{"id":9858,"date":"2017-10-26T07:06:08","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T11:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9858"},"modified":"2017-10-26T07:06:08","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T11:06:08","slug":"guest-post-what-can-we-learn-from-other-fbs-jumpers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=9858","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: What Can We Learn from Other FBS Jumpers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Shrowder won last week’s prediction contest. Here he takes a look at a former FCS school that recently made the jump to FBS and wonders if it was worth it.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019re in the middle of one of the best seasons in JMU football history. The Dukes are 7-0, have the longest win streak in Division I dating back to last season, and are poised to defend their national title as the number one seed in next month\u2019s FCS Championship Playoffs. There is not much I can say about this team that hasn\u2019t already been said by Rob and Todd and others. So I want to take my guest post in a different direction and talk about JMU fans\u2019 favorite pastime: the great FBS debate.<\/span><\/p>\n

But instead of advocating for one side or the other, I want to take a more \u201cempirical\u201d look at the options. You see, as the FBS vs. FCS debate has raged over the past few years, most of the arguments have been theoretical. Without actually competing at the FBS level, it\u2019s hard to know exactly how the program and its success would be affected by the jump. \u00a0But a school with a similar profile to JMU recently moved from FCS to FBS, and their journey gives us a pretty good idea of what life would be like in the FBS, and can be useful in framing the discussion moving forward. I\u2019m speaking, of course, of Appalachian State.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Mountaineers were a very similar program to the Dukes prior to joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2014. As another medium-sized state school tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains, App State achieved sustained success at the FCS level, including three national championships in a row between 2005 and 2007. So even though the Dukes have not won three titles in a row, we are still in a pretty similar situation to where App State was when they made the jump.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since joining the Sun Belt, the Mountaineers have certainly held their own against established FBS programs. In their first three seasons at the FBS level, they have gone a combined 28-10, including 2-0 in bowl games. They have played against college football powerhouses such as Tennessee, Miami, Clemson, and Michigan. As part of the Sun Belt Conference\u2019s TV deal, all of their conference games are carried nationally on the ESPN platform. However, they play in relative obscurity. At the beginning of each season, there is an approximately 0% chance they will have the opportunity to play for the national title no matter how well they do in the regular season. While the Sun Belt has successfully inserted itself into the wider college football conversation (#FunBelt), the conference is more or less seen as a fun sideshow than an actual player in FBS.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contrast that situation with the current standard bearer in FCS, North Dakota State. If JMU ultimately decides to stay in the FCS, the Bison\u2019s consistent run of success would be what fans and the school would expect out of the team. Last season notwithstanding, NDSU has dominated the FCS level over the past decade. Since 2014, NDSU has gone 40-5 including two national titles and two wins over FBS Power 5 schools (Iowa State and Iowa). While they do not play at the sport\u2019s highest level, they are widely respected across college football as dominating their level the same way Mount Union and Wisconsin-Whitewater are respected for their run of dominance in Division III. But the fact of the matter remains that they do not play at the sport\u2019s highest level, and while respect is good, there will always be the question of how well that success could translate to FBS.<\/span><\/p>\n

The state of college football is constantly in flux, so it is only a matter of time before JMU starts flirting with the possibility of making a move again. Fortunately for us, other schools have already made decisions in both directions, and we can learn a lot from them about what to expect from either decision. Every year App State plays big time programs and has a majority of its games carried on ESPN, but has no shot of competing for a national title. North Dakota State starts every year expecting to make it to Frisco and has earned national respect and exposure, but will never really test itself against the sport\u2019s highest level of competition.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m personally on the fence about a potential move, but I think that looking at these two programs gives us a good idea of what to expect in either direction.<\/span><\/p>\n