(09-29-2014 04:43 PM)Dukester Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 12:35 PM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 12:27 PM)Centdukesfan Wrote:  putting up 6 points through 3 quarters almost put me to sleep.

That is gonna happen from time to time.....even though the score was low (13-6) there was still offense and the ball was moving up and down the field. The offensive numbers for both teams at halftime were pretty good. So it was not like it was a boring - defensive struggle. Both teams failed to capitalize as they should have.

But my point this is a big CAA-RIVAL game and the student's will not stay, that is pretty sad. I get folks leaving early if the weather sucks or is a blowout.

Students know little about CAA rivals. Delaware has not been to JMU in years. Hell, I don't even feel much rivalry with them anymore. I'll be honest - since feeling the rivalry with ODU for 2 seasons - everything else pales in comparison. "I" don't feel any big rivalries in the CAA these days.

Not buying that either.....UD is an all-sports member of the CAA ---- they are on campus in Harrisonburg each and every year, maybe not football but for men's and women's basketball every year ---- oh that's right the apathetic student body does not support those sports either and one of them has been darn good for the past 5-6 years and the other has a CAA title and multiple 20 win seasons during the same span.

(09-29-2014 06:42 PM)FreshDad Wrote:  I'm thinkin' ... start winning games & the fans will come out to watch. Everyone loves a winner!

Don't show us the same failed plays time after time! I've seen high school girls' Powder Puff Football games with more imaginative plays than we ran on Saturday.

Then you would have really hated the play calling of the past 5 years......the play calling was really not that bad on Saturday.

(09-29-2014 07:50 PM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 06:51 PM)HooDukeVooDuke Wrote:  Does anyone know how many tickets are reserved for students?

somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000

as of Friday night only 3,500 were redeemed.

So that tells me not only do they not stay, they don't really turn out either.

really not trying to make excuses for students, but one complaint in the past was the heat on that side of the stadium. It was hot Saturday, in the beating sun on concrete. guaranteed it was 90+ degrees sitting in the sun over there Saturday and that drove a bunch of dehydrated kids to the doors.

It's simple math. JMU Football has been average since 2009. upperclassmen aren't going to games. the freshmen will lose interest quicker than the upperclassmen did. negativity builds a hell of a lot faster than the other way around. we need to win and win consistently and win exciting games. that's the only formula that puts butts in seats - especially for 20-some-year-olds today that have a far shorter attention span, and more "interesting" things (in their mind) to do with their time. Sitting around getting mad about it on the Internet doesn't fix the problem.

We can all agree on one thing. The theory that Withers and Juice would fill the stadium is bankrupt.

How many bullets do we have left in the gun do address the fact that we're another year removed from 2004?

(09-30-2014 07:51 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 08:33 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:19 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:09 PM)ShadyP Wrote:  So a tight ball-game against a CAA RIVAL is not enough to stay? I don't get it does JMU need to away $500 at the end of each quarter and $1000 at the end of the game to make it interesting enough, geez.

So if JMU had been ligthing up the scoreboard and winning 28-6 at half the game would have been a blowout and also reason for the students to bolt.

I am done with the excuses for student attendance, it has SUCKED for years and nothing the football team does or JMU does seems to move that needle. JMU has an apathetic student body period.

Watching FCS football is boring even if you love your Dukes deeply. JMU football isn't interesting in the slightest to most people and is barely interesting to me (a former season ticket holder and huge Dukes advocate).

I caught myself watching more of Texas A&M vs. Arkansas on Saturday afternoon than JMU vs. Delaware.

And how is that going to change on a Sat like we just had when it's Akron or Ball State or WKU vs JMU instead of Delaware?Your "big" games are only going to be maybe 2-3 a season, maybe 1 home and 1-2 away. Your other 9-10 games are going to be the Akrons, Ball States, Troy States, etc, of the world.

Perception of James Madison University athletics would change if we were in the MAC/CUSA/Belt. People think JMU is DII BDK, you know this to be true. We have student guides guiding prospective students and parents past BFS saying, "JMU is DII or something like that..."

This.....after FBS everything else is small-time. Even if the quality of play is not that big between CAA & MAC/CUSA/BELT (by the way it is getting to be a bigger difference every year) it is about perception. The average Joe knows FBS is the top level but have no clue the difference between FCS- DII - DIII - NAIA. Heck even on the ESPN standings page it lists Division IIA(FCS).

(09-29-2014 08:33 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:19 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:09 PM)ShadyP Wrote:  So a tight ball-game against a CAA RIVAL is not enough to stay? I don't get it does JMU need to away $500 at the end of each quarter and $1000 at the end of the game to make it interesting enough, geez.

So if JMU had been ligthing up the scoreboard and winning 28-6 at half the game would have been a blowout and also reason for the students to bolt.

I am done with the excuses for student attendance, it has SUCKED for years and nothing the football team does or JMU does seems to move that needle. JMU has an apathetic student body period.

Watching FCS football is boring even if you love your Dukes deeply. JMU football isn't interesting in the slightest to most people and is barely interesting to me (a former season ticket holder and huge Dukes advocate).

I caught myself watching more of Texas A&M vs. Arkansas on Saturday afternoon than JMU vs. Delaware.

And how is that going to change on a Sat like we just had when it's Akron or Ball State or WKU vs JMU instead of Delaware?

Your "big" games are only going to be maybe 2-3 a season, maybe 1 home and 1-2 away. Your other 9-10 games are going to be the Akrons, Ball States, Troy States, etc, of the world.

I never said anything about the Sun Belt or MAC...not sure how they are "my" games. The game I mentioned was a neutral site game in front of 100,000 people between two good teams, two good coaches and likely 10-15 future NFL players. The difference in quality between that game and ours was staggering.

I don't believe that most MAC, C-USA or Sun Belt schools will move the needle for our fans any more than Del, W&M and Richmond, I do believe our caliber of football would increase.

I don't think moving up to fbs will make a difference either because if we do we will be put into a conference no one cares about. And if we are honest about it there is no way we could compete in anything else either. Students not caring is something neither we as fans or the administration has much control over. Let's worry about being competitive in the CAA again and stop all the hopes for fbs glory.

Apologist......

No one cares about who are playing currently!

(09-30-2014 08:28 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(09-30-2014 07:51 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 08:33 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:19 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:09 PM)ShadyP Wrote:  So a tight ball-game against a CAA RIVAL is not enough to stay? I don't get it does JMU need to away $500 at the end of each quarter and $1000 at the end of the game to make it interesting enough, geez.

So if JMU had been ligthing up the scoreboard and winning 28-6 at half the game would have been a blowout and also reason for the students to bolt.

I am done with the excuses for student attendance, it has SUCKED for years and nothing the football team does or JMU does seems to move that needle. JMU has an apathetic student body period.

Watching FCS football is boring even if you love your Dukes deeply. JMU football isn't interesting in the slightest to most people and is barely interesting to me (a former season ticket holder and huge Dukes advocate).

I caught myself watching more of Texas A&M vs. Arkansas on Saturday afternoon than JMU vs. Delaware.

And how is that going to change on a Sat like we just had when it's Akron or Ball State or WKU vs JMU instead of Delaware?Your "big" games are only going to be maybe 2-3 a season, maybe 1 home and 1-2 away. Your other 9-10 games are going to be the Akrons, Ball States, Troy States, etc, of the world.

Perception of James Madison University athletics would change if we were in the MAC/CUSA/Belt. People think JMU is DII BDK, you know this to be true. We have student guides guiding prospective students and parents past BFS saying, "JMU is DII or something like that..."

This.....after FBS everything else is small-time. Even if the quality of play is not that big between CAA & MAC/CUSA/BELT (by the way it is getting to be a bigger difference every year) it is about perception. The average Joe knows FBS is the top level but have no clue the difference between FCS- DII - DIII - NAIA. Heck even on the ESPN standings page it lists Division IIA(FCS).

Really JMU is more like the 3rd tier of collegiate football and in the 4th (or 5th if you count CFL) level overall of football in America.

PRO
1) NFL
2) CFL

Collegiate
1) P6
2) G6/NDST
3) FCS Scholly
4) FCS Non-Scholly
5) Div II
6) Div III

There is a discernable difference between G6 and FCS, even the top tier schools, with a single notable exception of NDST and they are so much the exception that I've added them to the G6 tier.

(09-30-2014 12:14 AM)JMU2014 Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 08:33 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:19 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:09 PM)ShadyP Wrote:  So a tight ball-game against a CAA RIVAL is not enough to stay? I don't get it does JMU need to away $500 at the end of each quarter and $1000 at the end of the game to make it interesting enough, geez.

So if JMU had been ligthing up the scoreboard and winning 28-6 at half the game would have been a blowout and also reason for the students to bolt.

I am done with the excuses for student attendance, it has SUCKED for years and nothing the football team does or JMU does seems to move that needle. JMU has an apathetic student body period.

Watching FCS football is boring even if you love your Dukes deeply. JMU football isn't interesting in the slightest to most people and is barely interesting to me (a former season ticket holder and huge Dukes advocate).

I caught myself watching more of Texas A&M vs. Arkansas on Saturday afternoon than JMU vs. Delaware.

And how is that going to change on a Sat like we just had when it's Akron or Ball State or WKU vs JMU instead of Delaware?

Your "big" games are only going to be maybe 2-3 a season, maybe 1 home and 1-2 away. Your other 9-10 games are going to be the Akrons, Ball States, Troy States, etc, of the world.

Those 2-3 "big games" a year are 2-3 more big games a year that we have right now. Unless we make the playoffs, not one of the games left on our schedule will do anything to excite our students. I would much rather play Troy or Ball State than Elon or Rhode Island, especially if it comes with playing big schools (on the road or at home). FCS is small time and students know that. Why should they waste time watching us lose to Delaware?

"Who is Delaware? Didn't they lose 66-0 to Pitt? We must be pretty bad if we lost to that team..."

Most students don't understand we have 22 fewer scholarships. They don't understand that there are multiple levels of football. Unless we play schools they've heard of, they just don't care. And it will stay like that until things change.

Well, we're getting 1 of those a year now (a BCS) almost every year (last year with Akron being the 1 exception over the last 7 seasons) although usually getting our arse kicked (which will still happen on some of those games after move up). All those students have heard of VT, WVU, UNC, UMD..

(09-30-2014 08:28 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(09-30-2014 07:51 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 08:33 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:19 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:09 PM)ShadyP Wrote:  So a tight ball-game against a CAA RIVAL is not enough to stay? I don't get it does JMU need to away $500 at the end of each quarter and $1000 at the end of the game to make it interesting enough, geez.

So if JMU had been ligthing up the scoreboard and winning 28-6 at half the game would have been a blowout and also reason for the students to bolt.

I am done with the excuses for student attendance, it has SUCKED for years and nothing the football team does or JMU does seems to move that needle. JMU has an apathetic student body period.

Watching FCS football is boring even if you love your Dukes deeply. JMU football isn't interesting in the slightest to most people and is barely interesting to me (a former season ticket holder and huge Dukes advocate).

I caught myself watching more of Texas A&M vs. Arkansas on Saturday afternoon than JMU vs. Delaware.

And how is that going to change on a Sat like we just had when it's Akron or Ball State or WKU vs JMU instead of Delaware?Your "big" games are only going to be maybe 2-3 a season, maybe 1 home and 1-2 away. Your other 9-10 games are going to be the Akrons, Ball States, Troy States, etc, of the world.

Perception of James Madison University athletics would change if we were in the MAC/CUSA/Belt. People think JMU is DII BDK, you know this to be true. We have student guides guiding prospective students and parents past BFS saying, "JMU is DII or something like that..."

This.....after FBS everything else is small-time. Even if the quality of play is not that big between CAA & MAC/CUSA/BELT (by the way it is getting to be a bigger difference every year) it is about perception. The average Joe knows FBS is the top level but have no clue the difference between FCS- DII - DIII - NAIA. Heck even on the ESPN standings page it lists Division IIA(FCS).

After BCS, or P5, or whatever they call it now, everything is small time..

Where are you seeing it as "Division IIA (FCS)"? I'm seeing "NCAA FCS (Division I-AA)"
http://espn.go.com/college-football/stan..._/group/81

(09-30-2014 03:21 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(09-30-2014 08:28 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(09-30-2014 07:51 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 08:33 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:19 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  Watching FCS football is boring even if you love your Dukes deeply. JMU football isn't interesting in the slightest to most people and is barely interesting to me (a former season ticket holder and huge Dukes advocate).

I caught myself watching more of Texas A&M vs. Arkansas on Saturday afternoon than JMU vs. Delaware.

And how is that going to change on a Sat like we just had when it's Akron or Ball State or WKU vs JMU instead of Delaware?Your "big" games are only going to be maybe 2-3 a season, maybe 1 home and 1-2 away. Your other 9-10 games are going to be the Akrons, Ball States, Troy States, etc, of the world.

Perception of James Madison University athletics would change if we were in the MAC/CUSA/Belt. People think JMU is DII BDK, you know this to be true. We have student guides guiding prospective students and parents past BFS saying, "JMU is DII or something like that..."

This.....after FBS everything else is small-time. Even if the quality of play is not that big between CAA & MAC/CUSA/BELT (by the way it is getting to be a bigger difference every year) it is about perception. The average Joe knows FBS is the top level but have no clue the difference between FCS- DII - DIII - NAIA. Heck even on the ESPN standings page it lists Division IIA(FCS).

After BCS, or P5, or whatever they call it now, everything is small time..

Where are you seeing it as "Division IIA (FCS)"? I'm seeing "NCAA FCS (Division I-AA)"http://espn.go.com/college-football/standings/_/group/81

I was typing from memory....but the point remains even ESPN cannot agree on one name for this level of football.

Stunned to look at this thread and see it is somehow about conference affiliation... again. The stadium is the biggest damn thing on the campus, the tailgating is everywhere on a Saturday afternoon. If the students aren't going to show up their ass up for that, I doubt whatever dipsht labels we put on it are going to change their mind, short of being in the SEC. If they aren't gonna come, so be it. Give us our damn night games back, dump the 12:30 crap, and let's at least have enjoyable football Saturdays that don't start at 6 fn a.m.

(10-01-2014 01:04 PM)mistrhanky Wrote:  Stunned to look at this thread and see it is somehow about conference affiliation... again. The stadium is the biggest damn thing on the campus, the tailgating is everywhere on a Saturday afternoon. If the students aren't going to show up their ass up for that, I doubt whatever dipsht labels we put on it are going to change their mind, short of being in the SEC. If they aren't gonna come, so be it. Give us our damn night games back, dump the 12:30 crap, and let's at least have enjoyable football Saturdays that don't start at 6 fn a.m.

yes, yes, yes.... a thousand times yes. great post. and i really miss the night games, which are some of my favorites. i realize we'll always have at least one noon-ish start for Parents' Weekend, but i wish it would only be one.

agree....the 330/4pm kickoffs are primarily the thought was ---- this would be the best time for the students. Well it was a good try, but does not appear to help the issue, so let's have more 6pm kicks and fully use those nice lights.

(10-01-2014 01:25 PM)ShadyP Wrote:  agree....the 330/4pm kickoffs are primarily the thought was ---- this would be the best time for the students. Well it was a good try, but does not appear to help the issue, so let's have more 6pm kicks and fully use those nice lights.

Yeah, made sense to me but has proven to not be a needle mover.

I actually thought students did a pretty good job at Saturdays game filling their section and slapping those noise makers. We have best tailgate & stadium environment in the state for students and alumni, and JMU employees and security personnel are great host. I would be in favor of shutting down all tailgate acitivity starting at kickoff and opening it up at end of game. We don't need to baby-sit persons who don't watch game, and we might get a few more persons in the seats.

(10-01-2014 01:04 PM)mistrhanky Wrote:  Stunned to look at this thread and see it is somehow about conference affiliation... again. The stadium is the biggest damn thing on the campus, the tailgating is everywhere on a Saturday afternoon. If the students aren't going to show up their ass up for that, I doubt whatever dipsht labels we put on it are going to change their mind, short of being in the SEC. If they aren't gonna come, so be it. Give us our damn night games back, dump the 12:30 crap, and let's at least have enjoyable football Saturdays that don't start at 6 fn a.m.

Just because the stadium is the biggest damn thing on campus, the students are supposed to want to come watch FCS football? Really? That seems like a great strategy... don't worry about trying to sell/market a product that customers want or care about, just build the biggest damn container possible, and they'll have to buy it!

The reason the discussion changed to conference realignment is because people are suggesting that there is a direct correlation between student/fan interest and the ability to get butts in the seats. It's not like the thread went on some crazy tangent, as there are very valid cause and effect arguments here.

(09-30-2014 07:51 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 08:33 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:19 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 01:09 PM)ShadyP Wrote:  So a tight ball-game against a CAA RIVAL is not enough to stay? I don't get it does JMU need to away $500 at the end of each quarter and $1000 at the end of the game to make it interesting enough, geez.

So if JMU had been ligthing up the scoreboard and winning 28-6 at half the game would have been a blowout and also reason for the students to bolt.

I am done with the excuses for student attendance, it has SUCKED for years and nothing the football team does or JMU does seems to move that needle. JMU has an apathetic student body period.

Watching FCS football is boring even if you love your Dukes deeply. JMU football isn't interesting in the slightest to most people and is barely interesting to me (a former season ticket holder and huge Dukes advocate).

I caught myself watching more of Texas A&M vs. Arkansas on Saturday afternoon than JMU vs. Delaware.

And how is that going to change on a Sat like we just had when it's Akron or Ball State or WKU vs JMU instead of Delaware?Your "big" games are only going to be maybe 2-3 a season, maybe 1 home and 1-2 away. Your other 9-10 games are going to be the Akrons, Ball States, Troy States, etc, of the world.

Perception of James Madison University athletics would change if we were in the MAC/CUSA/Belt. People think JMU is DII BDK, you know this to be true. We have student guides guiding prospective students and parents past BFS saying, "JMU is DII or something like that..."

You can't fix stupid...