JMU has 14 team sports -- I didn't bother trying to come up with rankings for things like track, swimming, etc, because they're kinda impossible.

Anyway, out of those teams:
Football - won eastern division, ineligible for championship, but beat declared champion by 40. Ranked #25 twice.
Women's Volleyball - won conference
Women's basketball - won conference
Women's field hockey - D1 independent. 10-7, ranked 28th nationally in RPI, 22nd in coaches' poll.
Women's Lacrosse - #5 in US 6-0 in AAC, 16-1 overall.

Men's Soccer - lost finals
Women's Soccer - lost finals
Women's tennis - lost finals

Men's basketball - lost semifinals
Women's golf - 8th in conference tournament; ranked 77 in US, had an insane run in March
Women's golf - 8th in conference tournament; ranked 135 in US
Men's tennis - lost in quarterfinals of SBC tournament

Softball - #6 in Sun Belt
Baseball - #10 in Sun Belt


This is astonishing to me. To be this successful across such a wide range of sports, especially in a conference that's so much more competitive across the board than the CAA, in our first season, is just amazing.

We were only ranked for 1 week but the rest is still amazing

It's a great time to be a JMU fan!

Many thought we could compete, but I seriously doubt many thought we would compete at this level so soon.
Many of the programs in the Sun Belt could only wish to have this kind of success. Makes me incredibly grateful that we have an administration and AD that have a level of commitment that spans all the sports, not just the ones that are the revenue makers.
And probably the best part is that we haven't even come close to our potential.
It's one thing to have a fantastic year, but another to do this year in and year out. We have been doing that and hopefully will continue to do that.

(05-01-2023 05:53 AM)fishingduke12 Wrote:  We were only ranked for 1 week but the rest is still amazing

I'm counting that offseason ranking that ESPN keeps pointing to for its content. I suppose that's questionable, but still not bad.

outside of football, baseball and softball, i don't think there is much difference between the Sun Belt and CAA.

So not sure why everyone is so surprised. i fully expected us to be a top overall program in the Sun Belt. and fully expected us to struggle in baseball and softball because those are 2 sports where the SB is definitely better than the CAA.

(05-01-2023 09:08 AM)94computerguy Wrote:  

(05-01-2023 05:53 AM)fishingduke12 Wrote:  We were only ranked for 1 week but the rest is still amazing

I'm counting that offseason ranking that ESPN keeps pointing to for its content. I suppose that's questionable, but still not bad.

The same people also have us rated 91st based on fpi.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/fpi

(05-01-2023 10:00 AM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  

(05-01-2023 09:08 AM)94computerguy Wrote:  

(05-01-2023 05:53 AM)fishingduke12 Wrote:  We were only ranked for 1 week but the rest is still amazing

I'm counting that offseason ranking that ESPN keeps pointing to for its content. I suppose that's questionable, but still not bad.

The same people also have us rated 91st based on fpi.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/fpi

Just shows that not even ESPN believes the preseason FPI.

(05-01-2023 10:21 AM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(05-01-2023 10:00 AM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  

(05-01-2023 09:08 AM)94computerguy Wrote:  

(05-01-2023 05:53 AM)fishingduke12 Wrote:  We were only ranked for 1 week but the rest is still amazing

I'm counting that offseason ranking that ESPN keeps pointing to for its content. I suppose that's questionable, but still not bad.

The same people also have us rated 91st based on fpi.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/fpi

Just shows that not even ESPN believes the preseason FPI.

Preseason FPI is based on the last four years numbers to try and average things out. It would make no sense to base it of of the previous year and try and measure intangibles from new additions/losses before even playing a snap. Its still a 30 spot jump from where we started last year, and I would assume with similar success this year like we had last year this number will likely be around 65 next year to start the year.

For reference we started around 120 last year, and finished 50th with the relatively easy SOS we had last year. With similar results this year in what is a definitely tougher schedule this year would lead one to assume we finish better than 50th this year. Remember its how you finish, not where you start.

Fire King & Bourne, we are being left behind.......

FCS for life.......

never in doubt. only the chicken littles didnt understand, have patience or have the confidence in the Admin or JMU.

some still don't.....

Glad we've continued our success in the BSC, only wish we moved a little sooner so we could be having the success CCU, Liberty and ASU have had on the football FBS level.

(05-01-2023 04:20 PM)Dukester Wrote:  

Glad we've continued our success in the BSC, only wish we moved a little sooner so we could be having the success CCU, Liberty and ASU have had on the football FBS level.

The biggest thing for the timing imo is that we're fully FBS and eligible for the playoff expansion so in that way it worked out. I would be ecstatic, but not at all surprised, to see JMU get an auto bid in 2024 or very soon after.

(05-01-2023 04:20 PM)Dukester Wrote:  

Glad we've continued our success in the BSC, only wish we moved a little sooner so we could be having the success CCU, Liberty and ASU have had on the football FBS level.

Perhaps, perhaps not. It's easy to say, but perhaps we wouldn't be dominating like we are today. So many things could have happened differently.
If we had moved in 2013, perhaps we decided to keep Matthews a year or two longer to transition up to FBS. Or, maybe we hire Withers and he chooses to stay because we would be FBS and Texas State would not be the upgrade it was. All of a sudden the trajectory of JMU football goes much, much differently.
The list could go on and on.
We are having success now because we were as ready as we could be.
As easily as we could have been as successful as App State, we could also have struggled like ODU.
Hindsight is always 20/20.

(05-01-2023 05:22 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  

(05-01-2023 04:20 PM)Dukester Wrote:  

Glad we've continued our success in the BSC, only wish we moved a little sooner so we could be having the success CCU, Liberty and ASU have had on the football FBS level.

The biggest thing for the timing imo is that we're fully FBS and eligible for the playoff expansion so in that way it worked out. I would be ecstatic, but not at all surprised, to see JMU get an auto bid in 2024 or very soon after.

Exactly this. The timing is perfect. I'm honestly not that impressed by what CCU and Liberty have done this far, and not sure I'd trade places the past 10 years. App St has had a strong run. IF we work our way into the CFP, that would eclipse what those other schools have done very quickly however.

It's gonna be a handful of AAC, SBC and occasional MWC schools that are consistently in the conversation for CFP every year...JMU will be in that group pretty consistently we believe. That conversation alone (and then conversation that ensues if / when we get screwed a time or two) will generate more excitement for JMU than anything we've ever seen!

I agree with Dukester, I believe we could of (see what I did there?) moved a lot sooner. Our immediate success in FBS validates that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy with where we are. In fact, I'm thrilled. I just believe we could be even farther ahead right now had we made the jump earlier. We certainly wouldn't have been prohibited from post-season play and the conference championship last year.

You say, 'but, yeah, the Mick might have been here longer, and Withers too, and yada, yada. You know what else might have happened? The Sun Belt might have been closed for business had Texas and Oklahoma not begun the realignment circus. We were very, very fortunate that this opportunity came our way. Kudos to our admin for jumping on it, but it was our great fortune that the stars aligned as they did. Otherwise, we may still be playing Elon and Stony Brook.

(05-01-2023 07:00 PM)bcp_jmu Wrote:  It's gonna be a handful of AAC, SBC and occasional MWC schools that are consistently in the conversation for CFP every year...JMU will be in that group pretty consistently we believe. That conversation alone (and then conversation that ensues if / when we get screwed a time or two) will generate more excitement for JMU than anything we've ever seen!

I think we're in a stronger position than any other school in the state to get that bid. UVA and VT would have to either win the ACC or get an at large. I don't see that in the next 3-5 years.

(05-01-2023 09:30 AM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  outside of football, baseball and softball, i don't think there is much difference between the Sun Belt and CAA.

So not sure why everyone is so surprised. i fully expected us to be a top overall program in the Sun Belt. and fully expected us to struggle in baseball and softball because those are 2 sports where the SB is definitely better than the CAA.

Agree, we're exactly where I thought we'd be with the exception of that we are a notch above where I thought our football program would be. Really figured App and Marshall would be a little better than us at the onset.

(05-01-2023 07:06 PM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(05-01-2023 07:00 PM)bcp_jmu Wrote:  It's gonna be a handful of AAC, SBC and occasional MWC schools that are consistently in the conversation for CFP every year...JMU will be in that group pretty consistently we believe. That conversation alone (and then conversation that ensues if / when we get screwed a time or two) will generate more excitement for JMU than anything we've ever seen!

I think we're in a stronger position than any other school in the state to get that bid. UVA and VT would have to either win the ACC or get an at large. I don't see that in the next 3-5 years.

Here's a fun question... How many times will JMU make the CFP before any other Virginia school makes it? If it weren't for Liberty I'd think that number would likely be pretty high, but I'm gonna guess Liberty gets in after our second. Maybe third. That'd be a fun question for App State fans and NC schools as well, but UNC is sure a lot closer to taking down the ACC than VT or UVA are.

We're #1 in the Buba's Cup and nearly assured to finish in the top 2. It's basically down to between us and South Alabama: https://sunbeltsports.org/sports/2022/10...bubas.aspx

I think with the recently finished sports we're up by a coupe points still. Neither of us have men's outdoor T&F or beach volleyball, so it's down to women's outdoor T&F, softball, and baseball. I have no idea about T&F, but we're one spot behind them in baseball and 4 spots behind them in softball. Hopefully softball can continue to improve and can make up ground there. Either way it's gonna be neck and neck to the end. Either way, it would be pretty awesome to step in and compete to win the conference cup right away, especially considering we don't compete in any men's T&F/CC sports, which is 3 of the 19 sports that make up the cup (there's only a few BBV programs, so that doesn't make much of a difference). Add to that that the SBC doesn't sponsor our two best programs, which would have easily wrapped the cup up for us. Go Dukes.