HARRISONBURG — Of its two potential second-round opponents, James Madison is waiting on one it collectively feels can make a run to Frisco and another that has rallied from an 0-5 start to reach the postseason.

Colonial Athletic Association runner-up Stony Brook (9-2, 7-1 CAA) will host Patriot League champion Lehigh (5-6, 5-1 PL) on Long Island in the first round of the FCS Playoffs on Saturday.

The winner reserves a trip to Harrisonburg to face the top-seeded Dukes (11-0, 8-0 CAA) on Dec. 2.

JMU used Monday and Tuesday to get a jump on Stony Brook and then Wednesday to work ahead on Lehigh before leaving for Thanksgiving.

“I’m not real excited about [Stony Brook] being on our side of the bracket because you watch them and they are a threat to win the national championship,” second-year JMU coach Mike Houston said.

The Dukes and Seawolves didn’t play in the regular season, but common CAA opponents gave Houston and his team plenty of looks at Stony Brook throughout the year.

“They’re a big, strong football team and they always have big, strong physical guys,” JMU senior defensive end Andrew Ankrah said.

JMU and Stony Brook last met in the 2015 regular season at Bridgeforth Stadium when the Dukes won 38-20. Ankrah had two sacks in that contest.

“You look at the offensive line across the board, they’re big and they’ll get their pads on you to try to move you off the ball,” Ankrah said. “They have some physical tight ends and good running backs, so nothing like we haven’t seen before in our conference and it’s something we’ll be prepared for.

“We’ve been focusing on Stony Brook pretty heavily just because they’re a really good team and coach [Houston] said [Tuesday] that they’re one of the contenders for the national title. So we’ve been focusing on them since the beginning of the week, but [Wednesday] we’ll work some Lehigh and Lehigh can win the game because you never know what could happen.”

Stony Brook coach Chuck Priore said the Seawolves defense, which ranks fourth in the CAA for total defense (316.9 yards per game) and third for rushing defense (99.9 yards per game), would be challenged.

The Mountain Hawks feature an electric offense that is fifth-best nationally for total offense (476.8 yard per game), having scored at least 35 points in seven games this year.

Lehigh junior running back Dom Bragalone is an All-American candidate as he leads FCS with 18 rushing touchdowns and is second nationally with 1,313 rushing yards for the year.

Junior quarterback Brad Mayes has thrown for 28 scores.

“As explosive of an offense as we’ll see all year,” Priore said. “They have big receivers and a quarterback who’s dynamic and a great running back. They are really, really skilled offensively.

“I don’t think anyone wants to play them.”

JMU last faced Lehigh in September of 2015, a 55-17 win for the Dukes as running backs Khalid Abdullah and Cardon Johnson each scored a pair of rushing touchdowns.

If Stony Brook’s defense can’t hold up, Priore will turn to junior quarterback Joe Carbone to keep pace with Lehigh.

After a dreadful 2016 season in which Carbone, while battling a shoulder injury, threw only three touchdowns compared to 12 interceptions, he’s bounced back to throw 20 touchdowns to only three interceptions this year.

“He plays the next play as well as anyone I’ve seen in a long time,” Priore said. “He does not let anything bother him and that was not his strength last year. He was worried about what happened the play before.

“We’re really proud of where he is.”

Kickoff between Lehigh and Stony Brook is set for 2 p.m. Saturday and can be seen on ESPN3.

“If we’re fortunate enough and lucky enough to win this Saturday then the attention to detail will be on JMU,” Priore said. “They’ll be the next step in the process.”