HARRISONBURG — During its run to the FCS national championship game, Youngstown State’s defense was tested against multiple offensive styles.

In the semifinals, Youngstown State slowed second-seeded Eastern Washington’s air-raid offense just enough to eke out a two-point win. The week before, Youngstown State limited Wofford’s triple-option attack to only 23 points in the quarterfinals.

Youngstown State has forced a total of five turnovers and yielded an average of 27.3 points per game in its four postseason wins.

“We saw a variety,” Youngstown State coach Bo Pelini said. “Regardless of who we’ve played, we’ve had to adapt to different offenses and our kids have responded well.”

On Jan. 7, when Youngstown State (12-3) meets fourth-seeded James Madison (13-1) for the national championship in Frisco, Texas, the Dukes’ offense will give Pelini’s 4-3 defense another tough task.

JMU isn’t pass-happy like Eastern Washington and won’t only run the ball like Wofford. The Dukes are distinctively balanced.

“I don’t know if they really remind me of anybody,” said Pelini, who coached seven seasons at Nebraska (2008-14) before taking over at Youngstown State last fall. “I think they’re unique to themselves.”

JMU coach Mike Houston and his team of offensive assistants blended elements of their pasts to create a spread-offense conglomeration.

Houston said he wanted his offense to embrace physical play even out of the shotgun.

“Watching college football over the past several years, there were a few teams that I identified that I liked what they did,” Houston said. “The biggest two are getting ready to play this weekend — Clemson and Alabama.”

Alabama plays Washington in the College Football Playoff semifinals in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl on Saturday, and Clemson plays Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl the same day.

“Being in the state of South Carolina the past several years and having close friends on Clemson’s staff over the years, I’ve been able to observe Coach [Dabo] Swinney,” Houston said. “I have great respect for the way he runs the program, but their style of offense is what I was talking about when I started to put this together. Alabama is a little different offensively, but still has the same philosophy and foundation.”

Houston said offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick took his vision and ran with it.

Kirkpatrick implemented pieces of the air raid, which he was familiar with from his tenure at East Carolina. Run-game coordinator Bryan Stinespring also helped install some of the run-pass option elements he brought with him from Virginia Tech.

Kirkpatrick also made sure to stay true to what Houston wanted to carry over from his time at The Citadel, the base of a downhill-pushing offensive line.

Through 14 games, JMU averages 284.6 rushing yards per game, 241.1 passing yards and has the nation’s second-best scoring offense, averaging 48 points per game.

“They’re well balanced and they can hurt you in a number of different ways,” Pelini said. “They spread the field on you and have a lot of talent. You have to be disciplined and you really have to execute very well with what your plan is.”

Pelini added his team would have to prepare for the dual-threat ability of Madison quarterback Bryan Schor.

Schor has 27 passing touchdowns and 10 rushing touchdowns this year.

“You have to plan on him playing a good game. The guy is a good football player,” Pelini said. “But, you can control what you have to do and make it as hard on him as you possibly can. You have to respect him as a player and execute at a high level.”

Youngstown State leads the country in sacks with 47 this season. Defensive ends Derek Rivers and Avery Moss have combined for 24 of them.

Houston said JMU would have to neutralize Rivers and Moss to keep its success on offense.

“The big thing is to be really good in our fundamentals and technique in our protections from our tackles,” Houston said. “We have to do a good job of mixing up our protections in terms of how we account for those guys.”