Hello Gameday, My Old Friend

We're Down to Host You Here Again

At the beginning of the year, people looked at the late November game between Appalachian State and JMU as a potential for deciding who wins the Sun Belt East. The Mountaineers are always formidable, and JMU was coming off a great first season as a full FBS member. As such and given the way the penultimate week usually lines up for college football, it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that College Gameday would make its way to Harrisonburg for the 3rd time in 8 years. Division deciding game between two fan bases you know will show up and show out? Makes for great TV.

While we are still technically in that reality that this game is a division decider, the way we have gotten here hasn’t exactly been as straightforward as we may have thought. JMU is 10-0 and by the time this publishes will likely be a top 20 ranked team in the AP. As the season has gone on, the Dukes offense has started to click more, and the defense is as stingy as ever. Though, many, including those within the JMU program, would still argue they haven’t played to their full potential.

Appalachian State on the other hand has had a rather tumultuous season for their well-earned lofty standards. None of their losses have been blowouts and they could have won each game had one thing or another gone differently. But they sit at 6-4 with 2 Sun Belt losses, and in need of some help from the Beach Chickens of all schools if they hope to play Troy in the title game. But all of that is moot unless they can beat JMU this upcoming Saturday. The Mountaineers are coming in hot…hot hot, and playing the best football they have played all year coming off of two convincing wins against Marshall and Georgia State.

So, one can argue both teams are coming in playing their best football of the year, despite injuries. It’s a rivalry renewed and in a big way given the comeback JMU had in Boone last year. Sun Belt East title implications are on the table, and bragging rights for another year. The game is sold out and you know App. State will bring a sizable contingent up the mountain passages. The scene is set perfectly, right?

Well, for once, the stars did actually align for a preseason prediction. College Gameday will once again be heading to Harrisonburg. They will be doing so for the 3rd time in 8 years, and the first time for JMU as an FBS member. It will also be the 2nd time in as many years Gameday will be heading to this new iteration of the Sun Belt, specifically the east, and more specifically, the Appalachian Mountains. They could have made the trip to Oregon State for their matchup against Washington. It would have been reasonable for them to go as this game also has conference title implications and the PAC-12 has been entertaining and great football all year. 

If we’re being honest with ourselves though, if they wanted a guaranteed massive crowd with all the noise College Gameday wants, they went to a place and a conference they knew would show up and show out. Power 5 crowds for the pregame show can be pretty small to say the least and going off of the great time Appalachian State showed Gameday last year in comparison, they probably had this in the back of their mind. Throw in the fact that Gameday already knows JMU will pull out all the stops for them, showing up for this massive game was kind of a no brainer. You’ll also be hard pressed to find a more beautiful part of the country at this time of the year. 

Then of course there’s the obvious noise surrounding JMU in their second year of transition and how their success on the field has been staring the NCAA in the face for the whole year. Again, I am not here to argue for waivers as plenty of other people do so, but let’s just say this…the NCAA is not happy that College Gameday chose to go to JMU. Unless they for some reason relent and allow JMU to be eligible for a potential NY6 bowl spot and therefore the conference championship, they’re going to get flamed for 3 hours on Saturday, and for even more time leading up to the game. This will not be the focus of the visit, as there’s plenty of storylines to go around, but my goodness the NCAA execs are probably staring death glares at ESPN right now. 

All of this mentioned apart from football is just noise, naturally. Appalachian State had some fans wondering if they needed a change of leadership and yet, here they are more or less in control of their own destiny to make it back to the conference championship once again. JMU has had noise around it all year with this waiver nonsense, yet the team continues to improve and has also blown two opponents off the field these last two weeks. For all the outside noise JMU’s waiver situation and Gameday will bring, what we have this upcoming Saturday is a damn good football game between two damn good teams. And the game has high stakes involved too. 

As a JMU fan, this is exactly why I was excited to join the Sun Belt. Games that matter in November against teams and fan bases who also think they should win everything is what it’s all about. We have all the storylines going into the game. The weather will be perfect for all activities that will be going on. All that’s left is for the crowd to deliver, and the game to live up to the hype. I have no doubt both will exceed expectations. After all, the last time Appalachian State was in Harrisonburg, the matchup was…Hot Hot Hot!