HARRISONBURG – Coaches preach about their offense staying on schedule during a game.

As long as the unit can gain three- or four-yard chunks every play, picking up a first down isn’t too difficult. When that rhythm is thrown off kilter, it can have a domino effect on an offense.

On Saturday, James Madison set out to disrupt Villanova’s offensive cadence, and force the Wildcats’ freshman quarterback to beat it with his arm. In order to put the pressure on Villanova’s passing game, the Dukes needed to have success on first and second down, and that’s exactly what JMU did in its 30-8 win at Bridgeforth Stadium.

Villanova faced third down 17 times against JMU, but only had less than four yards to go once – the final play of the game when the Wildcats were stuffed on a third-and-1. In the first half, the Wildcats were forced to gain at least seven yards on all seven third-down attempts.

Excluding the Wildcats’ methodical 18-play, 79-yard scoring drive, the Dukes limited Villanova to less than two yards per play, a credit to their success on the early downs.

“That’s what we talked about all week and what we preached to our kids was doing a good job on first and second down and getting us into third and managables from a defensive standpoint,” second-year JMU football coach Mike Houston said. “We felt like if we stop the run and put the game on the quarterback that we could have some success.”

Once the Wildcats were placed in obvious passing situations, the Dukes let their aggressive pass rush loose on Villanova’s backfield. JMU allowed just five of Villanova’s 19 passing attempts to be completed, intercepting two Wildcats’ tosses and sacking the quarterback six times.

Senior linebacker Kyre Hawkins, who finished with 10 tackles and two sacks, said JMU’s success on first and second down helped make Villanova more predictable.

“When we have them in long distances, it makes the game more one-dimensional,” Hawkins said. “We would like to expect that they’re going to do something specific to what we anticipated in our gameplan. At the same time, we’re just playing the game and everything is going in the way that we’ve practiced. We’ve prepared for this and we just go out and execute in the way that we’ve practiced it.”

Putting the onus on a freshman quarterback was not what Villanova coach Mark Ferrante wanted to happen against the top-ranked Dukes in a raucous road environment. After redshirt freshman Joe Schetelich was just 3-of-12 for 15 yards and an interception in the first half, he inserted true freshman Kyle McCloskey into the lineup.

But McCloskey fared no better against the Dukes defense and was 2-of-7 for 15 yards and an interception. McCloskey said those third-and-long situations were caused somewhat by Villanova’s self-inflicted mistakes and that put more pressure on the Wildcats to execute in situations where most of the players on the field know what is about to occur.

“Once they got us in those positions, it limits the play calling obviously,” McCloskey said. “I don’t think there was something specific [JMU did], but there were a couple of times with the crowd noise we had false starts, but that’s on me, I need to be louder at the line of scrimmage.”

Excluding the Wildcats’ methodical 18-play, 79-yard scoring drive, the Dukes limited Villanova to less than two yards per play, a credit to the discipline the defensive line showed in containing the Wildcats’ rushing attack. Senior defensive end Andrew Ankrah said the defense focused on slowing Villanova’s quarterbacks in particular on the ground, and it showed early in the game.

The Dukes did not allow the Wildcats to establish its read-option plays and Villanova began to move away from those calls as the half wore on. McCloskey was able to exploit some open space on Villanova’s scoring drive, but Houston said a quick pep talk on the sideline was all it took for JMU to settle down again.

Hawkins credited the defense’s success to the confidence the players have in one another.

“When you go out there and you have guys like [defensive tackle Simeyon Robinson] and Andrew in front of you, you feel real confident when you go out there and play,” Hawkins said. “You don’t have to worry about making mistakes or missing tackles because you have your teammates running right behind you to back you up.”