Because I can't be in the FBS playoffs, on won't get Millions a year does not mean that FBS is not a better option "to me".

I'll be honest with you -

If I could have one of the following:

1) FCS NC over YSU
2) Nov 11 - be the highest ranked FBS school in VA including a win at Va Tech.

I'd take 2).

You might not, but I would.

I think if JMU were in the position of where CCU or Liberty are now, there would be more excitement in JMU football than anytime in JMU history.

(11-11-2020 11:46 AM)Dukester Wrote:  Because I can't be in the FBS playoffs, on won't get Millions a year does not mean that FBS is not a better option "to me".

I'll be honest with you -

If I could have one of the following:

1) FCS NC over YSU
2) Nov 11 - be the highest ranked FBS school in VA including a win at Va Tech.

I'd take 2).

You might not, but I would.

I think if JMU were in the position of where CCU or Liberty are now, there would be more excitement in JMU football than anytime in JMU history.

Definitely

(11-11-2020 11:52 AM)GaryMatthews Wrote:  

(11-11-2020 11:46 AM)Dukester Wrote:  Because I can't be in the FBS playoffs, on won't get Millions a year does not mean that FBS is not a better option "to me".

I'll be honest with you -

If I could have one of the following:

1) FCS NC over YSU
2) Nov 11 - be the highest ranked FBS school in VA including a win at Va Tech.

I'd take 2).

You might not, but I would.

I think if JMU were in the position of where CCU or Liberty are now, there would be more excitement in JMU football than anytime in JMU history.

Definitely

I don't know how you can look at this season and say it's 100% legit. I would be happy about it, but I wouldn't say I would be more excited than any other time in JMU history.
If every single team in the country were playing full schedules and home field advantages were actually a thing then yes, being ranked would be a big deal. Look at Liberty's schedule and tell me they would have been ranked last year with that schedule without laughing. They beat VT at one of their lowest points in history and at an empty Lane Stadium with absolutely no home field advantage. You really want to convince me their win was bigger than what we had?
I'll take the excitement of our VT win and our 2 National Championships over a 2020 ranking every single day.

(11-11-2020 11:46 AM)Dukester Wrote:  Because I can't be in the FBS playoffs, on won't get Millions a year does not mean that FBS is not a better option "to me".

I'll be honest with you -

If I could have one of the following:

1) FCS NC over YSU
2) Nov 11 - be the highest ranked FBS school in VA including a win at Va Tech.

I'd take 2).

You might not, but I would.

I think if JMU were in the position of where CCU or Liberty are now, there would be more excitement in JMU football than anytime in JMU history.

Right, but that’s down to personal opinion. The answer is far from definitive and unanimous and like you said can be debated endlessly with solid points on both sides.

This isn’t like, should Missouri join the sec? Or Rutgers join the big ten? Duh!

The question that is being debated over and over here that I’m addressing is how much national attention and relevance it is gettting these programs this season. I think it’s overblown.

It seems like it might be more on here because of the history and closeness those programs have got to us makes us pay attention and talk about it. But nationally across the college football universe? It’s not being discussed or paid much attention to by Joe Fan.

I can tell you my group that watches college football virtually every Saturday together knows absolutely nothing about what is going on with them, other than me of course, but that is because of being on this board and the closeness of those programs. These guys are Texas, florida state and Notre dame alum and big fans of college football. It’s not relevant to them.

(11-11-2020 11:06 AM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  Ok, no cheating and looking this up! :-)

5 years ago, two teams from Mac/sb/cusa leagues were ranked in top 25.

One for 6 weeks during the season before ending up out of the poll at year end.
The other was not ranked all year but ended up at bottom after regular season and bowl games.

Can you name those two programs?

Challenging each other is great and fun. Let's play both sides and ask fcs questions.

This could be the first question; over or under, 80% of college football fans think fcs is DII.

It's a trick question, the only college football fans that think of fcs as D1 are JMU fans living in Harrisonburg and/or are employed by JMU and/or persoanl friends of Jeff Bourne...and a handful of buffalo humpers living in North Dakota.

(11-11-2020 10:34 AM)HyperDuke Wrote:  

(11-11-2020 10:19 AM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  the same people who complain about not having a 2nd FBS game will complain when there is only 5 home games in those years.

For instance, with the original 2020 schedule, if we had replaced a non-conference OOC home game against either Chattanooga or Merrimack with a 2nd FBS road game, we would have had only 5 home games.

cue the uproar about not having enough home games for their season ticket.
the last time we had only 5 home games, there was numerous complaining going on here about it. You can't win.

You’re right that people will complain regardless in EVERY situation. But that doesn’t mean every complaint is without merit. Well-paid positions require thick skin. I would rather have 2 FBS contests than 6 home games. If I didn’t like the season ticket value at 5 games, I would buy single game tickets. Perhaps JMU could avoid some of those complaints by adjusting season ticket costs appropriately during seasons with only 5 home games. Seems like an easy fix to take the legs out from some of the complainers...

Not an easy fix. Consider the last 4 seasons:
2016: 8 home games: 6 regular season + 2 playoffs.
2017: 9 homes games: 6 regular season + 3 playoffs.
2018: 6 home games: 5 regular season + 1 playoff.
2019: 9 home games: 6 regular season + 3 playoffs. (12 regular season)

That's 32 home games over 4 seasons, avg 8 home games a season: 5.75 regular season, 2.25 playoffs.

FBS games are likely to be P5, considering the last 2 were, and 4 of the next 5 scheduled are. If they're 2 P5 losses (likely), could be the difference between getting a low seed and a high seed, or a high seed and no seed at all. Better than 50/50 that will cost a home playoff game.

Any future season, I'm putting the over/under at home games:
5 regular season with 2 P5: 6.5 (1.5 playoff).
6 regular season with 2 P5: 8.5 (2.5 playoff).

JMU's somewhat attendance peers (NDSU, Montana, Delaware) never schedule 2 FBS, even in 12 game seasons. Often not even 1. There's a reason for that. Home games are a $$$ maker, and you don't want to hurt your 1. Chances of getting into the playoffs. 2. Seeding.

If the #1 goal above all else is making Frisco, then 2 FBS games isn't the answer, esp not in 11 game seasons.

We can pursue a G5 or historically poor performing P5 as our second FBS game. Our history of FBS games has been a travelable P5 to maximize our pay and have an attractive game for fans to attend. We would need to change our approach with the 2 FBS. I understand people’s playoff/Frisco logic. I just don’t share that priority.

My “easy fix” was only speaking about resolving complaints about season ticket cost and number of home games. It was responding to Duke Dawg’s “you can’t make everyone happy” argument.

(11-11-2020 12:00 PM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(11-11-2020 11:52 AM)GaryMatthews Wrote:  

(11-11-2020 11:46 AM)Dukester Wrote:  Because I can't be in the FBS playoffs, on won't get Millions a year does not mean that FBS is not a better option "to me".

I'll be honest with you -

If I could have one of the following:

1) FCS NC over YSU
2) Nov 11 - be the highest ranked FBS school in VA including a win at Va Tech.

I'd take 2).

You might not, but I would.

I think if JMU were in the position of where CCU or Liberty are now, there would be more excitement in JMU football than anytime in JMU history.

Definitely

I don't know how you can look at this season and say it's 100% legit. I would be happy about it, but I wouldn't say I would be more excited than any other time in JMU history.
If every single team in the country were playing full schedules and home field advantages were actually a thing then yes, being ranked would be a big deal. Look at Liberty's schedule and tell me they would have been ranked last year with that schedule without laughing. They beat VT at one of their lowest points in history and at an empty Lane Stadium with absolutely no home field advantage. You really want to convince me their win was bigger than what we had?
I'll take the excitement of our VT win and our 2 National Championships over a 2020 ranking every single day.

Yep. Games played:
PAC 12: 1. None in the top 10, and only 2 ranked.
Big 10: 1 to 3. Wisconsin played only 1 game, ranked.
ACC: 7 to 8.
SEC 5 to 6.
Big 12: 5 to 7.

MAC: 1 to 2.
MWC: 3.
CUSA: 3 to 8. (except 0 for ODU)
AAC: 5 to 8.
Sun Belch: 7 to 9.
Independents: 0 (multiple) to 8.

The # of games aren't even consistent within conferences. For some games teams have had to quarantine/not play up to several dozen players due to the virus. The polls at this point are pretty meaningless, esp compared to a 'normal' year..

(11-11-2020 12:00 PM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(11-11-2020 11:52 AM)GaryMatthews Wrote:  

(11-11-2020 11:46 AM)Dukester Wrote:  Because I can't be in the FBS playoffs, on won't get Millions a year does not mean that FBS is not a better option "to me".

I'll be honest with you -

If I could have one of the following:

1) FCS NC over YSU
2) Nov 11 - be the highest ranked FBS school in VA including a win at Va Tech.

I'd take 2).

You might not, but I would.

I think if JMU were in the position of where CCU or Liberty are now, there would be more excitement in JMU football than anytime in JMU history.

Definitely

I don't know how you can look at this season and say it's 100% legit. I would be happy about it, but I wouldn't say I would be more excited than any other time in JMU history.
If every single team in the country were playing full schedules and home field advantages were actually a thing then yes, being ranked would be a big deal. Look at Liberty's schedule and tell me they would have been ranked last year with that schedule without laughing. They beat VT at one of their lowest points in history and at an empty Lane Stadium with absolutely no home field advantage. You really want to convince me their win was bigger than what we had?
I'll take the excitement of our VT win and our 2 National Championships over a 2020 ranking every single day.

You changed the question - would I take all of JMU major accomplishments over the last two decades versus the 6 or 7 games Liberty played this year? On your new question we are in agreement.

Would I rather have a win at Va Tech with a ranked JMU FBS Ranked team, over a FCS upset sunshine and lollipops win over Tech? No

Would I take a National Championship in FCS over being ranked over halfway through the season in the FBS top 20, or ranked and beaten VPI - No

Marshall and ASU won a lot of FCS/1AA NCs. Do you think they would trade their FBS success to go back to FCS?

No chance in hell.

(11-11-2020 11:52 AM)GaryMatthews Wrote:  

(11-11-2020 11:46 AM)Dukester Wrote:  Because I can't be in the FBS playoffs, on won't get Millions a year does not mean that FBS is not a better option "to me".

I'll be honest with you -

If I could have one of the following:

1) FCS NC over YSU
2) Nov 11 - be the highest ranked FBS school in VA including a win at Va Tech.

I'd take 2).

You might not, but I would.

I think if JMU were in the position of where CCU or Liberty are now, there would be more excitement in JMU football than anytime in JMU history.

Definitely

Yep, completely agree. We would be looked at in a much higher regard by JMU fans and other college football fans nationally.

ESPN is really going to hype up the Liberty and Coastal game in a few weeks. Should be fun to watch.

I am not one of these state rival fans that are stupid enough to say that we are playing JV football and for the JV title, but it is a big step up to be playing and beating ACC and Big 12 teams and playing in the FBS.

(11-11-2020 11:46 AM)Dukester Wrote:  I think if JMU were in the position of where CCU or Liberty are now, there would be more excitement in JMU football than anytime in JMU history.

I'd be more than happy to write bigger checks if we were in CCU's or Liberty's place.

I assure you all that this situation will be actively monitored, no questions or doubts about that!

I'd be down to always schedule two FBS games to double the money we make.

If we went 7-2 in the other games, we'd still make playoffs.

If we lose 3 FCS games, the team likely isn't a national title contender anyway.

Would any of us really felt cheated if our teams that travelled to EKU or the one that hosted Liberty in playoffs had missed qualifying because we played an additional FBS game that year instead of an FCS cupcake? I wouldn't really.

EDIT: Also, my post automatically counted the FBS games as losses, which we know isn't always true.

(11-12-2020 01:41 PM)JMUska Wrote:  I'd be down to always schedule two FBS games to double the money we make.

If we went 7-2 in the other games, we'd still make playoffs.

If we lose 3 FCS games, the team likely isn't a national title contender anyway.

Would any of us really felt cheated if our teams that travelled to EKU or the one that hosted Liberty in playoffs had missed qualifying because we played an additional FBS game that year instead of an FCS cupcake? I wouldn't really.

EDIT: Also, my post automatically counted the FBS games as losses, which we know isn't always true.

Never have I agreed with a post more.

(11-09-2020 09:15 AM)Bill Wrote:  They should be considering it but, in the meantime, they are expecting us to make up the lost revenue. Personally, I'm growing tired of being asked to cough up money (to a school I, nor any member of my family, attended) while watching a school like Liberty, that we played in FCS playoffs in 2014, race past us into FBS, become nationally ranked, beat schools like Syrcause and VT, while JMU doubles season tickets prices so we can continue to watch teams like Robert Morris, St Francis, Morehead State and Elon. WE should be playing 10 FBS teams this year. WE should be nationally ranked right now and, if we were, we wouldn't be talking about needing payday games.

Amen.

(11-10-2020 12:30 PM)JMUNation Wrote:  

(11-10-2020 09:13 AM)Bill Wrote:  

(11-10-2020 08:23 AM)JMUNation Wrote:  How about if JMU plays 11 away money FBS games as an Indy? Two against Liberty since that worked so well for NMSU. That would be some serious funding especially when you consider that they would only be carrying the scholarship expenses of an FCS program. Since several posters don’t like being asked for money nor seeing us play Morehead, Robert Morris and the weak CAA, JMU could hold tailgates only in the fall and show the away FBS games on the Jumbotron so that students don’t complain about where their excessive student fees are going.

FCS and our administration suck so why waste our time in the fall watching sucky FCS football? We can play golf, visit wineries or go hiking on the Blue Ridge instead.

There are several posters on here that know so much more than an administration of former accountants that have spent their entire adult life in college athletics. I say we fire them all and put Purplehazed and Dukeman in charge of our nationally ranked athletics programs. They could do so much better than the crap ass #15 in the nation winning percentage our horrible programs have amassed over the last 5 years. Dukeman is unemployed right now so he is ready for his next challenge.

If we are going to get out of the box in our approach to funding athletics, let’s ignore conference affiliation altogether and grab some real coin. After all, college athletics is all about making money.

Seven years ago I was told by my DC rep at that time that a FBS move was all but done. One month later he took a job at a FBS school. Now I know what he meant! I admit, I fell for it.

These former accountants you speak of should know better than anyone that it IS about making money. Why else would JMU lower their admission standards to "anyone with a pulse"? Because it's not about bringing in more money?

You're right, at some point, I'd rather do something else than donate thousands a year to a school I didn't go to, then spend another $3,500 a year so my family and I can watch JMU kick the ever loving **** out of Bob Morris and St Francis. When they say, "hey, seat fees are going up again, and the opponents are the same" I'm out.

Your thoughts are rational and understandable as well. I too am starting to re-think club level season tickets. My wife goes to enjoy a good party. I attend to see some old friends and then watch some good football. The cost vs value for me is reaching a tipping point. JMU football expenditures are entertainment money in my household budget. When my wife doesn’t care about football, then that is money I can spend elsewhere and instead come to a few single games each year. I really don’t want to see us play Robert Morris any longer either.

Your rep did not lie to you. The MAC was almost a done deal. When UMass pulled out, JMUs invite went away. The JMU administration including its President were ready to move. It just fell apart at the 11th hour.

The solutions being offered by some on here are going down the delusional path. It is highly unlikely JMU will ever play big time football. There are only 129 FBS programs and about half play big time football. The costs are so immense that there are few schools that can do it. Think about how many universities there are in the country. There are likely well over a 1000. 65 of those play big time football. That is a small percentage and that cartel isn’t about to open things up for the rest of us.

The rest of college football has to make their own path and stop looking to the P5 for pay days home and away. The rest of college football needs to create its own brand of entertainment that will attract alumni and local folks to games each Saturday. JMU has done this in the past but like all businesses, they need to continue to evolve to create a product that people will continue to buy both in athletics and academics. Going independent doesn’t create entertainment. FBS itself doesn’t either unless the conference games draw people to the stadium. Why otherwise smart people are suggesting Indy football is mind blowing to me. I can’t believe we are even discussing it. I would question the mental faculties of an administration that went FBS Indy.

Sorry, I just don't get the resistance to indy. Joining the MAC is going to be so much better than an indy schedule? Really? As a MAC member, we will be FORCED to play Ball State, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, etc. And, often on Tuesday night. All we are missing is Slippery Rock.

Yeah, sounds like a great alternative to Liberty's schedule. How about we have the scheduling flexibility indy offers to play Florida State, West Virginia, NC State, UVA, Va Tech, Army, who knows, maybe BYU and Notre Dame, and make a truckload of money doing it?

I'm just not seeing whatever it is you are seeing.

I don't understand why some of you are missing this.
There are two undisputed facts going on here regarding scheduling at the FBS level:
1) Liberty can get games as an Indy because they are willing to vastly overpay for the return games.
2) Schools are ONLY willing to play at a small FBS stadium (ODU) on home & home basis because it's in a recruiting hotbed.

JMU does not have either of these attributes. We can't afford Liberty's method of scheduling. And even though we can outdraw ODU, we probably will have to settle for 2 for 1's just to play the same OOC P5 schools.

(11-12-2020 10:14 PM)olddawg Wrote:  I don't understand why some of you are missing this.
There are two undisputed facts going on here regarding scheduling at the FBS level:
1) Liberty can get games as an Indy because they are willing to vastly overpay for the return games.
2) Schools are ONLY willing to play at a small FBS stadium (ODU) on home & home basis because it's in a recruiting hotbed.

JMU does not have either of these attributes. We can't afford Liberty's method of scheduling. And even though we can outdraw ODU, we probably will have to settle for 2 for 1's just to play the same OOC P5 schools.

Not buying it!

Liberty doesn't play FBS teams because they are rich. They play FBS teams because they are a peer. We aren't! Getting beaten by an FBS team is acceptable for other FBS teams. It is totally unacceptable for an FBS team to be beaten by a lowly FCS team which is why we have no fall football.... no FBS team wants to play us. Playing FCS JMU is highly problematic for an FBS team.

(11-12-2020 11:15 PM)Purple Wrote:  

(11-12-2020 10:14 PM)olddawg Wrote:  I don't understand why some of you are missing this.
There are two undisputed facts going on here regarding scheduling at the FBS level:
1) Liberty can get games as an Indy because they are willing to vastly overpay for the return games.
2) Schools are ONLY willing to play at a small FBS stadium (ODU) on home & home basis because it's in a recruiting hotbed.

JMU does not have either of these attributes. We can't afford Liberty's method of scheduling. And even though we can outdraw ODU, we probably will have to settle for 2 for 1's just to play the same OOC P5 schools.

Not buying it!

Liberty doesn't play FBS teams because they are rich. They play FBS teams because they are a peer. We aren't! Getting beaten by an FBS team is acceptable for other FBS teams. It is totally unacceptable for an FBS team to be beaten by a lowly FCS team which is why we have no fall football.... no FBS team wants to play us. Playing FCS JMU is highly problematic for an FBS team.

Liberty is paying 1A schools $1million+ to play in Lynchburg. ODU is in the coveted 757 recruiting area. Are you oblivious to these two facts because you live in Dallas?