BOCA RATON, Fla. — The turnover piece has long been a staple for Tyson Helton-coached Western Kentucky football teams.

The Hilltoppers strive to create them to set their offense up for prime opportunities.

On Wednesday in the Boca Raton Bowl, the Tops learned how that feels on the opposite side of the turnover ledger in a 27-17 loss to James Madison at FAU Stadium.

WKU (8-6) lost three fumbles while creating no turnovers against the Dukes, twice setting the opponent up for field goals and once losing a prime red-zone opportunity.

“The turnovers and then we had a dropped pass or two that was critical,” Helton said. “We had a touchdown that was called back on a pick that was controversial, but that’s football. When you have those plays, it makes it hard to win.”

The loss was the second straight for the Hilltoppers, who ended the season on something of a sour note after getting manhandled by Jacksonville State in a 52-12 loss in the Conference USA Championship on Dec. 6 before losing their first Boca Raton Bowl in three appearances. The loss also snapped WKU’s three-game win streak in bowls under Helton.

The Dukes struck first on their second drive of the night when freshman quarterback JC Evans, used as a running specialist as he rotated in and out with starter Billy Atkins, capped a seven-play, 77-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run that put JMU up 7-0 with 8:03 left in the first quarter.

WKU evened the score in the second quarter. Lightly-used redshirt sophomore wide receiver Moussa Barry pulled in a pass on a hitch route from redshirt sophomore quarterback Caden Veltkamp, turned upfield and shed a couple would-be tacklers for a 17-yard touchdown reception. The TD was the second of Barry’s career and knotted the score at 7-all with 13:34 left in the first half.

The Tops’ defense held the Dukes to a missed 47-yard field goal attempt and then a punt to set up the next scoring drive. Starting that the WKU 17, Veltkamp got the Tops moving with a 30-yard completion to Easton Messer. Soon after, Veltkamp rekindled his production connection with Redshirt senior wide receiver Dalvin Smith, caught an 11-yard touchdown with 51 seconds left in the first half to take a 14-7 lead. It continued an impressive bowl resume for Smith, who caught three TD passes from Veltkamp in last season’s come-from-behind win against Old Dominion on the Famous Toastery Bowl and caught one TD pass and threw another in the 2022 New Orleans Bowl against South Alabama.

JMU worked down into extreme field goal range for a last-second 56-yard try by Noe Ruelas, but WKU’s Deante McCray blocked the kick and teammate Keyshawn Swanson eventually corralled the live ball at the Dukes’ 16 to end the first half.

The Tops had the momentum and the ball to start the second half, but a quick three-and-out series by WKU was answered with a JMU touchdown as Evans connected on a 1-yard jump pass to Kyi Wright to knot the score at 14-all with 8:09 left in the third.

WKU’s next drive ended with a Smith fumble when the Tops tried a trick play, with Veltkamp throwing laterally behind the line of scrimmage to Smith — who couldn’t haul in the throw as JMU recovered at the Tops’ 40. The Dukes, who won the first bowl game in program history Wednesday, turned that miscue into points when Ruelas hit a 28-yard field goal to put his team up 17-14 with 6:45 left in the third.

Veltkamp hit Smith on a 65-yard completion to spark the Tops’ ensuing drive, but Veltkamp’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Kisean Johnson (nine catches for 70 yards) was nullified by an offensive pass interference penalty against Michael Mathison. The Tops ultimately settled for a 31-yard field goal by Lucas Carneiro, who extended his program record with 18 straight made field goals to tie the game once more at 17-all with 2:25 left in the third.

“It’s been a blessing, that’s all I really can say,” Johnson said. “I just thank coach Helton, coach (Zak) Mizell, coach Justin Brown, coach Travis Taylor — man, I thank them for just giving me an opportunity. It was a season of ups and downs, but I learned a lot about myself. I’m just looking forward to the next step in my life, the next step in my journey, the next step in my career.”

The Dukes pushed back ahead 24-17 on a touchdown pass from Atkins to Taylor Thompson with 14:13 to play.

After trading punts, the Tops lost possession when Veltkamp was sacked by Khairi Manns, who also pounced on the loose ball after forcing a fumble. Ruelas’ 25-yard field goal made it a 10-point game with just more than a minute left.

The Tops managed one more first down, but Veltkamp (25-of-39 passing for 302 yards and 2 TDs with no interceptions) then had four straight incompletions to turn the ball over on downs.

“Defensively for the most part I think we kept things in check and the defense gave us opportunities on offense to try to go score, we just weren’t able to capitalize,” Helton said.

Senior defensive back Keyshawn Swanson led the Tops with 11 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss.

“Of course, there were plays out there that we felt like we could’ve made,” Swanson said. “But overall I feel like our guys did the best they could. I feel like everyone did everything they could and put their heart on the line. So there’s no regrets on the defensive side — I love them boys to death. I wouldn’t change anything in the world.”

WKU was missing several key contributors for a variety of reasons — injuries, transfer portal losses or just opting out to get ready for the next step in their career.

“I thought we had what we needed to win,” Helton said. “We’ve had good players here, so when one man’s down another man steps up. We’ve got some guys that played for the first time tonight, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and I thought they played really well so it was great to see those guys.”

The Tops lose a large contingent of seniors, including Dalvin Smith — he finished his final game as a Hilltopper with two catches for 76 yards and a touchdown.

“I can’t say enough about Dalvin,” Helton said. “He’s been there since I’ve been here, for six seasons. He’s a special guy, a special player so I will certainly miss him.  We do graduate a lot of seniors, but it’s our job to put a good football team together for next season and we’ll get ready to go recruiting. (Starting) tomorrow, we have four straight days recruiting so we’ll have a bunch of guys coming in and we’ll start building next year’s team.”