Early Polls Have JMU as a Top 20 Football Team
14. James, 13. Montana State, 12. Liberty, 11. Northern Iowa, 10. Youngstown State, 9. New Hampshire, 8. Chattanooga, 7. Coastal Carolina ..
— Craig Haley (@CraigHaley) May 26, 2015
It’s still May (and only 99 days until JMU football season), but the preseason predictions are starting to officially roll out. Or in this case, be revealed via Twitter. Craig Haley is the man in charge of Athlon’s FCS Top 25 Poll which will be published in this year’s college preview magazine. Earlier this week he gave fans a sneak peak at his rankings. The “James” you see in the tweet above, refers to our lovely alma mater, James Madison University. Haley has the Dukes picked 14th.
North Dakota State is Haley’s deserved and obvious number one pick at this point. JMU was one of four CAA Football teams to land in the Top 20. Villanova, New Hampshire, and Richmond were ranked 5th, 8th, and 20th respectively. The Dukes are set up pretty well schedule wise, avoiding New Hampshire and getting both the Wildcats and Ticks at home.
The Dukes will be breaking in new coordinators on both sides of the ball, but have one of the top QB’s in the nation in Vad Lee. Preseason polls are notoriously flaky (yet still fun!), but a top 15 ranking for JMU seems about right. JMU got rolling last year and had a stretch where it was playing like a true contender. A disappointing playoff loss to Liberty ended things and revealed that the Dukes weren’t quite at the level we as fans had hoped however. With Lee coming back and the entire team a little more settled into the Everett Withers regime, this could be the year for a deep playoff run. Go James!
Hope they have learned to get under center on third and one.
I’m always frustrated when TV bottom line tickers list us as “James Mad”.
From Birmingham, AL, yesterday evening, came the sound of the FBS door slamming in JMU’s face — again, and maybe for the last time for the foreseeable future.