{"id":7952,"date":"2015-09-10T07:05:19","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T11:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7952"},"modified":"2015-09-10T07:05:19","modified_gmt":"2015-09-10T11:05:19","slug":"guest-post-fcs-is-fine-by-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=7952","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: FCS is Fine By Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LQHOFXTAKTLOTFA-1.20130405195602\"<\/a>Andrew came closest to predicting the final score for last week’s game. As a result, he won the chance to guest post. Here’s his take on why JMU should stay put in the FCS<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey guys, I’ll preface this the way I did last time I did this: I’m not a sportswriter, so I’ll probably have a few typos and word flow probably isn’t going to be good in some places. Expect a lot of run on sentences. Also, \u00a0before I start with today’s topic, I just want to start off with a few points:<\/p>\n

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  1. Thanks to Rob and Todd for letting me once again guest post on this blog. I predicted 59-7, and half of the fourth quarter I was rooting on the Dukes just to get a field goal \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 just meet my prediction.<\/li>\n
  2. You may remember me from the guest post after last year’s Lehigh game<\/a>, which makes this post come at such a great time. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly suggest it, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 as some parts are still somewhat relevant now.<\/li>\n
  3. I want to give a shout out to the ~7k students at the game last week. Y’all were great, especially the drunk kid behind me yelling “Fuck Morehead” multiple times every play. I \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 also liked the part when we stayed in our seats for most of the blowout, we should do it \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 again. It was probably the best atmosphere in any stadium I’ve ever been to. The \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 student section has real potential this year.<\/li>\n
  4. Shameless plug to \/r\/CFB<\/a> and \/r\/FCS<\/a>, you guys should vote in our poll, everyone is welcome. It usually stays up from Sunday to Wednesday. I regularly post in those two \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 places and my name is \/u\/grizzlywalker<\/a>, so if you see me, say hi.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Ok, now to the fun part: More realignment talk, and I know, it’s not the offseason anymore so we shouldn’t talk about it, but this time might be a little different, as I’m going to make the claim no one wants to hear: We should stay in the CAA, and I’ll talk from a fan aspect only. I’ll break this into sections.<\/p>\n

    Competition:<\/strong> Let’s specifically look at the Sunbelt, as a lot of people were upset that Coastal Carolina recently took our spot in the Sunbelt<\/a>. First of all, a lot of teams \u00a0in the CAA could very well compete with and win against a good portion of Sunbelt teams. I don’t think that the Sunbelt would be a very big step up competition wise, and that the quality and the strength of our schedule<\/a> this year is probably on par with Georgia State<\/a>‘s, Southern<\/a>‘s or App State<\/a>. Let’s look at the other two conferences we could go to: The Mac and C-USA. We would probably be like ODU and be fairly average in conference play, at least for the first few years, even after being a national power in the FCS. Even then, the only end goal is a conference championship and\/or a spot in a crappy bowl game sponsored by some company no one has ever heard of, and we’ll go years upon years before ever thinking of being ranked. Here in the CAA, we are a recruiting power because we have top notch facilities, compete for a conference championship every year (assuming we stay on the path we are now), compete for national championships (a chance we’ll have to kiss goodbye in the FBS), and we can schedule some household names with the game still being competitive (Liberty, NDSU, Montana, Youngstown State, etc). I do think we have to work on the latter a bit more, but I believe the Withers staff will try harder than Mickey’s did.<\/p>\n

    Travel:<\/strong> Face it, the only conferences in the FBS we can go to that have multiple schools within driving distance are the MAC and the ACC, and I’m fairly confident that the ACC doesn’t want us. Before I \u00a0came to JMU, I lived in Hampton Roads. My brother and Dad both went to ODU, so when they restarted their football team, naturally, we went to all their games. Home and Away. That is the great thing about this conference, every school on your schedule is within driving distance (unless you’re unfortunate enough to have a game scheduled at New Hampshire, Maine, URI, and maybe Albany), some will be a day trip though. Back when ODU announced their move, and even now, every ODU fan I know vocally wanted to stay right where we<\/i> are now: in the CAA. The closest away game from ODU (and eventually us, let’s face it that’s where JMU wants to go) would be at Marshall<\/a>\/Charlotte<\/a> (Same distance for us, not them). From Harrisonburg, that’s approximately a 4 hour 30 minute ride. There are six CAA schools closer to JMU than that (Bill & Mary<\/a>, Delaware<\/a>, Richmond<\/a>, Towson<\/a>, Elon<\/a>, and Villanova<\/a>). That’s six conference games the average fan can go to. That means that there are ideally four more Saturday’s you could spend in an actual football stadium watching your team and tailgating. Who doesn’t love that? But apparently people want to give it up for away conference games in the middle of Texas<\/a> and Florida<\/a>, schools which we have no connection to. And for what, more money for the Athletic Department? Which leads me to my next point.<\/p>\n

    Finances:<\/strong> This is where I prefaced this saying that I will only be looking at this situation from a fan perspective. As fans, we shouldn’t really care too much about school budgeting, because that’s the school’s problem. But I will try to make it relatable. And forgive me, I’m not an accounting major, so I might be wrong on some stuff. According to the NCAA, JMU is ranked 63rd among all Division 1 schools<\/i><\/b><\/a> in our athletic revenue. That means we rack in more money than half of the FBS, all of the FCS, and all other non football schools. Notable schools we are ahead of: Old Dominion (64), UMass (71), Charlotte (83), Georgia State (96), South Alabama (114), Appalachian State (126), Georgia Southern (129). All of these schools just recently made the big move. What does this say? It means we’re doing real good for where we are now, and moving up probably won’t make that much of a difference except for maybe a slight tuition decrease. This guy talks about it better than I can<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Exposure:<\/strong> Sure we’ll get more TV games if we join a FBS conference, maybe even that midweek MACtion<\/a>, but if JMU’s media department can get it together, than MadiZONE shouldn’t be a bad alternative to watching the games. Also, thanks Virginia Tech, a lot of the country knows who JMU is, so it’s shouldn’t really be about name recognition either.<\/p>\n

    Lastly, an Alternative:<\/strong> The CAA has many teams that, as I said earlier, can contend with FBS schools. In my mind, an ideal situation that can occur is the G5 and FCS merge (creating the new and Improved Division I-AA) and the P5 conferences can do their own thing and mainly play each other rather than picking on the little guys for the next 5 years straight<\/a>. And it makes sense. There is a bigger and bigger divide<\/a> forming between the P5 and G5 conferences, and it seems as though the gaps between the G5 and the FCS are getting smaller; the only real difference is scholarships. It would also be a big plus for Idaho and New Mexico State, who could join the Big Sky rather than stay in the Sunbelt.<\/p>\n

    Take it from a fan who experienced the FBS move first hand, it is not nearly as fun as a lot of people think it is, and eventually you’ll want to go back. We’re probably not going to be the next Boise State, so let’s just sit back and enjoy our FBS stadium and fan support, while at the same time being a national power and the having opportunity to go to away games this year.
    \nIf you made it this far, congratulations. Now I should go back to studying Anatomy.<\/p>\n