A Formula for JMU Out of Conference Scheduling
What Would Make for a Perfect Out of Conference Slate Year in and Year Out?
Let’s start this off by making sure one thing is perfectly clear. Out of Conference scheduling, especially for football, is weird, fluid, and often done YEARS in advance. Contracts are involved, and sometimes schools will either mutually agree to cancel, or the school with the bigger pockets will payout a smaller school to free up space for another opportunity.
Needless to say, you’d be hard pressed to find a school with their OOC locked down for years to come, outside of the in-state or annual traditional rival. And the “further down” you go in terms of perceived football prowess, the more difficult it gets.
This is especially true if you’re a powerhouse FCS team. G5 schools won’t play you and lower power conference schools are scared as well. Heck, power conference schools are even running away from G5 opponents nowadays if they aren’t completely comfortable with their teams.
So, with all this upheaval and iffy scheduling agreements, what should JMU look for in an ideal conference schedule year in and year out? I’ll try to balance the realistic with the ideal here. Though, I believe one of my ideal points should be a realistic one, despite certain schools perhaps being afraid to make it happen.
The basic formula is as follows. If JMU will consistently have 4 OOC games moving forward, the breakdown should be the following:
1 Power Conference School
1 Meaningful FCS opponent
1 Strong/Intriguing G5 Program
1 Floater, perhaps another power conference school or another quality G5
UVA, Virginia Tech, And other Regional Power Conference Options
Ideally, I wish JMU would play UVA or Virginia Tech alternating every other year. That won’t happen because they wouldn’t commit to that sort of schedule with JMU specifically. While Tech has a home and home agreement with ODU, I doubt they would ever consider something like that again, let alone with the Dukes. So, keeping that in mind, I think JMU should play each UVA and Tech once in a 4-year time period. I’m sure JMU would be amiable. It’s just a matter of whether those schools would be willing to make that commitment.
For other years, playing Maryland, West Virginia, the Carolina schools…heck even a Pitt or Penn State would be great “regional” options as well. All of those are more than reasonable driving distances and would be great opportunities for JMU to show off in terms of recruitment. Again, scheduling is fickle at best, and as power schools look to be more insular and some increasing their number of conference games, options become limited.
An FCS Game that’ll be Exciting
For the FCS, I think JMU has more than a few options in terms of scheduling a meaningful game that they not only SHOULD win with relative ease, but also would excite fans and bring a healthy away crowd as well. There are 3 in-state options I think are no-brainers in Norfolk State, VMI, and Hampton. The games would likely be blowouts, but each school would bring a healthy away contingent and the HBCUs would be willing to bring their bands. That in and of itself makes for a much better gameday atmosphere.
You may have noticed I did not mention William & Mary or Richmond. They were our in-state rivals for the CAA and playing them again could be nice. But are we really going to pay those former conference mates to come to JMU? We could, I suppose. It just would feel a little odd paying them specifically.
I do think there are options for other FCS opponents as well that fans would be up for, such as other former CAA foes like Towson or even Elon. Heck, I think we’d even like to get back that one win against Villanova. Even a little further outside the geographic footprint, playing better known FCS opponents like Youngstown State or Chattanooga would be intriguing as well.
There are of course other options that you think I might be ignoring like NDSU, SDSU, and the Montana schools, but I am trying to be realistic here. As things stand now, I can’t see JMU having those schools on the schedule as an FCS opponent for the foreseeable future.
A Strong or Interesting G5 Peer
This year JMU will be going to Charlotte to open up the season. While the 49ers are improving, this isn’t necessarily a quality opponent yet, but it is a great game for fans to travel to and an excellent recruiting opportunity. Also, when scheduling other G5 schools, one has to consider how realistic it is for there to be a home and home scenario.
With this in mind, I do think Charlotte should always be an option, along with ECU, Western Kentucky, the Blue Chickens, FAU…all either drivable or what should be minimal travel or easy to fly into.
Or, as easy as flying can be nowadays.
Ideally, a home and home with the likes of Army or Navy, both in areas with large JMU alumni fan bases would be wonderful too. But I am not sure if either would be willing to sign on to an agreement like that. Perhaps further down the road, but I am not crossing my fingers. UCONN and UMASS are always options as well, with JMU having already hosted UCONN. I guess the thing is we never really know what we’ll be getting in terms of quality of opponent, especially scheduling a few years in advance.
What about the Floater?
The wild card game here could go tons of different directions, and I think there are obvious choices in terms of what would be preferred. For example, JMU may not want to schedule multiple power conference schools annually, but pairing something like a NC State with a true FBS power on the schedule like Florida State or Texas could be intriguing. Heck, wouldn’t it be amazing to go to Michigan or USC? Of course it would, but again I am also trying to be rational. Plus, JMU may not want to have 2 power schools on the schedule annually. Though my guess is the players would love it.
Apart from that, I think the best option for this floating 4th spot is a G5 school that would be considered “off the beaten path” so to speak. Utah State is an excellent example. I also think something like Wyoming, San Diego State, and MAC schools could all be excellent options. It may not be a game that has the fans emotionally invested because of the lack of history, but the newness could spark intrigue as well.
Conclusion
Scheduling is hard. Scheduling is weird. Then again, college football is weird so why shouldn’t scheduling negotiations look any different. With that in mind, I’ll leave you with a potential OOC that I think fans would be more than intrigued by. And…we get JMU football in less than 10 days!
Away vs. Virginia Tech
Home vs. VMI
Home vs. ECU
Away vs. San Diego State
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