(07-11-2012 11:13 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(07-11-2012 10:59 PM)Dukes09 Wrote:  Jmu fan here. Just browsing out of boredom and noticed this. You have a whole thread because of what maybe 2 fans said? It all stemmed from us being announced as one of the 20 some odd schools considered by the sbc back in march.
From our fans perspective, you'll probably find one fan that wants to join the sbc. He probably just wants the FBS label, regardless of what may be sacrificed. Most of our fans don't want anything to do with the sbc.
I personally would only consider it if we were a package deal with app state and ga southern. You can leave liberty in Fcs lol.

Not wanting to be on an island in any conference is understandable, but if you'd prefer to be on an island in the MAC than on an island in the Sun Belt...you're nuts. The MAC has the most stadiums under 30k capacity in the country, a couple of their teams attendance is beyond pathetic.

It took some digging, but I found the numbers I ran on Eastern Michigan's 2011 average attendance of 4,267. That's right, their season average attendance was less than 5,000. I don't feel like running all the numbers again, so I'll just repost what I did then which was seeing where that number 4,267 would have ranked against season averages in 2010(since the 2011 numbers weren't available as the season wasn't quite over at the time)

"For some perspective, going off of 2010 numbers, 4,267 would have been:
92nd in FCS coming in just ahead of Savannah State
37th in DII coming in just ahead of Kutztown University
13th in DIII coming in just ahead of Otterbein University"

Yeah neither league is wowing anyone with their support, but I looked at league averages for both conferences and the sbc had a slight lead. I think it's cultural differences and more people are willing to go to football games in the south.
Our average last season was 25k and I think that was ahead of every sbc school but UL-Lafayette.
I think this is a case of sbc fans underestimating us, and us underestimating the sbc at the same time.

(07-11-2012 10:59 PM)Dukes09 Wrote:  Jmu fan here. Just browsing out of boredom and noticed this. You have a whole thread because of what maybe 2 fans said? It all stemmed from us being announced as one of the 20 some odd schools considered by the sbc back in march.
From our fans perspective, you'll probably find one fan that wants to join the sbc. He probably just wants the FBS label, regardless of what may be sacrificed. Most of our fans don't want anything to do with the sbc.
I personally would only consider it if we were a package deal with app state and ga southern. You can leave liberty in Fcs lol.

Definition of OFF-SEASON

: a time of suspended or reduced activity; especially : the time during which an athlete is not training or competing

For those that may care, app state is becoming strongly rumored to join the CAA, along with many other schools not on the sbc's radar anyways. Jmu and app are supposedly allied together, as rumors state.

(07-12-2012 08:51 AM)Dukes09 Wrote:  

(07-11-2012 11:13 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(07-11-2012 10:59 PM)Dukes09 Wrote:  Jmu fan here. Just browsing out of boredom and noticed this. You have a whole thread because of what maybe 2 fans said? It all stemmed from us being announced as one of the 20 some odd schools considered by the sbc back in march.
From our fans perspective, you'll probably find one fan that wants to join the sbc. He probably just wants the FBS label, regardless of what may be sacrificed. Most of our fans don't want anything to do with the sbc.
I personally would only consider it if we were a package deal with app state and ga southern. You can leave liberty in Fcs lol.

Not wanting to be on an island in any conference is understandable, but if you'd prefer to be on an island in the MAC than on an island in the Sun Belt...you're nuts. The MAC has the most stadiums under 30k capacity in the country, a couple of their teams attendance is beyond pathetic.

It took some digging, but I found the numbers I ran on Eastern Michigan's 2011 average attendance of 4,267. That's right, their season average attendance was less than 5,000. I don't feel like running all the numbers again, so I'll just repost what I did then which was seeing where that number 4,267 would have ranked against season averages in 2010(since the 2011 numbers weren't available as the season wasn't quite over at the time)

"For some perspective, going off of 2010 numbers, 4,267 would have been:
92nd in FCS coming in just ahead of Savannah State
37th in DII coming in just ahead of Kutztown University
13th in DIII coming in just ahead of Otterbein University"

Yeah neither league is wowing anyone with their support, but I looked at league averages for both conferences and the sbc had a slight lead. I think it's cultural differences and more people are willing to go to football games in the south.
Our average last season was 25k and I think that was ahead of every sbc school but UL-Lafayette.
I think this is a case of sbc fans underestimating us, and us underestimating the sbc at the same time.

No one is underestimating JMU. We've just seen it and heard it before and while I do think you guys are underestimating the Sun Belt, I think your greater underestimation is the transition process itself. History is littered with good to great FCS teams that move up and the ones that are successful out of the gate are few and far between. Hell the ones that have winning records overall after ten years are few and far between. Troy's record in the ten seasons since moving up to FBS is 65-58, which is only slightly better than an average of 6-6 and they have one of the best first ten seasons of any program to move up in the last three decades not named Boise State. There are a lot more Buffalos(25-82 first ten FBS seasons) UABs(53-59 first ten FBS seasons) Idahos(41-64 first ten FBS seasons) La Techs(57-51-3 first ten FBS seasons) ULMs(32-71 first ten FBS seasons) Middle Tennessees(51-65 first ten FBS seasons) etc. than there are Boise States or even Troys.

(07-12-2012 11:11 AM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(07-12-2012 08:51 AM)Dukes09 Wrote:  

(07-11-2012 11:13 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(07-11-2012 10:59 PM)Dukes09 Wrote:  Jmu fan here. Just browsing out of boredom and noticed this. You have a whole thread because of what maybe 2 fans said? It all stemmed from us being announced as one of the 20 some odd schools considered by the sbc back in march.
From our fans perspective, you'll probably find one fan that wants to join the sbc. He probably just wants the FBS label, regardless of what may be sacrificed. Most of our fans don't want anything to do with the sbc.
I personally would only consider it if we were a package deal with app state and ga southern. You can leave liberty in Fcs lol.

Not wanting to be on an island in any conference is understandable, but if you'd prefer to be on an island in the MAC than on an island in the Sun Belt...you're nuts. The MAC has the most stadiums under 30k capacity in the country, a couple of their teams attendance is beyond pathetic.

It took some digging, but I found the numbers I ran on Eastern Michigan's 2011 average attendance of 4,267. That's right, their season average attendance was less than 5,000. I don't feel like running all the numbers again, so I'll just repost what I did then which was seeing where that number 4,267 would have ranked against season averages in 2010(since the 2011 numbers weren't available as the season wasn't quite over at the time)

"For some perspective, going off of 2010 numbers, 4,267 would have been:
92nd in FCS coming in just ahead of Savannah State
37th in DII coming in just ahead of Kutztown University
13th in DIII coming in just ahead of Otterbein University"

Yeah neither league is wowing anyone with their support, but I looked at league averages for both conferences and the sbc had a slight lead. I think it's cultural differences and more people are willing to go to football games in the south.
Our average last season was 25k and I think that was ahead of every sbc school but UL-Lafayette.
I think this is a case of sbc fans underestimating us, and us underestimating the sbc at the same time.

No one is underestimating JMU. We've just seen it and heard it before and while I do think you guys are underestimating the Sun Belt, I think your greater underestimation is the transition process itself. History is littered with good to great FCS teams that move up and the ones that are successful out of the gate are few and far between. Hell the ones that have winning records overall after ten years are few and far between. Troy's record in the ten seasons since moving up to FBS is 65-58, which is only slightly better than an average of 6-6 and they have one of the best first ten seasons of any program to move up in the last three decades not named Boise State. There are a lot more Buffalos(25-82 first ten FBS seasons) UABs(53-59 first ten FBS seasons) Idahos(41-64 first ten FBS seasons) La Techs(57-51-3 first ten FBS seasons) ULMs(32-71 first ten FBS seasons) Middle Tennessees(51-65 first ten FBS seasons) etc. than there are Boise States or even Troys.

Yeah, but they's the bestest that ever was. They's the Cream of the Crop.

(07-12-2012 10:33 AM)Dukes09 Wrote:  For those that may care, app state is becoming strongly rumored to join the CAA, along with many other schools not on the sbc's radar anyways. Jmu and app are supposedly allied together, as rumors state.

For the record, I would be absolutely thrilled if App/JMU were allies and ended up moving to the FBS together.

Having said that, everything I've read/heard seems to indicate App will not join the CAA. CAA would only have us if they thought we were committed to FCS. It doesn’t make sense for them to add us if we are going to jump ship in a year or two if/when there is more conference realignment (makes even less sense if we are teaming up with JMU to try and jump FBS together).

It doesn’t make much sense from our end either. I’m sure the TV money is better (since there is none in the SoCon), but we would lose money overall in the CAA vs. the Socon. We would have to pay the SoCon exit fee, have a huge increase in travel costs (just to compare, this past year we played every football game in either Virginia, North Carolina, or South Carolina), and if/when we left the exit fee will be a million dollars (that is if it doesn’t get raised).

I just don’t see it happening. If we knew we were going to be FCS the next 10+ years, I’d be in favor of it. It’s just too much money/hassle when we are still holding out hope for a FBS invite.

(07-10-2012 02:07 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  I have a higher oppinion of JMU than a lot of my ODU bretheren and truly hope they find a place in FBS football. They certainly have a devoted fanbase. I think if they were to join the Sun Belt after the required transitional years they could come in competing and after a few years be competing near the top. I think App State and Ga South would be better geographical fits and bring about the same level of football.

If by about the same you mean a higher level than I'd agree.

(07-11-2012 11:53 AM)forphase1 Wrote:  That being said, I think the SBC is a stronger conference than the MAC that Marshall joined in 1997. The MAC at that time was very weak. If James Madison were to join the SBC, they'd struggle. They aren't nearly as strong as Marshall was in the mid 1990s, and the SBC is a better league than the MAC circa 1997.

Do you consider the Sun Belt to be stronger today than the current MAC?

(07-12-2012 07:56 PM)Saint3333 Wrote:  

(07-10-2012 02:07 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  I have a higher oppinion of JMU than a lot of my ODU bretheren and truly hope they find a place in FBS football. They certainly have a devoted fanbase. I think if they were to join the Sun Belt after the required transitional years they could come in competing and after a few years be competing near the top. I think App State and Ga South would be better geographical fits and bring about the same level of football.

If by about the same you mean a higher level than I'd agree.

Well we'll just let you guys fight it out for second place this year

(07-09-2012 04:39 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  what makes JMU a dominator?

Crack.