STATESBORO, Ga. () — The Georgia Southern football team starts conference play this week. The Eagles are on the road against a very talented James Madison team. So far this season, Georgia Southern is 2-2 after a second-half surge against Maine.

Georgia Southern enjoyed its best offensive performance of the season this past Saturday. The Eagles produced 516 yards of total offense.

“We really do a nice job of creating explosive plays for our offense with that offensive line,’ head coach Clay Helton said. “Our highest output today at 6.9 per play, 14.3 per catch.”

However, there were areas of concern. JC French threw an interception. He now has three touchdowns and six interceptions.

“We played clean football up until this point and and then to have two turnovers, one for a non-offensive touchdown and to have the penalties is something that you just can’t do as we enter conference play and needs to be cleaned up this week,” Helton said.

This week, Georgia Southern starts its journey toward the Sun Belt Conference title with a road game against James Madison. The Dukes are 2-1 on the year. Their only loss is to Louisville.

“We have to be able to not have the penalties we had,” Helton said. “We had eight penalties which held us back from creating separation in that first half. We had a non-offensive touchdown, two turnovers in the first half and dropped two balls that were probably touchdowns.”

This is easily the best defense Georgia Southern will face in the Sun Belt. The Dukes come in ranked second in the nation in Passing Yards Allowed at 103. Their rushing defense is ranked 46th at 111 yards.

“They’ve got some pretty good players,” sixth-year tight end and Georgia State transfer Ahmon Green said. “So do we. They have a pretty good game plan. They are pretty stout up front I believe. It’s probably one of the best fronts that we’ll probably play all season.”

New this year in the Sun Belt, teams will disclose injury reports for conference games. Clay Helton said the deadline is Wednesday at 8 p.m.

“It’s going to be a neat system to be able to see, but we’ve had some injuries that are right on the cusp that we hope we get some guys back, not only this game, but for Southern Miss,” Helton said.

The game at James Madison kicks off Saturday at 1:30 p.m.