Regardless of why, it sucks to see attendance drop 13% on a day with much better weather AND opponent vs the opener against STFU.

A bigger concern is that neither Parents weekend or Homecoming are close to sellouts. And if you really want to laugh, look at the amount available for Elon.

I think it is clear that FBS rumors boosted attendance since 2011. Now that those rumors are done, attendance is falling back.

(09-29-2014 03:50 PM)BSKB 24 Wrote:  I've told you all this before. Academic requirements to get into JMU has created a school full of nerds.They are more interested in things high tech than football. Not enough average Joes and Jills at Madison anymore.

Academic requirements have been fairly consistent from the late 1990's through today.

(09-29-2014 03:52 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 03:50 PM)BSKB 24 Wrote:  I've told you all this before. Academic requirements to get into JMU has created a school full of nerds.They are more interested in things high tech than football. Not enough average Joes and Jills at Madison anymore.

Academic requirements have been fairly consistent from the late 1990's through today.

Exactly, and our standards are no longer higher than schools like VT, so that excuse doesn't fly.

The company we keep (FCS/CAA) and results are what are driving declines in attendance. It's as simple as that.

(09-29-2014 03:50 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  Regardless of why, it sucks to see attendance drop 13% on a day with much better weather AND opponent vs the opener against STFU.

A bigger concern is that neither Parents weekend or Homecoming are close to sellouts.

I think it is clear that FBS rumors boosted attendance since 2011. Now that those rumors are done, attendance is falling back.

Agreed!!

(09-29-2014 03:46 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 03:37 PM)DoubleDDuke Wrote:  I mean, we can go back down that road a million times but still, why would you not at least be outside on a day like that? I don't get it. If you like football AT ALL it's just a great day to be out and enjoy the weather and atmosphere. There's nothing else to do at that time of day. Nothing. You want to work out? You have up until 4pm to do that. You want to drink? You have all night to do that. I just don't get what people do. Don't tell me they're going to study on Saturday afternoon/evening because you know damn well they're not, haha. If they're in their rooms watching FBS games on TV that's just supportive to the argument all of us have about being in the CAA.

I would argue that they do. We probably got close to 1/3 of the student body to go to the game on Saturday. Then the students saw a terrible half of football by both squads, probably stayed to watch the MRDs and decided they were hungry and that their buzz was wearing off and decided to book it home or to a friends place. After finding myself more entrenched in Texas A&M vs. Arkansas on Saturday afternoon, I can't really blame them.

I've advocated serving beer at the games but I don't see that happening any time soon. It might be a bad idea anyway as probably over half the students aren't 21, you'd run into all types of issues with 21 year olds buying beer for underage people, and most of them probably couldn't afford it anyway. I know some schools were trying it. Would be curious to see if that made any difference in their attendance.

(09-29-2014 03:50 PM)BSKB 24 Wrote:  I've told you all this before. Academic requirements to get into JMU has created a school full of nerds.They are more interested in things high tech than football. Not enough average Joes and Jills at Madison anymore.

I don't buy necessarily buy that, and even if it's true, then it's a good thing. If we're going to do the FCS teams and cite "academics" as the reason, we may as well have brighter students who are less interested in athletics. People playing on their phones more doesn't equal "interested in things high tech," it means that they have a lower attention span.

There is actually plenty to do in Harrisonburg and the surrounding area these days and attendance is still much better for football games than it was back when cows outnumbered co-eds.

(09-29-2014 03:54 PM)atljmualum Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 03:52 PM)JMU2004 Wrote:  

(09-29-2014 03:50 PM)BSKB 24 Wrote:  I've told you all this before. Academic requirements to get into JMU has created a school full of nerds.They are more interested in things high tech than football. Not enough average Joes and Jills at Madison anymore.

Academic requirements have been fairly consistent from the late 1990's through today.

Exactly, and our standards are no longer higher than schools like VT, so that excuse doesn't fly.

The company we keep (FCS/CAA) and results are what are driving declines in attendance. It's as simple as that.

I agree the FCS/CAA stink is a major problem. Also once again I am a little confused but wasn't the academic reputation/standards of the SB given as a reason for not joining the SB.

But then you tell me that good academics/standards are the reason our football attendance is bad......not buying that.

(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.

Kids today have shorter attention spans and get bored more easily. Guess it goes with the territory of growing up so technologically advanced. Just read movie/ concert reviews on anything longer than 1.5 hrs. They must hate Springsteen concerts and movies like "Titanic".

(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.

Exactly. ODU was the closest thing we've had to a true rival in years. I guess Richmond and W&M count, but the past couple years (when I was a junior/senior) those games really didn't feel all that big. I cared about beating Richmond because I grew up in Richmond. But outside of people like me, no one really cared. It's sad but I'm not sure there's a whole lot we can do about it now. We've pretty much gotten ourselves stuck.

(09-29-2014 03:37 PM)DoubleDDuke Wrote:  I mean, we can go back down that road a million times but still, why would you not at least be outside on a day like that? I don't get it. If you like football AT ALL it's just a great day to be out and enjoy the weather and atmosphere. There's nothing else to do at that time of day. Nothing. You want to work out? You have up until 4pm to do that. You want to drink? You have all night to do that. I just don't get what people do. Don't tell me they're going to study on Saturday afternoon/evening because you know damn well they're not, haha. If they're in their rooms watching FBS games on TV that's just supportive to the argument all of us have about being in the CAA.

They do what we used to do, only we did it on the hill behind the EZ. We socialized. We rolled out coolers and chairs set them up, enjoyed the afternoon with cold bevs and friends. We'd watch some here and there when there wasn't anything better to look at (rare). So this is nothing new in the least. What IS new-ish, is attendance in the 20's of thousands instead of the 2's of thousands.

now they just do the same things, only elsewhere, since you can't roll that cooler out there any longer.

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.

Does anyone know how many tickets are reserved for students? If we have such lousy student attendance. should we consider cutting the number of student tickets? I think we may be reducing the number of student tickets for the upcoming Family Weekend based on where seats are available. Have we done this every year?

I'm not sure when people talk about imaginable plays but in reality I saw the guy with the best hands on our team open by 10 yards drop a TD pass right in his hands. I'm not pinning this loss on Brown. There were a lot of other plays that could have been made. I just don't know what people "imagine" will work.

(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.

Man, I thought I was old and far removed from my time as a college student (20 years) but most of you guys have short memories. Game starts at 4pm, in my day that would have meant drinking for at least a few hours before the game. Sneak what you can into the game but then you lose your buzz, have to pee every 10 minutes, get hungry and want to take a nap so you can go out for the night. A 20 minute half-time snooze fest is just the thing to bore kids to death and get them to start texting each other about plans for dinner and parties afterwards. Cheap food and a nap start sounding much better than losing your buzz and sitting around watching the band (no offense).

Until the game itself becomes a big enough event to keep kids in the stands I don't blame them for wandering off after a couple of hours. FBS and a bigger game environment would help I'm sure but there's just a portion of the student population that is going to move on to recover and gear up for the night. The only thing the technology does is keep them better connected so the can all leave at once instead of trickling out in tiny groups.

(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.

(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.

(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.

FBS is not the cure unless we join the ACC CUSA or AAC. But you cant conpare JMU football to A&M , thats not fair . Most of the students 18 and 19 and dont have a clue about JMU football. To them this is a party school and football is a big party the 1st quarter. To be honest , I know more VT and UVA fans than I do JMU fans.

(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..."