Will eight be enough for JMU?

No team with fewer than eight wins made the 16-team Football Championship Subdivision playoffs last year.

That may leave James Madison in a precarious situation this year.

The 16th-ranked Dukes are 0-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association, 2-3 overall. They have six games left, starting with No. 6 Villanova (2-1, 5-1) today at 3:30 p.m. in Harrisonburg.

JMU, coming off a disheartening 21-17 loss to top-ranked Richmond, follows 'Nova with a trip to seventh-ranked William and Mary next week.

Eight was enough last year for Texas State (8-4), Maine (8-4), Eastern Kentucky (8-3) and Cal Poly (8-2). Whatever the standard is this season, the Dukes will have to win at least one of their next two games to be a viable candidate.

"There's no question you're on the bubble if you're 7-4 in our league," JMU coach Mickey Matthews said. "I don't think you can have more than four losses and be considered. There could be some other teams in our league on the bubble as the season goes along. There's not that much difference in everyone."

The CAA sent five teams to the playoffs last year. It currently has five teams - Richmond (5-0), No.4 New Hampshire (5-0), Villanova, William and Mary (5-1) and JMU - in the top 16 in The Sports Network poll. Massachusetts (3-2, 18th) and Delaware (4-2, 23rd) also are in the poll.

One of James Madison's losses is to Maryland, and Matthews wonders if a close loss (38-35) to a higher level Football Bowl Subdivision member might be given more weight by the selection committee.

Still, Matthews said he hasn't spent much time thinking about what the Dukes might need to do to get in the playoffs. He's been more concerned about getting better effort and execution since his team was upset by Hofstra 24-17 two games ago.

Matthews said both areas were significantly improved against Richmond. JMU narrowly missed winning when redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Thorpe lost a fumble at UR's 6-yard line with 58 seconds left.

"Last year, we were able to close games out," Matthews said, "but we haven't been able to do that this year."

Matthews said in the preseason he picked Villanova to win the national championship. The Wildcats were the best team the Dukes played last year, in Matthews' estimation, and made the playoffs. They have 15 starters back, including quarterback Chris Whitney, a running and throwing threat.

JMU's offense now is solely in the hands of Thorpe, a Varina High grad who had been splitting time with junior Drew Dudzik. Dudzik broke his foot last week, underwent surgery and will miss at least six weeks.

"[Thorpe] is going to be a great player," Matthews said. "He's like all the freshmen. They're going to remind you at the wrong time sometimes that they're a freshman.

"We need to help him a little more in terms of protection and running the right routes, all those things that help a quarterback look better."