HARRISONBURG — It didn’t take long for James Madison coach Mike Houston to notice when Youngstown State began to improve.

With three weeks off, the JMU (13-1) coaching staff took advantage of the extra time to prepare for its FCS championship game on Saturday in Frisco, Texas, and evaluated the Penguins (12-3) from their opener against Duquesne to their thrilling FCS semifinal win at Eastern Washington.

Houston said Youngstown State got better when coach Bo Pelini elevated junior quarterback Hunter Wells back to the starting role.

“We watched the entire season,” Houston said. “That was probably the turning point.

“That was a very experienced coaching move when you knew you had to, because I think there were a lot of inconsistencies with their offense not performing at a real high level at that point.”

Wells, a native of Navarre, Ohio, started every game at the position for Youngstown State in 2015, but lost the job to fellow junior Ricky Davis out of preseason camp.

Davis was hurt in the second game of the season at West Virginia and his backup, junior Trent Hosick, a transfer from Arizona Western, got hurt on Oct. 15 against Northern Iowa. Davis returned the following week, but wasn’t the same, so Pelini made the change.

Wells saw his first action of the year on Oct. 29 against Indiana State. Youngstown State is 7-1 since.

“He’s a great operator,” Houston said of Wells. “He’s good with the ball. He doesn’t put the ball in harm’s way. He runs the offense efficiently. He makes good decisions in the passing game.

“That change with the stability that he’s brought to the quarterback position has been the key to the run they’ve made over the last month.”

Wells’ lone loss as the starter this year came at North Dakota State on Nov. 5.

Since throwing an interception against the Bison at the FargoDome, Wells has tossed nine touchdowns passes compared to only one pick.

He also threw the last-second, game-winning touchdown pass to tight end Kevin Rader at Eastern Washington to get the Penguins to Frisco.

“I think he’s a lot more comfortable in the pocket,” Pelini said of his signal-caller. “I think he really has made strides with sitting in there and making difficult throws. He’s played at a high level.

“I also think we’ve gotten better around him. I always say the best thing for a quarterback is to play well around him. He can’t do it by himself. We’ve gotten better offensively, especially over the last month or so and I think that’s helped Hunter. He’s obviously done his part very well.”

Pelini said Wells stabilizing the position after waiting his turn to play is just one example of players on his team running past obstacles to keep the season headed in the right direction.

“I think we have a lot of character on our football team,” Pelini said. “We’ve gone through a lot this season. We’ve had a number of different quarterbacks. We faced some adversity and have overcome it. It’s a testament to the character of our kids and we continued to get better.”

Davis and Hosick combined to throw seven touchdowns compared to eight interceptions in their time at quarterback.

Kickoff is set for noon with the game scheduled to air on ESPN2.