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James Madison has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will challenge the Marshall Thundering Herd at 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. James Madison will be strutting in after a win while Marshall will be stumbling in from a loss.
Last Saturday, James Madison took their contest at home with ease, bagging a 41-13 win over Georgia Southern. James Madison pushed the score to 41-6 by the end of the third, a deficit Georgia Southern cut but never quite recovered from.
James Madison got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Jordan McCloud out in front who threw for 259 yards and three touchdowns. Elijah Sarratt did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 105 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Marshall ended up a good deal behind Georgia State on Saturday and lost 41-24. Marshall has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite the defeat, Marshall got a solid performance out of Rasheen Ali, who rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns, and also picked up 71 receiving yards. Ali was no stranger to the big play, turning on the jets for a run that went for 53 yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Cam Fancher, who threw for 301 yards and a touchdown while completing 79.4% of his passes.
James Madison's win was their fifth straight at home (dating back to last season), bumping their overall record up to 6-0. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 39.8 points per game. As for Marshall, their loss dropped their record down to 4-2.
Looking forward, James Madison is the favorite in this one, as the experts expect to see them win by four points. This contest might not be the best time to bet them against the spread since they've let bettors down the last four times they've played.
James Madison lost to Marshall on the road by a decisive 26-12 margin when the teams last played back in October of 2022. Thankfully for James Madison, Khalan Laborn (who rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
