Coastal Carolina vs James Madison prediction & betting tips - October 10 | College Football Week 7

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers go on the road to play the James Madison Dukes on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on ESPN2.

Coastal Carolina is 4-1, with its lone loss coming to Virginia two games ago. Coastal Carolina is coming off a 45-37 home win over Old Dominion. Meanwhile, James Madison is 4-1 and coming off a 21-19 road loss to LA-Monroe, but JMU has a notable win over North Carolina 70-50.

Coastal Carolina vs. James Madison: Preview

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are off to a hot start. Their offense has been solid, but it did struggle against Virginia.

The Chanticleers have been led by quarterback Ethan Vasko, who's 64 for 110 for 1,101 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Vasko has beaten out Michigan State transfer Ethan Kim for the starting job.

Coastal Carolina has a pair of good running backs in Christian Washington and Braydon Bennett. Washington has rushed for 313 yards and four touchdowns, while Bennett has rushed for 145 yards and five touchdowns.

“Ethan had a good game. It was good to get Braydon Bennett back. He played really well and the offensive line played well,” CCU coach Tim Beck said, via MyHorryNews. “There were a lot of good things. It was more typical offensively to what I’m used to and what I think our expectations and capabilities are.”

On defense, CCU has been led by Tray Brown and Joah Cash, who have 2.5 sacks, while Shane Bruce has 39 tackles.

On the other hand, James Madison is coming off a 21-19 loss, which was the Dukes' first loss of the season. JMU has been led by quarterback Alonza Barnett III, who's thrown for 1,273 yards, 12 touchdowns and one interception. However, in his last game, he failed to throw a touchdown as the offense struggled.

However, JMU coach Bob Chesney believes the defense also struggled.

“We couldn’t get them off the field at times,” Chesney said, via Daily News Record. “They were third down and they were converting. They were doing a good job on their, I think, two fourth downs converting. And they just did a really nice job. … That’s a good football team, and I think the record will prove that by the end of the year.”

On offense, JMU has also been led by George Pettaway, who rushed for 298 yards for two touchdowns. Omarion Dollison leads JMU with 299 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

On defense, JMU is led by Terrence Spence, who has three interceptions, Khairi Manns has 3.5 sacks and Jacob Dobbs leads the team with 32 tackles.

Ultimately, after a bad offensive performance, James Madison should be able to get back to its old ways. Expect Barnett to throw for multiple touchdowns, as JMU's offense should be the difference-maker in this game.

Prediction: James Madison 41, Coastal Carolina 27

Coastal Carolina vs. James Madison: Betting Tips

Tip 1: JMU -9.5 (-112)

Tip 2: Over 62 points (-110)

Tip 3: George Pettaway touchdown scorer