South Alabama will seek to do Saturday what few have accomplished successfully against James Madison the last two years — run the ball successfully.

The Dukes (4-0, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference) are allowing just 41.5 yards per game on the ground, the lowest among 133 NCAA FBS teams. James Madison also led the nation in rushing defense in 2022, giving up just 80.2 yards per game.

South Alabama’s offense works best when it has balance, when backs La’Damian Webb and Kentrel Bullock can open up the deep passing game for the likes of Carter Bradley and Caullin Lacy. So that’s the challenge for the Jaguars (2-2) when they travel to face JMU in Harrisonburg, Va., on Saturday, and it’s one they feel they are up to.

“They’ve got guys just like we’ve got guys,” Bullock said. “So it comes down to who wants in the most.”

No matter how much they’ve wanted it, few teams have run the ball effectively against the Dukes since they moved up to the FBS level in 2022. JMU has allowed just three opponents to crack the 100-yard barrier on the ground, all of them last season.

Louisville piled up 244 yards on the ground in a 34-10 win in 2022, with both Tiyon Evans (126 yards) and Jawhar Jordan (118) breaking the century mark. Marshall’s Khalan Laborn had 151 of his team’s 167 rushing yards in a 26-10 win over the Dukes last season.

Texas State totaled 106 rushing yards in 2022, though JMU won comfortably, 40-13. Last week, Utah State’s Davon Booth totaled 103 yards in the Dukes’ 45-38 win, though the Aggies as a team netted just 98.

More common have been results like what happened to Virginia and Troy this season. The Cavaliers managed 18 yards as a team, while the Trojans netted minus-12 yards thanks to five sacks, with All-Sun Belt running back Kimani Vidal limited to 27 yards on 11 carries before his team all but abandoned the running game.

“They’re good up front,” Troy coach Jon Sumrall said. “They’re active. (Nose guard James Carpenter) is a really good player. They’ve got good length. … And their other guys on the edges are long and present issues.”

As is often the case in college football, sacks skew rushing defense numbers somewhat, and the Dukes have 18 sacks for a loss of 133 yards this season. But even if you eliminate the sack yards, JMU is still allowing just 74.8 yards rushing per game, which would rank ninth in the country.

James Madison has 41 tackles for loss (including the 18 sacks) through four games, resulting in 185 lost yards for their opponents. All four of the Dukes’ defensive linemen have at least 5.5 TFLs this season, with end Mikhail Kamara leading the way with 8.5, followed by end Jalen Green (7.5), end/tackle Jamree Kroham (6.5) and Carpenter (5.5).

“They play aggressive, they’re really quick-twitch for being big bodies,” said South Alabama coach Kane Wommack, who worked with JMU defensive line coach Pat Kuntz at Indiana, when Wommack was defensive coordinator and Kuntz was a graduate assistant. “They’re very active, get penetration in the backfield often to create negative plays in the run game.

“… They’re very hard to run the ball on. They created a lot of negative plays. But we are a team that will work to establish the run; that’s what we do. So we’ve got to be very smart about how we go about that and make sure that we have a chance to block up good runs and get one or two explosive plays.”

South Alabama is rushing for an average of 179.3 yards per game, though that number includes just 75 in the season-opening loss against Tulane. The Jaguars fell behind early in that game, and were forced to pass.

Since then, South Alabama has totaled 248 yards vs. Southeastern Louisiana, 243 vs. Oklahoma State and 151 last week vs. Central Michigan. Webb and Bullock are averaging a combined 148.8 yards per game, with seven touchdowns.

South Alabama center Reggie Smith said he and his linemates are certainly looking forward to matching up with James Madison’s defensive front.

“We’re just blessed by the Lord putting it before us to play such a good front and to showcase our talent on a big stage,” Smith said. “We’re just embracing that challenge that nobody’s really been able to run the ball on them.

“… They’ve got a lot of older guys, they play with good technique. You can tell they’re well-coached, but what really makes them good is the motor they play with, the energy that they bring. They don’t take reps off.

“You see a lot of big guys get tired, tap on their helmets, and that’s when we kind of get that fire in our eyes, like we’re about to finish them off. But you don’t see that from them, so it’s going to be a big challenge.”

Kickoff Saturday between South Alabama and James Madison is set for 11 a.m. at Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg, Va. The game will be televised live by ESPNU.

• Wide receiver Caullin Lacy will wear the honorary No. 5 jersey for the Jaguars on Saturday.

Lacy, a junior from Mobile, is off to an excellent start to the 2023 season with 26 receptions, 435 yards and five touchdowns. After being held to just 60 yards against Tulane, he’d totaled 139, 104 and 132 the last three games, including touchdowns of 84, 39, 57, 35 and 72 yards.

“Caullin is a perfect example of a guy that does everything right in practice and gets rewarded on game day,” Wommack said. “… I think he sets the example. He’s what a quiet leader is supposed to look like, day-in and day-out, in terms of terms of practice habits.”

A different South Alabama player wears the No. 5 jersey each week in memory of former Jaguars running back Anthony Mostella, who was killed in a 2010 motorcycle accident. Previous recipients this year are wide receiver Devin Voisin (Tulane), linebacker James Miller (Southeastern Louisiana), linebacker Trey Kiser (Oklahoma State) and quarterback Desmond Trotter (Central Michigan).