Summer Hypothetical: Out of Conference Schedule Edition

It’s still 73 days until JMU kicks off the 2015 football season on September 5 against Morehead State. It’s a date we’ve been looking forward to for months. It’s also a game that we only kinda sorta care about. No disrespect to Morehead State (the alma mater of the great Phil Simms btw), but the Eagles won’t be given much of a shot to win by anyone. And with good reason. They don’t have anywhere near the resources or support that JMU has. And as a result, this figures to be little more than a tune-up against a team from a school that few JMU fans have much of a connection with.

It’s still a home game though, with all of the opportunities to tailgate, catch up with old friends, and watch Vad Lee and the Dukes perform. It’s going to be fun and we’re definitely looking forward to it. However, much like recent out of conference opponents St. Francis or Central Connecticut States, Morehead State isn’t exactly a team that leaves JMU fans overcome with excitement.

Coach Withers and his staff seem to have less affinity for these sorts of match-ups than the previous regime. We’ve heard a lot of talk about “juice” and a willingness to take on FBS teams, but he’s been locked in scheduling wise. We don’t yet know what sort of out of conference schedule JMU play when Withers is calling the shots. But that doesn’t mean we can’t play fantasy AD ourselves and aimlessly speculate.

Before we jump right in and start talking about replacing these overmatched opponents. Let’s acknowledge that there are advantages to scheduling near certain wins. If we can all agree to table yet another FCS-FBS debate for a while, I think we can all agree that as long as JMU is in the FCS, the goal should be to make deep runs in the playoffs and compete for championships. With a tough CAA slate year in and year out, it’s always good to get an extra win under your belt. These sorts of games usually let JMU do just that. Put that one in the pro column. It’s debatable how much they do to prepare the team for the rigor of conference play however.

JMU could replace these easy wins with a big FCS game. As someone who was there for the 2008 home game against App State, trust me when I say it was exciting. With both Appy and GA Southern moving on though, the only real “marquee” FCS opponents are out west. It’s far from impossible, but scheduling a home and home against the likes of a NDSU, Montana, or Eastern Washington is a little tougher than doing the same against a team from the Southeast. A game against an FCS power could also put an extra loss on the record prior to CAA play, reducing the margin of error for the playoffs. It’d be fun though and damn, if I wouldn’t love a reason to visit Montana.

Another option would be to schedule a game against a school that resonates with most JMU fans to try to drum up excitement at the gate. There aren’t many schools playing FCS football that are household names. There are a few though, like all of those schools in the Ivy League. Something tells me there is a rule (or unwritten rule) preventing Harvard from lowering itself to play JMU, but it’s a game I’d love to see. For one thing, Harvard is pretty good. The Ivy League doesn’t participate in the playoffs, but its champion is often good enough to compete with top FCS programs. Harvard certainly has been good enough recently. Playing against the Crimson or another top Ivy League program would be a good test for JMU. It would also be fun for our simple little state school to knock off such a prestigious institution of higher learning. Of course that’s probably the very reason it will never happen.