(01-15-2020 02:21 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  Not sure that it matters but here are attendance and tv ratings from the FCS Title Game and the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl featuring top 25 App State as the draw.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Attendance: 21,202
TV Rating: 0.6 (960k viewers)

FCS Title Game - Frisco, Tx
Attendance: 17,866
TV Rating: 1.76 (2.7 million viewers)

Was the NO Bowl in the Superdome?

The attendance at the FCS title game was hurt by the weather. There were many cancelled flights on Friday.

The NCAA was selling standing room only tickets so I think that means all seats were sold but give the announced attendance, it appears 3000 did not make it.

Many of the seats behind us in 128 were empty. Those were priority JMU seats so I know they were sold. In the second half, NDSU folks moved into them.

If Frisco’s weather had been better, attendance would have been even closer to the NO Bowl.

Let’s be honest, FBS has saturated us with bowl games to the point where very few care to watch them. This doesn’t mean I am against FBS. It just means I find bowl games stupid. The P5 and G5 need a playoff like FCS. The winner of each can play for a championship. There’s a novel idea.

(01-15-2020 08:18 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  The "FCS for Life" folk place an overwhelming emphasis on post season football, and argue from that position only. Those of us who'd prefer JMU to be an FBS team generally argue from the position that the regular season is the reason to move up but site a number of other issues in staying FCS,. The latest being the second rate treatment entering the gates in Frisco. I'd like to know if there was any bowl, including the FBS playoffs, where fans stood in line for an hour just to enter. I highly doubt Monday night's game did that to the fans. With that said, JMU did this to the students back in 2012. It was one of the HS band games. The student line stretched all the way to Champions drive. I watched a person near the end who was in line prior to KO not walk through the gates until halftime. We didn't have our shi! together. If you don't complain to the authority it will never be fixed and eventually there will not be 10K attend the FCS championship.

What stands out to me is that we (JMU fans only not including visiting fans) put over 20k butts in seats during the season but only half that number (the others being visiting fans) during playoffs and this includes the championship game. Therefore it's clear we have more interest in regular season games than post season.

I can only imagine the uptick in regular season interest if we upgraded the competition coming to BFS. I can easily see 30k fans coming through the gates the first time East Carolina, Appy, Marshall, and ODU make their way to Harrisonburg. I'd up that number to 35K when NC State, Duke, Pitt, and Louisville do deals with the Dukes. I'd further increase the number to 40k when UVA and Tech finally try their hand against us on our turf. It's perfectly clear fans want competitive games during the season by a simple look at the numbers when Appy hosted Miami in Boone. I'd also wager that Appy had huge numbers traveling to UNC and South Carolina. The regular season rules college football.

Furthermore, only a fool believes more than about 10 teams every season play for the FBS title. Tech, UVA, UNC, and over 100 other FBS teams play to be in and win a New Year's day game which is no different than what our
team should aspire to achieve. However, it's the AD's job to position his team's ability to not only win but create entertainment for the alumni.

Perfectly said. This is the point I have been trying to make forever. It isn't the few postseason games against juggernauts like Monmouth that are what matter. It is the dozen regular season games.

The notion that FBS is worthless if we aren't an automatic CFP candidate is ridiculous. We have to pay our dues at every level.

Case in point: Utah. When Terrence Apted was a freshman there, the Utes were undefeated and ranked #3. They couldn't get any higher than that because they were in a G5 conference (Mountain West). They blew out Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl (35-7 if memory serves). They continued to dominate their conference and, what do you know, they were invited to BCS (Pac-12).

That's how it happens. Barring a miracle with a simultaneous aligning of the stars, we are not going straight to a P5 conference. We must pay our dues at the G5 level. Every day we screw around monitoring the situation in FCS is another day removed from those opportunities.

(01-16-2020 10:23 AM)Purple Wrote:  

(01-15-2020 08:18 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  The "FCS for Life" folk place an overwhelming emphasis on post season football, and argue from that position only. Those of us who'd prefer JMU to be an FBS team generally argue from the position that the regular season is the reason to move up but site a number of other issues in staying FCS,. The latest being the second rate treatment entering the gates in Frisco. I'd like to know if there was any bowl, including the FBS playoffs, where fans stood in line for an hour just to enter. I highly doubt Monday night's game did that to the fans. With that said, JMU did this to the students back in 2012. It was one of the HS band games. The student line stretched all the way to Champions drive. I watched a person near the end who was in line prior to KO not walk through the gates until halftime. We didn't have our shi! together. If you don't complain to the authority it will never be fixed and eventually there will not be 10K attend the FCS championship.

What stands out to me is that we (JMU fans only not including visiting fans) put over 20k butts in seats during the season but only half that number (the others being visiting fans) during playoffs and this includes the championship game. Therefore it's clear we have more interest in regular season games than post season.

I can only imagine the uptick in regular season interest if we upgraded the competition coming to BFS. I can easily see 30k fans coming through the gates the first time East Carolina, Appy, Marshall, and ODU make their way to Harrisonburg. I'd up that number to 35K when NC State, Duke, Pitt, and Louisville do deals with the Dukes. I'd further increase the number to 40k when UVA and Tech finally try their hand against us on our turf. It's perfectly clear fans want competitive games during the season by a simple look at the numbers when Appy hosted Miami in Boone. I'd also wager that Appy had huge numbers traveling to UNC and South Carolina. The regular season rules college football.

Furthermore, only a fool believes more than about 10 teams every season play for the FBS title. Tech, UVA, UNC, and over 100 other FBS teams play to be in and win a New Year's day game which is no different than what our
team should aspire to achieve. However, it's the AD's job to position his team's ability to not only win but create entertainment for the alumni.

Perfectly said. This is the point I have been trying to make forever. It isn't the few postseason games against juggernauts like Monmouth that are what matter. It is the dozen regular season games.

The notion that FBS is worthless if we aren't an automatic CFP candidate is ridiculous. We have to pay our dues at every level.

Case in point: Utah. When Terrence Apted was a freshman there, the Utes were undefeated and ranked #3. They couldn't get any higher than that because they were in a G5 conference (Mountain West). They blew out Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl (35-7 if memory serves). They continued to dominate their conference and, what do you know, they were invited to BCS (Pac-12).

That's how it happens. Barring a miracle with a simultaneous aligning of the stars, we are not going straight to a P5 conference. We must pay our dues at the G5 level. Every day we screw around monitoring the situation in FCS is another day removed from those opportunities.

a p5 conference? did you miswrite that?

i hate to break it to you....we ain't ever going to a P5 conference. Neither is App State, ODU, ECU, or any others that one might consider a "peer".

FYI - Utah started football in 1892. It took them 119 years to reach the P5 level. Don't hold your breath waiting for us to get to the P5.

As a big supporter of FCS football and a G5 alum I find this discussion extremely interesting.

In general I think G5 football is more of a joke than FCS football. In FCS there is one single achievable goal and that is to win a National Title. For G5 programs I'm honestly not sure what the true goals are. For some programs it's to reach the NYD 6 Bowl? For some it's simply to be competitive with their fellow regional P5 programs. For some it's to show up in the Top 25. For some it's simply getting an eye-candy home game with a P5 program every now and again to juice up the fan base. Temple has been a quality, successful G5 program the last decade and in general outside of beating Penn State and hosting Game Day (a week after JMU did) for the Notre Dame game I can't think of anything truly memorable. Sure being on ESPN frequently is nice as it being ranked now and again. But at the end of the after at while it becomes rather mundane.

Overall, I've had more enjoyment following Lehigh at the FCS level. I know NDSU has killed the odds of school's like Lehigh, Colgate, Furman, Wofford, Richmond and Villanova's winning a title (or winning another one) but even with Goliath in the room there's still a better chance than Temple (or any G5 program) making the playoffs.

The whole bowl system is a joke thanks to ESPN turning it into programming fill during the holidays. I have no idea why anyone would waste money to see the the vast majority of them. I would much rather Temple have to earn a bowl invite against a quality opponent by winning 9-10 games as opposed to being tossed a token bowl invite every year for having a pulse. Going to a legit bowl game maybe 1-3 times a decade would be FAR more exciting and rewarding.

My advice would be to ramp up basketball if JMU is seriously going to consider making the jump. At the end of the day fellow FCS'ers Villanova, Butler and Dayton this year are blowing the doors off of quality G5 football programs in terms of true national relevancy and competing for titles imo. The AAC's roots are in basketball and rightly so. Being able to have quality football programs that our alums and fans can be proud of is great for passing the time. Basketball is where our best can truly compete for a Final 4/Title thanks to a much level playing field. Temple's win against #16 Wichita State last night was more satisfying than anything we did on the football field this year.

Good points.

(01-16-2020 12:14 PM)TUowl06 Wrote:  As a big supporter of FCS football and a G5 alum I find this discussion extremely interesting.

In general I think G5 football is more of a joke than FCS football. In FCS there is one single achievable goal and that is to win a National Title. For G5 programs I'm honestly not sure what the true goals are. For some programs it's to reach the NYD 6 Bowl? For some it's simply to be competitive with their fellow regional P5 programs. For some it's to show up in the Top 25. For some it's simply getting an eye-candy home game with a P5 program every now and again to juice up the fan base. Temple has been a quality, successful G5 program the last decade and in general outside of beating Penn State and hosting Game Day (a week after JMU did) for the Notre Dame game I can't think of anything truly memorable. Sure being on ESPN frequently is nice as it being ranked now and again. But at the end of the after at while it becomes rather mundane.

Overall, I've had more enjoyment following Lehigh at the FCS level. I know NDSU has killed the odds of school's like Lehigh, Colgate, Furman, Wofford, Richmond and Villanova's winning a title (or winning another one) but even with Goliath in the room there's still a better chance than Temple (or any G5 program) making the playoffs.

The whole bowl system is a joke thanks to ESPN turning it into programming fill during the holidays. I have no idea why anyone would waste money to see the the vast majority of them. I would much rather Temple have to earn a bowl invite against a quality opponent by winning 9-10 games as opposed to being tossed a token bowl invite every year for having a pulse. Going to a legit bowl game maybe 1-3 times a decade would be FAR more exciting and rewarding.

My advice would be to ramp up basketball if JMU is seriously going to consider making the jump. At the end of the day fellow FCS'ers Villanova, Butler and Dayton this year are blowing the doors off of quality G5 football programs in terms of true national relevancy and competing for titles imo. The AAC's roots are in basketball and rightly so. Being able to have quality football programs that our alums and fans can be proud of is great for passing the time. Basketball is where our best can truly compete for a Final 4/Title thanks to a much level playing field. Temple's win against #16 Wichita State last night was more satisfying than anything we did on the football field this year.

the man speaks truth

how many g5s play p5s in bowls. probably very few. if that is the case, then....

and this is an out there thought, but would two tracks for the g5s make sense? probably tough with the bowls, but

1. if a g5 somehow remarkably makes the CFplayoffs or a NYD 6 bowl - they can opt in to that if they wish.
2. an 8 team g5 playoff - 1st rounds at home, semi and final at bowl destinations.

sort of an NIT for the g5.

realign the g5 conferences regionally, pull in a few FCS teams, and I would be on board for this. how many g5 teams are there, 50-60? might only need 4 -6 teams for playoffs. Espn broadasts fcs playoffs, i am sure they would get behind this. think of the broadcast right $$$$'s Billions baybeee

(01-16-2020 12:11 PM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  

(01-16-2020 10:23 AM)Purple Wrote:  

(01-15-2020 08:18 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  The "FCS for Life" folk place an overwhelming emphasis on post season football, and argue from that position only. Those of us who'd prefer JMU to be an FBS team generally argue from the position that the regular season is the reason to move up but site a number of other issues in staying FCS,. The latest being the second rate treatment entering the gates in Frisco. I'd like to know if there was any bowl, including the FBS playoffs, where fans stood in line for an hour just to enter. I highly doubt Monday night's game did that to the fans. With that said, JMU did this to the students back in 2012. It was one of the HS band games. The student line stretched all the way to Champions drive. I watched a person near the end who was in line prior to KO not walk through the gates until halftime. We didn't have our shi! together. If you don't complain to the authority it will never be fixed and eventually there will not be 10K attend the FCS championship.

What stands out to me is that we (JMU fans only not including visiting fans) put over 20k butts in seats during the season but only half that number (the others being visiting fans) during playoffs and this includes the championship game. Therefore it's clear we have more interest in regular season games than post season.

I can only imagine the uptick in regular season interest if we upgraded the competition coming to BFS. I can easily see 30k fans coming through the gates the first time East Carolina, Appy, Marshall, and ODU make their way to Harrisonburg. I'd up that number to 35K when NC State, Duke, Pitt, and Louisville do deals with the Dukes. I'd further increase the number to 40k when UVA and Tech finally try their hand against us on our turf. It's perfectly clear fans want competitive games during the season by a simple look at the numbers when Appy hosted Miami in Boone. I'd also wager that Appy had huge numbers traveling to UNC and South Carolina. The regular season rules college football.

Furthermore, only a fool believes more than about 10 teams every season play for the FBS title. Tech, UVA, UNC, and over 100 other FBS teams play to be in and win a New Year's day game which is no different than what our
team should aspire to achieve. However, it's the AD's job to position his team's ability to not only win but create entertainment for the alumni.

Perfectly said. This is the point I have been trying to make forever. It isn't the few postseason games against juggernauts like Monmouth that are what matter. It is the dozen regular season games.

The notion that FBS is worthless if we aren't an automatic CFP candidate is ridiculous. We have to pay our dues at every level.

Case in point: Utah. When Terrence Apted was a freshman there, the Utes were undefeated and ranked #3. They couldn't get any higher than that because they were in a G5 conference (Mountain West). They blew out Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl (35-7 if memory serves). They continued to dominate their conference and, what do you know, they were invited to BCS (Pac-12).

That's how it happens. Barring a miracle with a simultaneous aligning of the stars, we are not going straight to a P5 conference. We must pay our dues at the G5 level. Every day we screw around monitoring the situation in FCS is another day removed from those opportunities.

a p5 conference? did you miswrite that?

i hate to break it to you....we ain't ever going to a P5 conference. Neither is App State, ODU, ECU, or any others that one might consider a "peer".

FYI - Utah started football in 1892. It took them 119 years to reach the P5 level. Don't hold your breath waiting for us to get to the P5.

Utah didn't get to P5 because they have been playing football since 1892. They got to P5 because of their performance in the 21st Century. I thought that was fairly obvious. Otherwise, Harvard and Yale would be P5.

if you all truly feel that Morgan State, Elon, Chattanooga, Richmond, RI, and Weber State are your peers on the football field - who am I to judge? But they are certainly not App's peers.

Also, FBS is better than FCS in countless ways. If you don't think the #19 next to our name all day long on the ESPN ticker all day long is more valuable than second place in what is largely seen as D2, well, you can't fix stupid.

(01-16-2020 09:46 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(01-16-2020 12:11 PM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  

(01-16-2020 10:23 AM)Purple Wrote:  

(01-15-2020 08:18 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  The "FCS for Life" folk place an overwhelming emphasis on post season football, and argue from that position only. Those of us who'd prefer JMU to be an FBS team generally argue from the position that the regular season is the reason to move up but site a number of other issues in staying FCS,. The latest being the second rate treatment entering the gates in Frisco. I'd like to know if there was any bowl, including the FBS playoffs, where fans stood in line for an hour just to enter. I highly doubt Monday night's game did that to the fans. With that said, JMU did this to the students back in 2012. It was one of the HS band games. The student line stretched all the way to Champions drive. I watched a person near the end who was in line prior to KO not walk through the gates until halftime. We didn't have our shi! together. If you don't complain to the authority it will never be fixed and eventually there will not be 10K attend the FCS championship.

What stands out to me is that we (JMU fans only not including visiting fans) put over 20k butts in seats during the season but only half that number (the others being visiting fans) during playoffs and this includes the championship game. Therefore it's clear we have more interest in regular season games than post season.

I can only imagine the uptick in regular season interest if we upgraded the competition coming to BFS. I can easily see 30k fans coming through the gates the first time East Carolina, Appy, Marshall, and ODU make their way to Harrisonburg. I'd up that number to 35K when NC State, Duke, Pitt, and Louisville do deals with the Dukes. I'd further increase the number to 40k when UVA and Tech finally try their hand against us on our turf. It's perfectly clear fans want competitive games during the season by a simple look at the numbers when Appy hosted Miami in Boone. I'd also wager that Appy had huge numbers traveling to UNC and South Carolina. The regular season rules college football.

Furthermore, only a fool believes more than about 10 teams every season play for the FBS title. Tech, UVA, UNC, and over 100 other FBS teams play to be in and win a New Year's day game which is no different than what our
team should aspire to achieve. However, it's the AD's job to position his team's ability to not only win but create entertainment for the alumni.

Perfectly said. This is the point I have been trying to make forever. It isn't the few postseason games against juggernauts like Monmouth that are what matter. It is the dozen regular season games.

The notion that FBS is worthless if we aren't an automatic CFP candidate is ridiculous. We have to pay our dues at every level.

Case in point: Utah. When Terrence Apted was a freshman there, the Utes were undefeated and ranked #3. They couldn't get any higher than that because they were in a G5 conference (Mountain West). They blew out Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl (35-7 if memory serves). They continued to dominate their conference and, what do you know, they were invited to BCS (Pac-12).

That's how it happens. Barring a miracle with a simultaneous aligning of the stars, we are not going straight to a P5 conference. We must pay our dues at the G5 level. Every day we screw around monitoring the situation in FCS is another day removed from those opportunities.

a p5 conference? did you miswrite that?

i hate to break it to you....we ain't ever going to a P5 conference. Neither is App State, ODU, ECU, or any others that one might consider a "peer".

FYI - Utah started football in 1892. It took them 119 years to reach the P5 level. Don't hold your breath waiting for us to get to the P5.

Utah didn't get to P5 because they have been playing football since 1892. They got to P5 because of their performance in the 21st Century. I thought that was fairly obvious. Otherwise, Harvard and Yale would be P5.

Dude I want to go to FBS as much as anyone but it kills me how ignorant and dumb people sound who think JMU could go P5.

Utah got into the PAC-12, not just because of football (it helped I'm sure) but it was more because they have more than a billion dollar endowment, have a great medical school and are in the top 65 in research spending ($380M in 2018). IOW they fit in with their peer institutions in the PAC-12.

Until we get an endowment that encroaches on $1B, add a law and/or medical school and spend at least $100M on research (probably more like $200M), as well as join APLU or ORAU or some other more prestigious academic affiliation, we're not getting a sniff by the ACC. Its not just about sports its about prestige. Even schools like VT, Louisville and Florida State bring serious chops and credibility when you look at their affiliations, accomplishments and $$$.

Additionally we would need to double our athletic budget. We would also need to continue to dominate football at the G5 level and have a basketball team that can get to the NCAAT regularly. All this with the continued or expanded success of our women's teams and Olympic men's teams.

I would say you have a better chance of winning the lottery in your lifetime than JMU does of joining the ACC. So let's all be realistic that G5 is the target. The holy grail for us for the next 25 years should be to get to the AAC, which we have an outside shot at doing right away but probably need a successful stop at the Sunbelt or CUSA first. Do that, and expand the university's academic profile and $$$$ and then maybe we could consider talking about how far we can go.

(01-17-2020 11:19 AM)iStoopify Wrote:  Also, FBS is better than FCS in countless ways. If you don't think the #19 next to our name all day long on the ESPN ticker all day long is more valuable than second place in what is largely seen as D2, well, you can't fix stupid.

And at the end of that day that meant so much you had 960k tune in to cable tv to watch your final game while 2.9 million tuneD into network tv for JMU.

(01-17-2020 11:19 AM)iStoopify Wrote:  if you all truly feel that Morgan State, Elon, Chattanooga, Richmond, RI, and Weber State are your peers on the football field - who am I to judge? But they are certainly not App's peers.

Also, FBS is better than FCS in countless ways. If you don't think the #19 next to our name all day long on the ESPN ticker all day long is more valuable than second place in what is largely seen as D2, well, you can't fix stupid.

Welcome to the shenandoah valley. The lil'ol jmu fcs for life crowd will always find a way to claim dll is where JMU belongs

(01-17-2020 03:12 PM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 11:19 AM)iStoopify Wrote:  if you all truly feel that Morgan State, Elon, Chattanooga, Richmond, RI, and Weber State are your peers on the football field - who am I to judge? But they are certainly not App's peers.

Also, FBS is better than FCS in countless ways. If you don't think the #19 next to our name all day long on the ESPN ticker all day long is more valuable than second place in what is largely seen as D2, well, you can't fix stupid.

Welcome to the shenandoah valley. The lil'ol jmu fcs for life crowd will always find a way to claim dll is where JMU belongs

Purplehazed get's it. The biggest difference between FCS and FBS is the regular football season. Just looking at JMU schedule for 2020 I would today predict JMU to finish the regular season next year with a record of 10-1. I would also predict the same record for over half of the members of the Sun Belt it they were playing the same schedule next year. If JMU was playing Georgia Southern schedule next year I would project JMU at 4-8 at best and also would not be surprised if finish 1-11.

(01-17-2020 04:03 PM)ValleyBoy Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 03:12 PM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 11:19 AM)iStoopify Wrote:  if you all truly feel that Morgan State, Elon, Chattanooga, Richmond, RI, and Weber State are your peers on the football field - who am I to judge? But they are certainly not App's peers.

Also, FBS is better than FCS in countless ways. If you don't think the #19 next to our name all day long on the ESPN ticker all day long is more valuable than second place in what is largely seen as D2, well, you can't fix stupid.

Welcome to the shenandoah valley. The lil'ol jmu fcs for life crowd will always find a way to claim dll is where JMU belongs

Purplehazed get's it. The biggest difference between FCS and FBS is the regular football season. Just looking at JMU schedule for 2020 I would today predict JMU to finish the regular season next year with a record of 10-1. I would also predict the same record for over half of the members of the Sun Belt it they were playing the same schedule next year. If JMU was playing Georgia Southern schedule next year I would project JMU at 4-8 at best and also would not be surprised if finish 1-11.

4-8

(01-17-2020 11:19 AM)iStoopify Wrote:  if you all truly feel that Morgan State, Elon, Chattanooga, Richmond, RI, and Weber State are your peers on the football field - who am I to judge? But they are certainly not App's peers.

Also, FBS is better than FCS in countless ways. If you don't think the #19 next to our name all day long on the ESPN ticker all day long is more valuable than second place in what is largely seen as D2, well, you can't fix stupid.

This goes well beyond football though. I don't understand changing the entire identity of a university for the sole purpose of football. Especially when you're elevating your football program to basically the land of the lost; a middling to low-end G5 conference. JMU as an institution definitely has a good amount in common with Delaware, NDSU, Eastern Washington, Montana, Northern Arizona, Montana State, Illinois State, Youngstown State etc. But so does App State, Texas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern etc despite playing football in a G5 conference. If I'm JMU, having to cut ties with Richmond, Villanova, W&M, highly respected flagship state schools (Delaware, UNH, Maine) an AAU institution like Stony Brook and the ability to win championships for low end FBS football is definitely a case of weighing what matters most imo.

App State has no question emerged as one of the better G5 programs. I'm just not sure what the ultimate end game for them is or what their realistic goals are as an athletic department. Ending the year ranked in the Top 20 is a nice bragging point but now what? App State's schedule in 2020 outside of Wisconsin and Wake Forest has zero spice by FBS standards (they even play Morgan State a school you mentioned). It's basically a 1 game, Wisconsin, schedule when it comes to earning FBS credibility on the field. Heading into 2020 App State has little margin for error in terms of maintaining Top 25 level respect. They must back up 2019 with another 1 loss or undefeated season in order to stay on the national radar given their conference affiliation.

What sports can App State seriously contend for a national title/ legit national relevancy in? The Sun Belt is a good baseball conference so the platform should be there for a Top 25 program. How about basketball? Any kick butt Olympic sports? What are the academic goals for the university ? Is it more in line with the Delaware's, New Hampshire's, W&M's and Stony Brook's of the world or Georgia Southern, Texas State, Southern Alabama and Troy?

(01-17-2020 04:03 PM)ValleyBoy Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 03:12 PM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 11:19 AM)iStoopify Wrote:  if you all truly feel that Morgan State, Elon, Chattanooga, Richmond, RI, and Weber State are your peers on the football field - who am I to judge? But they are certainly not App's peers.

Also, FBS is better than FCS in countless ways. If you don't think the #19 next to our name all day long on the ESPN ticker all day long is more valuable than second place in what is largely seen as D2, well, you can't fix stupid.

Welcome to the shenandoah valley. The lil'ol jmu fcs for life crowd will always find a way to claim dll is where JMU belongs

Purplehazed get's it. The biggest difference between FCS and FBS is the regular football season. Just looking at JMU schedule for 2020 I would today predict JMU to finish the regular season next year with a record of 10-1. I would also predict the same record for over half of the members of the Sun Belt it they were playing the same schedule next year. If JMU was playing Georgia Southern schedule next year I would project JMU at 4-8 at best and also would not be surprised if finish 1-11.

JMU would of been favored over anyone in the SunBelt this year except Appy, and Louisiana would of been a slight 2 point favorite. JMU would be a 10 point favorite over Ga Southern.

(01-17-2020 11:22 AM)JMaddy Wrote:  

(01-16-2020 09:46 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(01-16-2020 12:11 PM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  

(01-16-2020 10:23 AM)Purple Wrote:  

(01-15-2020 08:18 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  The "FCS for Life" folk place an overwhelming emphasis on post season football, and argue from that position only. Those of us who'd prefer JMU to be an FBS team generally argue from the position that the regular season is the reason to move up but site a number of other issues in staying FCS,. The latest being the second rate treatment entering the gates in Frisco. I'd like to know if there was any bowl, including the FBS playoffs, where fans stood in line for an hour just to enter. I highly doubt Monday night's game did that to the fans. With that said, JMU did this to the students back in 2012. It was one of the HS band games. The student line stretched all the way to Champions drive. I watched a person near the end who was in line prior to KO not walk through the gates until halftime. We didn't have our shi! together. If you don't complain to the authority it will never be fixed and eventually there will not be 10K attend the FCS championship.

What stands out to me is that we (JMU fans only not including visiting fans) put over 20k butts in seats during the season but only half that number (the others being visiting fans) during playoffs and this includes the championship game. Therefore it's clear we have more interest in regular season games than post season.

I can only imagine the uptick in regular season interest if we upgraded the competition coming to BFS. I can easily see 30k fans coming through the gates the first time East Carolina, Appy, Marshall, and ODU make their way to Harrisonburg. I'd up that number to 35K when NC State, Duke, Pitt, and Louisville do deals with the Dukes. I'd further increase the number to 40k when UVA and Tech finally try their hand against us on our turf. It's perfectly clear fans want competitive games during the season by a simple look at the numbers when Appy hosted Miami in Boone. I'd also wager that Appy had huge numbers traveling to UNC and South Carolina. The regular season rules college football.

Furthermore, only a fool believes more than about 10 teams every season play for the FBS title. Tech, UVA, UNC, and over 100 other FBS teams play to be in and win a New Year's day game which is no different than what our
team should aspire to achieve. However, it's the AD's job to position his team's ability to not only win but create entertainment for the alumni.

Perfectly said. This is the point I have been trying to make forever. It isn't the few postseason games against juggernauts like Monmouth that are what matter. It is the dozen regular season games.

The notion that FBS is worthless if we aren't an automatic CFP candidate is ridiculous. We have to pay our dues at every level.

Case in point: Utah. When Terrence Apted was a freshman there, the Utes were undefeated and ranked #3. They couldn't get any higher than that because they were in a G5 conference (Mountain West). They blew out Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl (35-7 if memory serves). They continued to dominate their conference and, what do you know, they were invited to BCS (Pac-12).

That's how it happens. Barring a miracle with a simultaneous aligning of the stars, we are not going straight to a P5 conference. We must pay our dues at the G5 level. Every day we screw around monitoring the situation in FCS is another day removed from those opportunities.

a p5 conference? did you miswrite that?

i hate to break it to you....we ain't ever going to a P5 conference. Neither is App State, ODU, ECU, or any others that one might consider a "peer".

FYI - Utah started football in 1892. It took them 119 years to reach the P5 level. Don't hold your breath waiting for us to get to the P5.

Utah didn't get to P5 because they have been playing football since 1892. They got to P5 because of their performance in the 21st Century. I thought that was fairly obvious. Otherwise, Harvard and Yale would be P5.

Dude I want to go to FBS as much as anyone but it kills me how ignorant and dumb people sound who think JMU could go P5.

Utah got into the PAC-12, not just because of football (it helped I'm sure) but it was more because they have more than a billion dollar endowment, have a great medical school and are in the top 65 in research spending ($380M in 2018). IOW they fit in with their peer institutions in the PAC-12.

Until we get an endowment that encroaches on $1B, add a law and/or medical school and spend at least $100M on research (probably more like $200M), as well as join APLU or ORAU or some other more prestigious academic affiliation, we're not getting a sniff by the ACC. Its not just about sports its about prestige. Even schools like VT, Louisville and Florida State bring serious chops and credibility when you look at their affiliations, accomplishments and $$$.

Additionally we would need to double our athletic budget. We would also need to continue to dominate football at the G5 level and have a basketball team that can get to the NCAAT regularly. All this with the continued or expanded success of our women's teams and Olympic men's teams.

I would say you have a better chance of winning the lottery in your lifetime than JMU does of joining the ACC. So let's all be realistic that G5 is the target. The holy grail for us for the next 25 years should be to get to the AAC, which we have an outside shot at doing right away but probably need a successful stop at the Sunbelt or CUSA first. Do that, and expand the university's academic profile and $$$$ and then maybe we could consider talking about how far we can go.

I love this thread, which was started on 11-29-2012 at 11:44 AM. We are still talking about Newest Conference Rumors. It has less to do with what we can do on the football field, than the above in Bold. Give us the 22 extra scholarships and we beat most G5 schools and half the P5 schools. But it doesn't matter in the least until we address the issues in Bold

(01-17-2020 04:27 PM)DukeThaDawg Wrote:  I love this thread, which was started on 11-29-2012 at 11:44 AM.

False.
Feb 13, 2011
http://www.caazone.com/boards/threads/ne...or.103927/

(01-17-2020 04:25 PM)Dukester Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 04:03 PM)ValleyBoy Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 03:12 PM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 11:19 AM)iStoopify Wrote:  if you all truly feel that Morgan State, Elon, Chattanooga, Richmond, RI, and Weber State are your peers on the football field - who am I to judge? But they are certainly not App's peers.

Also, FBS is better than FCS in countless ways. If you don't think the #19 next to our name all day long on the ESPN ticker all day long is more valuable than second place in what is largely seen as D2, well, you can't fix stupid.

Welcome to the shenandoah valley. The lil'ol jmu fcs for life crowd will always find a way to claim dll is where JMU belongs

Purplehazed get's it. The biggest difference between FCS and FBS is the regular football season. Just looking at JMU schedule for 2020 I would today predict JMU to finish the regular season next year with a record of 10-1. I would also predict the same record for over half of the members of the Sun Belt it they were playing the same schedule next year. If JMU was playing Georgia Southern schedule next year I would project JMU at 4-8 at best and also would not be surprised if finish 1-11.

JMU would of been favored over anyone in the SunBelt this year except Appy, and Louisiana would of been a slight 2 point favorite. JMU would be a 10 point favorite over Ga Southern.

If you say so. You do know that JMU is record against the present members of the Sun Belt is 8-20. 3 of those wins were against FCS start ups.

(01-17-2020 04:03 PM)ValleyBoy Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 03:12 PM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(01-17-2020 11:19 AM)iStoopify Wrote:  if you all truly feel that Morgan State, Elon, Chattanooga, Richmond, RI, and Weber State are your peers on the football field - who am I to judge? But they are certainly not App's peers.

Also, FBS is better than FCS in countless ways. If you don't think the #19 next to our name all day long on the ESPN ticker all day long is more valuable than second place in what is largely seen as D2, well, you can't fix stupid.

Welcome to the shenandoah valley. The lil'ol jmu fcs for life crowd will always find a way to claim dll is where JMU belongs

Purplehazed get's it. The biggest difference between FCS and FBS is the regular football season. Just looking at JMU schedule for 2020 I would today predict JMU to finish the regular season next year with a record of 10-1. I would also predict the same record for over half of the members of the Sun Belt it they were playing the same schedule next year. If JMU was playing Georgia Southern schedule next year I would project JMU at 4-8 at best and also would not be surprised if finish 1-11.

What?!? JMU takes some serious hits due to graduation but looking at Georgia Southern's schedule I think a 7-5 maybe 8-4 would be realistic if JMU is able to maintain its status as NDSU's #1 contender. Boise State, Ole Miss (Kiffin) and App State would be the only games I would have the Dukes as a prohibitive underdog. With that said, I think NDSU has a "legit shot" against Oregon next year so I have to think JMU could make a run at winning one of those games.

I think it's possible for JMU to finish 6-6/7-5 in the AAC next year with a balanced (right mix of good, middling, bad) conference schedule. I absolutely think they could have won 8/9 games this year in the AAC with good luck in the health department. There's no doubt in my mind NDSU and JMU were among the top 40 maybe top 25 teams (NDSU) in all of D1 this season.