Sean McDonnell, Andy Talley and Jimmye Laycock are probably in or near top 25 college football coaches in country. When we play the Wildcats on the 5th we will need a perfect game-offense-defense-special teams to beat this well coached team. An unsung hero in my view last 3 games has been Gunnar Kane's punting. In Delaware game he drove the ball deep and saved our ass more than once. We are all waiting on JMU to play a complete game and will need to see it soon if we are to advance in playoffs. By a bunch of tickets and drink, eat and cheer for dukes!!!

The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

There is a consistent mindset on this board amongst some posters that JMU will always flop and any somewhat quality team we face will have a career day. I still cannot wrap my head around assuming all things JMU are weak and all things are strong for the opposing team. Bassackwards if you ask me.

Get your minds right people, expect success!!!!!!!!!!!!.

(11-25-2015 10:36 AM)AllForDukes Wrote:  The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

There is a consistent mindset on this board amongst some posters that JMU will always flop and any somewhat quality team we face will have a career day. I still cannot wrap my head around assuming all things JMU are weak and all things are strong for the opposing team. Bassackwards if you ask me.

Get your minds right people, expect success!!!!!!!!!!!!.

+1

(11-25-2015 10:36 AM)AllForDukes Wrote:  The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

There is a consistent mindset on this board amongst some posters that JMU will always flop and any somewhat quality team we face will have a career day. I still cannot wrap my head around assuming all things JMU are weak and all things are strong for the opposing team. Bassackwards if you ask me.

Get your minds right people, expect success!!!!!!!!!!!!.

its called battered wife syndrome and we have all been victims of expecting a lot and getting little over the last 5 years of MM's tenure.

We had a sampling of that last season in the loss to liberty too. I think we're just tempering our expectations so we aren't as disappointed if things don't work out like we all want.

It's natural to be worried and anxious.

I'm glad we atleast have 1 week to rest and enjoy family and turkey before we really have to think about it.

Anticipating failure as a means of hedging one's expectations is BS. Do what you need to do, but I will have a positive outlook and look forward to Dec 5 and NH while expecting good things. There is plenty of time for the BS if it doesn't go well I will be damned if I am going to waste my time with bad expectations prior to the game. Look at how much you will have wasted when the bad stuff doesn't happen. It's not like you won't have the entire off season to wallow in the BS after the fact.

(11-25-2015 11:26 AM)AllForDukes Wrote:  Anticipating failure as a means of hedging one's expectations is BS. Do what you need to do, but I will have a positive outlook and look forward to Dec 5 and NH while expecting good things. There is plenty of time for the BS if it doesn't go well I will be damned if I am going to waste my time with bad expectations prior to the game. Look at how much you will have wasted when the bad stuff doesn't happen. It's not like you won't have the entire off season to wallow in the BS after the fact.

Based on this, I fully expect to play Colgate

We have no idea who we will be playing on Dec. 5. Just be in Bridgeforth Stadium wearing purple and cheering the Dukes on. I have confidence that we will win. Pray for Vad Lee that he will heal quickly. Do not be negative about JMU. Richmond and WIlliam and Mary are doing enough of that. Confidence WINS!

(11-25-2015 01:08 PM)DUKES DUKES DUKES Wrote:  We have no idea who we will be playing on Dec. 5. Just be in Bridgeforth Stadium wearing purple and cheering the Dukes on. I have confidence that we will win. Pray for Vad Lee that he will heal quickly. Do not be negative about JMU. Richmond and WIlliam and Mary are doing enough of that. Confidence WINS!

Now you're talking. Go Dukes.

(11-25-2015 10:36 AM)AllForDukes Wrote:  The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

There is a consistent mindset on this board amongst some posters that JMU will always flop and any somewhat quality team we face will have a career day. I still cannot wrap my head around assuming all things JMU are weak and all things are strong for the opposing team. Bassackwards if you ask me.

Get your minds right people, expect success!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Nice outlook to have, but I'm basing it more on how terribly the team has played in the past month. Going into the Richmond game, I thought we had one of the best chances to win the NC in the country. With the Lee injury, the defensive and special teams deficiencies, and barely beating bad teams, I just don't have too much confidence....especially against a UNH team that usually puts a hurting on the Dukes.

(11-25-2015 01:13 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(11-25-2015 10:36 AM)AllForDukes Wrote:  The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

There is a consistent mindset on this board amongst some posters that JMU will always flop and any somewhat quality team we face will have a career day. I still cannot wrap my head around assuming all things JMU are weak and all things are strong for the opposing team. Bassackwards if you ask me.

Get your minds right people, expect success!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Nice outlook to have, but I'm basing it more on how terribly the team has played in the past month. Going into the Richmond game, I thought we had one of the best chances to win the NC in the country. With the Lee injury, the defensive and special teams deficiencies, and barely beating bad teams, I just don't have too much confidence....especially against a UNH team that usually puts a hurting on the Dukes.

This is nuts. First of all, UNH hasn't even faced an EW-era Dukes team. Second, UNH is NOT the same UNH of old. They have Goldrich, but some of their "talent" coming out of the overlapping JMU recruiting territory (basically the DMV) are kids JMU - under MM or EW - chose not to heavily recruit. Doesn't mean they aren't good or that JMU was right, but with the exception of Kyon Taylor it's really hard to see how this UNH team favors those from the glory years of this run.

Next, there wasn't any "barely beating bad teams." UD was disorganized and young, but clearly had talent. Villanova was a damn good team that gagged early in the season when they lost their all-world QB and never could quite recover. As opposed to say a team that went 2-1 against some of its strongest competition after losing its own all-world QB. 49 and 41 points against the CAA's other two heavyweights wasn't bad and neither was finding a way to win on your worst day of the season (UD) or beating a win-and-in Nova team that led the conference in defense by two scores.

(11-25-2015 01:56 PM)PurpleStreamers Wrote:  

(11-25-2015 01:13 PM)All Dukes_All Day Wrote:  

(11-25-2015 10:36 AM)AllForDukes Wrote:  The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

There is a consistent mindset on this board amongst some posters that JMU will always flop and any somewhat quality team we face will have a career day. I still cannot wrap my head around assuming all things JMU are weak and all things are strong for the opposing team. Bassackwards if you ask me.

Get your minds right people, expect success!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Nice outlook to have, but I'm basing it more on how terribly the team has played in the past month. Going into the Richmond game, I thought we had one of the best chances to win the NC in the country. With the Lee injury, the defensive and special teams deficiencies, and barely beating bad teams, I just don't have too much confidence....especially against a UNH team that usually puts a hurting on the Dukes.

This is nuts. First of all, UNH hasn't even faced an EW-era Dukes team. Second, UNH is NOT the same UNH of old. They have Goldrich, but some of their "talent" coming out of the overlapping JMU recruiting territory (basically the DMV) are kids JMU - under MM or EW - chose not to heavily recruit. Doesn't mean they aren't good or that JMU was right, but with the exception of Kyon Taylor it's really hard to see how this UNH team favors those from the glory years of this run.

Next, there wasn't any "barely beating bad teams." UD was disorganized and young, but clearly had talent. Villanova was a damn good team that gagged early in the season when they lost their all-world QB and never could quite recover. As opposed to say a team that went 2-1 against some of its strongest competition after losing its own all-world QB. 49 and 41 points against the CAA's other two heavyweights wasn't bad and neither was finding a way to win on your worst day of the season (UD) or beating a win-and-in Nova team that led the conference in defense by two scores.

BOOM!!!

Maybe I'm confused, but did we go 9-2 or 4-7?

(11-25-2015 10:59 AM)jmu-fan-1981 Wrote:  

(11-25-2015 10:36 AM)AllForDukes Wrote:  The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

There is a consistent mindset on this board amongst some posters that JMU will always flop and any somewhat quality team we face will have a career day. I still cannot wrap my head around assuming all things JMU are weak and all things are strong for the opposing team. Bassackwards if you ask me.

Get your minds right people, expect success!!!!!!!!!!!!.

its called battered wife syndrome and we have all been victims of expecting a lot and getting little over the last 5 years of MM's tenure.

We had a sampling of that last season in the loss to liberty too. I think we're just tempering our expectations so we aren't as disappointed if things don't work out like we all want.

It's natural to be worried and anxious.

I'm glad we atleast have 1 week to rest and enjoy family and turkey before we really have to think about it.

Doesn't every good program expect a lot, but the end results seem to always be different.

(11-24-2015 02:47 PM)JMU_Degenerate Wrote:  

(11-24-2015 01:40 PM)JMU_Degenerate Wrote:  NDSU would have to beat SDSU, Northern Iowa, and Illinois St to get to Frisco in this scenario. All MVC teams.

The strongest teams in the entire playoff are (in order):
NDSU
Illinois St
(pretty decent gap in metrics)
SDSU
Northern Iowa

Any of these four teams would/should be favored over any other team in the field at a neutral site. They also all happen to be MVC teams and they are all slated to have to go through each other to get to Frisco. It seems very unfair that these four teams were all placed on the same half of the bracket and a team like JMU or Jax St gets to avoid these teams until Frisco.

Jacksonville St is the 5th strongest team in the playoffs.

McNeese and, especially, Charleston Southern are way overseeded. McNeese is approximately the 12th strongest team to make the field and CSU is the 18th strongest.

For those that have complained about a 6 win team getting in, you are wrong to complain. There is not a precedent being set that 6 wins is good enough. This is a one time exception based on the situation. WIU is the 16th strongest team in the field (better than the #8 seed CSU) and finished with the same conference record (5-3) as SDSU and NIU the 3rd and 4th best teams in the field. WIU's OOC losses were to FBS Illinois and playoff team CCU and their OOC win was over playoff team EIU. The MVC is obviously and easily the strongest FCS conference and by a wide margin. If there has ever been a conference to deserve 5 entrants into the field it is the MVC this year. A respectable showing in the strongest conference plus a good OOC win and no bad OOC losses = playoffs. If WIU had scheduled an FCS cupcake instead of Illinois and gotten a 7th win instead of an FBS loss it would have been easier to digest, but their resume is strong either way.

JMU fans should be afraid of Southern Utah who would be favored over JMU on a Neutral Field (JMU might be a small fave since the game would be at BFS, but maybe not once you factor in the loss of VL2), but JMU has much bigger fish to fry in a likely matchup with NH. JMU should be a decent favorite in that game but anyone that has watched JMU finish 2-2 without Lee obviously realizes that the Duuuuukes may be one and done in the playoffs for the second straight year.

The biggest hope is that Chattanooga knocks off Jax St (or to a lesser extent of likelihood CCU, Citadel or CSU). This happening would be the dream scenario / perfect storm for JMU and would send the playoffs through BFS on the way to Frisco.

No way of knowing how the teams stack up exactly other than the obvious (Dayton is the weakest). All that this team is the ___best team in the field and that team is the ____ best team in the field are just someone's opinions (or some computers). Semi worthless. Know way of knowing how they stack up until the games are played..

(11-25-2015 07:39 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  No way of knowing how the teams stack up exactly other than the obvious (Dayton is the weakest). All that this team is the ___best team in the field and that team is the ____ best team in the field are just someone's opinions (or some computers). Semi worthless. Know way of knowing how they stack up until the games are played..

There is actually a great way to know which teams are the strongest (which was the word I used purposefully and not the word "best"), its to follow the money. The betting markets determine which teams are the strongest, with great accuracy, and that is what I am trying to share with the loyal members of the board. Assume any two of the teams in the field are playing each other on a neutral field and then look at what the vegas line on that game would be, whoever is favored is the stronger team. I didnt say best because any team can win on any day (these are called upsets) and therefore be the best team in that particular game. I stand by my ratings above and I assure you that the vegas lines will substantiate my ratings.
NDSU is 1 because they would/will be favored over every other team in the field. Illinois St is 2 because they would/will be favored over every other team except NDSU. Same process is used to go down through all 24 teams.

Its because people choose to use an "eye test" or suggest that ratings/metrics/stats are over rated that the public side of betting action rarely is the side you want to be on.

(11-25-2015 09:49 PM)JMU_Degenerate Wrote:  

(11-25-2015 07:39 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  No way of knowing how the teams stack up exactly other than the obvious (Dayton is the weakest). All that this team is the ___best team in the field and that team is the ____ best team in the field are just someone's opinions (or some computers). Semi worthless. Know way of knowing how they stack up until the games are played..

There is actually a great way to know which teams are the strongest (which was the word I used purposefully and not the word "best"), its to follow the money. The betting markets determine which teams are the strongest, with great accuracy, and that is what I am trying to share with the loyal members of the board. Assume any two of the teams in the field are playing each other on a neutral field and then look at what the vegas line on that game would be, whoever is favored is the stronger team. I didnt say best because any team can win on any day (these are called upsets) and therefore be the best team in that particular game. I stand by my ratings above and I assure you that the vegas lines will substantiate my ratings.
NDSU is 1 because they would/will be favored over every other team in the field. Illinois St is 2 because they would/will be favored over every other team except NDSU. Same process is used to go down through all 24 teams.

Its because people choose to use an "eye test" or suggest that ratings/metrics/stats are over rated that the public side of betting action rarely is the side you want to be on.

Betting markets by and large don't give a **** about I-AA ball. So unless there are lines for a couple hundred hypothetical playoff matchups (every team in the field playing every other team) (there aren't) you can't come up with an exact ranking system #1-#24 for all the 24 teams according to the vegas $$.

You can just just use one of the computer rankings, which Vegas doesn't necessarily follow. Or sure you can come up with you own ranking as you stated guessing as to how you think Vegas might rank them.

While the regular season is only available at lesser-books like 5dimes, the playoffs are a different animal. Legit sports books (Cris, Pinnacle) offer the FCS playoffs at decent limits (not NFL limits but decent enough) and, of course, they have a rating system for these games ranking them 1-24. Shockingly, their ratings will look a lot like the ones I have. You can choose not to believe me but doesn't make it less true.
Sometimes I don't know why I bother responding to posts like yours.

(11-24-2015 02:47 PM)JMU_Degenerate Wrote:  

(11-24-2015 01:40 PM)JMU_Degenerate Wrote:  NDSU would have to beat SDSU, Northern Iowa, and Illinois St to get to Frisco in this scenario. All MVC teams.

The strongest teams in the entire playoff are (in order):
NDSU
Illinois St
(pretty decent gap in metrics)
SDSU
Northern Iowa

Any of these four teams would/should be favored over any other team in the field at a neutral site. They also all happen to be MVC teams and they are all slated to have to go through each other to get to Frisco. It seems very unfair that these four teams were all placed on the same half of the bracket and a team like JMU or Jax St gets to avoid these teams until Frisco.

Jacksonville St is the 5th strongest team in the playoffs.

McNeese and, especially, Charleston Southern are way overseeded. McNeese is approximately the 12th strongest team to make the field and CSU is the 18th strongest.

For those that have complained about a 6 win team getting in, you are wrong to complain. There is not a precedent being set that 6 wins is good enough. This is a one time exception based on the situation. WIU is the 16th strongest team in the field (better than the #8 seed CSU) and finished with the same conference record (5-3) as SDSU and NIU the 3rd and 4th best teams in the field. WIU's OOC losses were to FBS Illinois and playoff team CCU and their OOC win was over playoff team EIU. The MVC is obviously and easily the strongest FCS conference and by a wide margin. If there has ever been a conference to deserve 5 entrants into the field it is the MVC this year. A respectable showing in the strongest conference plus a good OOC win and no bad OOC losses = playoffs. If WIU had scheduled an FCS cupcake instead of Illinois and gotten a 7th win instead of an FBS loss it would have been easier to digest, but their resume is strong either way.

JMU fans should be afraid of Southern Utah who would be favored over JMU on a Neutral Field (JMU might be a small fave since the game would be at BFS, but maybe not once you factor in the loss of VL2), but JMU has much bigger fish to fry in a likely matchup with NH. JMU should be a decent favorite in that game but anyone that has watched JMU finish 2-2 without Lee obviously realizes that the Duuuuukes may be one and done in the playoffs for the second straight year.

The biggest hope is that Chattanooga knocks off Jax St (or to a lesser extent of likelihood CCU, Citadel or CSU). This happening would be the dream scenario / perfect storm for JMU and would send the playoffs through BFS on the way to Frisco.

Remind me again what makes NDSU so good this year? They don't have any majorly impressive wins and their losses are to slightly above average teams. If it wasn't for what they had done in the past, they wouldn't have even been ranked as high as they were.

NDSU is playing with a backup QB as well.

Don't get me wrong...

I respect what NDSU has done and they are a very good football team. But to act as if there is some large gap between this year's NDSU team and the rest of the field? Please...

They lost to 7-4 Montana and 5-6 South Dakota.

They beat a 3-8 Southern Illinois team by 6 points.

They should have lost to 5-6 Youngstown State but got lucky thanks to some terrible officiating.

NDSU is good, but so are about a dozen other teams in the playoffs.