Holgorsen knows JMU will be a test for WVU

Just two weeks into the college football season, six FCS schools have upset FBS schools.

This past weekend alone, Sacramento State knocked off Colorado, North Dakota State took down Colorado State and Northern Arizona beat UNLV.

WVU Head Coach Dana Holgorsen is well aware of the possibilities in West Virginia’s game against James Madison at Fed Ex Field this weekend.

"James Madison, they’re sound. They’re a good ball club. Mickey Matthews has been there 14 years now and has built one of the top 1-AA programs in the country," Holgorsen said during Monday’s Big 12 Conference teleconference.

Two seasons ago, the JMU Dukes went into Blacksburg and upended then-No. 13 Virginia Tech.

Three years ago, JMU came within three points of knocking off Maryland. James Madison has taken on multiple big-time FBS opponents since 2003.

This year the No. 5 (FCS) Dukes boast an offense that has outscored its opponents 97-10 in its first two games. Holgorsen understands WVU cannot allow James Madison’s skill players to beat them.

"Offensively, they’ve got a good one-two threat, with their quarterback, (Justin) Thorpe, and running back, (Dae’Quan)
Scott. They’ve had two tremendous games to start the season," Holgorsen said. "They want those guys to touch the ball a lot. They want to control the ball and run the ball."

James Madison quarterback Justin Thorpe and running back Dae’Quan Scott have accounted for more than half of the Dukes’ rushing game with 357 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns between them. Holgorsen knows it will be a tough game for a West Virginia defense that struggled to tackle during the first game of the season against Marshall.

"It’ll definitely be a challenge for us," Holgorsen added. "They play with a tremendous amount of effort."

JMU is certainly not West Virginia’s toughest opponent, but the Mountaineers aren’t taking any chances.

"We’re going to start building it up this week," Holgorsen said.

"We’re going to take them every bit as serious as we took Marshall and every bit as serious as we’ll take Maryland the next week."

Going into Saturday’s game with the Dukes, West Virginia has a 12-game winning streak against FCS opponents.

The last time WVU played James Madison was in 2004, when WVU
ran away with a 45-10 victory.