The Sun Belt Conference scheduling gods dropped a real treat into Week 3 of the 2023 football season.

Defending league champion Troy (1-1) hosts emerging power James Madison (2-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium in a game to be televised nationally by NFL Network. The two teams were picked to finish in their respective divisions in a preseason vote by league coaches.

“We’re in for a really tough football game, against a well-coached team,” Troy coach Jon Sumrall said. “We have a lot of respect for them. They’re very veteran, very experienced. They’re just sound.

“We played (Kansas State) last week and I look at the tape, I’m like, man, I feel like we’re playing a very similarly style team that we did last week. And so it’s a challenge.”

After several years as one of the top teams in the FCS, James Madison made the move into the Sun Belt in 2022. The Dukes finished atop the East Division with a 6-2 league mark (8-3 overall), but were ineligible to play for the conference title or in a bowl game due to NCAA rules regarding teams moving up a level in competition.

JMU, coached by former Alabama assistant Curt Cignetti, is also not eligible for the Sun Belt title this year, but still has made some noise in the early going. The Dukes routed FCS opponent Bucknell 38-3 in Week 1, then scored a Power 5 victory over Virginia 36-35 last week.

“They play hard, and they won’t give up at all,” Troy wide receiver Chris Lewis said. “Virginia had a big play on the first play of the (second half), scored a touchdown. When you start off like that, give up a big play, it’s kind of devastating, but they didn’t give up at all. They fought hard. So I know that coming into this week, that no matter what we throw at them, they’re always going to get up and fight back.”

Troy was less successful in its annual game against a Power 5 opponent, falling 42-13 at No. 15 Kansas State last Saturday. The Trojans trailed just 14-10 late in the second quarter, but could not keep up with the high-scoring Wildcats and saw their 12-game winning streak end.

Troy also allowed 30 points in a season-opening win over Stephen F. Austin, though 17 of those points were scored against reserves in the second half. Still, the Trojans surrendered 30-plus points just once in 2022, a 32-28 loss to Appalachian State that was their most-recent defeat before Saturday.

“I felt like our 1s in Game 1 really gave up 13 points, not so much 30 as I look back on it,” Sumrall said. “And then last week, it was kind of like the floodgates opened late in the game. And we did roll some younger guys into the game went it was out-of-hand. But we’ve got to tighten up defensively. It’s not the standard we want to play at so far this year.”

Troy’s Kimani Vidal leads the Sun Belt in rushing in the early going with 331 yards, though 248 of that came against Stephen F. Austin. Vidal was bottled up much of the day vs. Kansas State before breaking loose for a 46-yard run in the third quarter, and finished with 83 yards on 17 attempts.

James Madison has allowed only 80 yards rushing in two games, including just 50 vs. Virginia. The Dukes recorded 10 tackles for loss and totaled four sacks in that game despite surrendering 377 yards passing, including plays of 75, 63 and 60 yards.

“We’ve got a lot to clean up, we really didn’t play our A-game,” Cignetti said. “Pass defense was awful. We’ve got to tighten that up, perimeter defense was not good. … We’ve got a lot of areas we’ve got to improve and get better. I am proud of the way we bounced back and it was a great win.

“But now we’ve got the conference champions on the road. Troy’s a good football team and it’s going to be a challenge for us.”

Troy and James Madison split a pair of meetings in the 1990s during their mutual days as I-AA/FCS programs, with both games played in the first round of the playoffs in Harrisonburg, Va. The Dukes won 45-26 in 1994, with the Trojans returning the favor 27-7 in 1999.