(02-23-2017 07:09 PM)H.U.S.T.L.E. Wrote:  

(02-23-2017 05:33 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(02-23-2017 04:31 PM)H.U.S.T.L.E. Wrote:  From the folks at JMU Sports Blog:

http://jmusportsblog.com/?p=6630

Quote:Today we’re going to look back, way back, to 1982. It was the year that the JMU Dukes defeated the University of Virginia 21-17. UVA was of course a member of the ACC. JMU on the other hand was in only its third season of 1-AA. It was a big win for that reason, but the truth is UVA was terrible. And we’re not talking Mike London terrible, we’re talking 2 winning seasons in a span of almost 3 decades terrible.

Yes, the JMU program was in its infancy and beating a I-A team and ACC member was a big deal at the time, but you have to remember that UVA had been a bad program for at least 30 years at that point.

Using UVA football as a measuring stick for anything but the period under the glory years of George Welsh is a weak argument.

And yeah, I'm biased as a VT grad, but just look at the records from that era and it's not a huge surprise that a brand new program building excitement (even at a lower level) might beat a historically bad I-A program.

Do you know who coached that UVA team? Answer can be found in 1982 on page six of http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/va/s...esults.pdf

Absolutely. I know it was Welsh's first season in charge - a season in which they won only two games. That's why I said "glory years."

UVA had been playing football since 1888. Our program was barely 10 years old. When we beat them in 1982, we were only 4 years removed from being non scholarship DIII and only 3 years removed from a 69-9 drubbing to UVA while a DII squad.

Even as bad as they may have been that year, it was a huge win for us beating an ACC school. And UVA was competitive in all but two games that season as Welsh led them to winning records in 17 of the next 18 seasons. The worm had started to turn for them. We should have beaten them in '83 too. Three fumbles inside the UVA 20 did us in.