(03-23-2012 10:04 AM)Howl-n-Prowl Wrote: It's interesting (to me) that the two of the three JMU fans who voted (at this time), voted for JMU's inclusion without bringing in any of their basketball mates from the CAA. I thought that those teams may provide additional (needed) incentive to join, but it appears that moving up to FBS is incentive enough. That's encouraging, I hope the JMU administration feels the same.
Regarding the geographical concerns expressed by some JMU posters (not just on this thread), if you accept the premise that JMU will not be able to jump up to the FBS straight into the ACC or other AQ league, there really is not a non-AQ conference more regional for JMU than the MAC.
The two mentioned CUSA schools plus Ohio are within 300 miles of JMU. But if you were to use the time/distance between JMU and UAB (the 3rd closest CUSA school to JMU) as a radius, 10 of the 13 schools in the MAC that JMU would be playing fit inside of that circle. Only NIU, WMU, and CMU are farther but they would not be in JMU's division. Plus (I didn't verify this but), I think that the remaining three MAC schools are closer to JMU than the 4th closest CUSA school.
First, my "ideal" situation if JMU were to consider the MAC would be if and only if ODU came with us, and possibly Delaware (although I'm unsure of UD's level of commitment to the FBS level). I'd love Appalachian State too, as they have an excellent following and there's already an non-conference rivalry that I want to see grow. Their fans travel well and you'll grow to hate them haha. Being in NC though might prevent ASU from considering the MAC before the Sun Belt. I voted for JMU/UMass full time because it was the best option, although not my ideal option.
You present a valid point about the fact that there is no non-AQ conference geographically closer to Harrisonburg than the MAC. If the eastern half of the CUSA got with some CAA schools and made a new east coast conference, that would be the best scenario. Unfortunately many ECU fans i've encountered online view schools like JMU as "beneath them", even though we used to be in the same conference as recent as the mid 90s. How quickly they forget that they've been turned down by the Big East and really have nowhere to go. That CUSA/MWC merger is a joke and won't last more than 5-7 years when they're all in the red financially.
Really the only reason why I entertain the CUSA conference is because of the higher level of exposure it would bring. Our "ideal" situation to most fans is a conference that does not currently exist.
My biggest concern about the MAC is the fact that it was the least attended conference on the FBS level. I know it's cultural in the North to not like football as much as in southern states, but with Eastern Michigan averaging 4.7k/game (ugh, how do they stay afloat?) and many other schools among the least attended in the FBS, is there a significant reason for this? I know it's tough to compete with the Big Ten for local attention, but almost every state in the country has at least one power conference team to compete with.
App State is the best attended in FCS, JMU 2nd with 25k/game, UD and ODU are also in the top 5 or 6 in that level I believe. If these handful of teams were to join, assuming enthusiasm remains the same, they'd already be one of the best supported programs in the conference right out of the gate.
What does the MAC do to market itself in its local regions?
JMU plays @Akron in the 2013 season, and I'm looking forward to going up to Ohio for the first time. I wonder if Akron will improve before then, our AD joked that they're paying us 250k to go up there and beat them.