HARRISONBURG — When he was asked if it was more special, Taylor Reynolds couldn’t help but grin.

“Just a little bit,” he said.

The senior cornerback made four tackles and recorded two pass breakups to help No. 7 James Madison knock off his hometown school, Delaware, 43-20 in a Colonial Athletic Association clash Saturday at Bridgeforth Stadium.

The Newark, Del., native was an intricate piece of JMU coach Mike Houston’s and defensive coordinator Bob Trott’s game plan to slow the Blue Hens offense.

Throughout the contest Reynolds covered opposing wide receivers well, and more importantly, helped the Dukes defense get off the field on third down by applying pressure on Delaware quarterback Joe Walker.

“Coach Trott is a blitz-of-the-week person,” Delaware coach Dave Brock said. “He featured Taylor in the blitz game. If I had to tell you who their best player is, I’d tell you that it’s Taylor. He played an incredible game against North Carolina — he played against the slot that whole game. We weren’t surprised he was in there today and that it was a boundary-pressure game since we’re a boundary-run game.”

Through the first three quarters as JMU jumped out 33-7 lead, the Dukes limited Delaware to only one third-down conversion on nine tries. For the game, Delaware had just four third-down conversions on 12 attempts.

“I think we handled some adverse situations,” Reynolds said. “I’m proud of our guys. We got third-down and fourth-down stops to get our offense back on the field and you see what they can do.”

For the second time this season, JMU’s offense eclipsed 600 total yards in a single game. The unit also managed more than 300 yards rushing in a game for the third time this year.

Junior quarterback Bryan Schor had 312 total yards (209 passing and 103 rushing) to go along with four total touchdowns. Senior running back Khalid Abdullah added 159 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on 10 carries.

Abdullah now leads FCS in rushing yards (603) and is tied for rushing touchdowns (eight). He had a 53-yard run during JMU’s 98-yard scoring drive in the third quarter and found the end zone on a 41-yard run to open the fourth quarter.

JMU coach Mike Houston said his team could close a game easily when it has immense success on the ground.

“You’re able to drain four minutes of clock once you get the ball back,” Houston said. “If you can do that and score, you don’t really worry about protecting a lead late.”

The consecutive scoring drives in the second half were set up by a Delaware three-and-out and a failed fourth-down conversion attempt when Reynolds broke up one of Walker’s passes.

“This was an important game to [Reynolds],” Houston said. “We talked about it [Friday] before we went out for meetings and our walkthrough. It was his last time against Delaware. Last year was the first time he had beaten Delaware in his career. He wanted to play well and get the win. He did and I was proud of him. I’m glad he’s on my team.”

Reynolds, who missed last Saturday’s game at Maine with the flu, said he approached JMU’s meeting with Delaware like he does for any other opponent despite the outcome holding more significance.

“I prepared the same way that I prepared for any other team,” Reynolds said. “I think it was a big game because I had a lot of family here and I know a lot of their players. I had to stay focused all week and I was focused on executing and playing with my teammates to come out victorious.”

James Madison (4-1, 2-0) has now won two straight in the series against Delaware (2-2, 0-1).