“You just have to take it by the horns,” said Stinnie, JMU’s starting left tackle. “When he came in, everyone came together and said if he wants us playing this way instead of what we were doing last year, let’s go ahead and do what he wants us to do.”

From the moment Houston arrived in Harrisonburg in January, he tried to get his offensive front to think differently, which is why even during the regular season, the former Citadel coach carves out a practice period every Tuesday for the position group to focus on its fundamentals. During the period, the offensive line works against a five-man sled.

Occasionally, Houston and offensive line coach Jamal Powell stand on top of the sled to encourage the unit and make sure it keeps its leverage while driving the steel opponent.

“They don’t necessarily love the sled that I put them on every week,” Houston said with a grin. “But that’s how we’ll start practice, to reinforce keeping that pad level down and being aggressive while coming off the ball.”

And so far, no one on the offensive line can argue with the results of the change in mentality.

JMU rushed for 498 yards in its season opener against Morehead State. The five linemen also paved the way for a school-record 10 rushing touchdowns.

“It goes back to the philosophy of what kind of offense do we want to be,” Houston said.

“Last year it was a very successful offense that put up huge numbers. They were ... [an] extremely fast-paced offense that wanted to catch the defense off guard and not let it get set. They were a side-to-side team. It was what I would refer to as a finesse offense and that’s certainly not what we want to be. We are going to be a no-huddle spread offense that is physical at the point of contact, especially when we’re running the football.”

The change is noticeable, at least according to the coach of Madison’s next opponent, Central Connecticut State.

Third-year Blue Devils coach Pete Rossomando said when he started to watch the film of the Dukes’ 80-7 win over Morehead State, he saw an immediate difference in the JMU offensive line compared to the last time he watched the team on tape.

“I was a lot more impressed with their offensive line,” Rossomando said. “The last time we saw them was two years ago against Stony Brook and I thought their line was OK then, but that the quarterback [Vad Lee] made up for the minuses. The line is much improved right now. They are really playing well.”

Kickoff between the two teams is set for 4 p.m. Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium.

Rossomando’s squad will provide a tougher test to JMU’s offensive line than Morehead State. Central Connecticut State is bigger and has more experience.

Despite falling 24-10 to Lafayette in its season opener, Central Connecticut State yielded only 22 rushing yards behind a solid 3-4 front. The Blue Devils have the No. 4 ranked rushing defense in all of FCS football after Week 1.

“If I had to pick a strength of our defense, the front would be it,” Rossomando said.

His senior defensive end, Asia Bolling, was a first-team All-Northeast Conference selection in 2015 and had nine total tackles in the Blue Devils’ loss to Lafayette. Rossomando called sophomore nose guard Chris Tinkham a “pretty good player” and junior middle linebacker Randall Laguerre a “big run-stopping athlete.”

Stinnie will likely have to block Bolling one-on-one, which the Charlottesville native said won’t even be his biggest challenge of the afternoon.

“It’s more of a mental game when you face an odd front,” Stinnie said. “We’re going to have to create different calls and different reads.”