UVA Will Go to Coastal Carolina, but not JMU?
I Kind of get it for UVA, even if I Think it’s Illogical (nicest word I could find)
Earlier this week I was sent information via the Twitter machine that UVA would be making a road trip down to Conway, South Carolina to battle the Beach Chickens.
Wait, what?
UVA is willing to go 5 plus hours out of their way to play a G5 program in the same conference as JMU, but is not willing to go 45 minutes over the mountain to play in Harrisonburg? Heck, they won’t even do the same for ODU. What gives?
Honestly, I “get it”.
And by get it, I understand that this is UVA more or less admitting that they are not in a place right now as a program where they can afford losses in state to what they would deem “inferior” competition. Combine that with doing so in what would be incredibly hostile away environments in state, there really isn’t any upside for the Hoos.
This isn’t a surprise for JMU fans. Until last year, UVA avoided playing the Dukes for decades all while continuing to schedule former CAA counterparts like William & Mary and Richmond. Within the past 5 years they had even hosted Liberty and ODU before JMU. To be honest, I don’t know if/when UVA will schedule JMU next. College football future scheduling is random at best, and even less reliable in the tumultuous times we live in.
But the fact that UVA has honored its commitment to still go to Coastal Carolina is quite odd. Maybe they did not want to buy themselves out of the contract. Perhaps they’re counting on students and alumni to know so little about Coastal that a loss wouldn’t spark outrage amongst the fan base. That in and of itself, for me at least, is all the more reason why UVA should be playing ODU and JMU more often. And, if they had the guts to do so, should for a 2 for 1 series at least with the schools.
I wrote about this in an article last year when making the case that JMU and UVA should play at least every other year. Even though they lost, UVA fans would have to begrudgingly admit that the gameday atmosphere vs. JMU was just different. Not discounting the obvious emotional factors that were a part of that game specifically, it wasn’t like playing William & Mary or Richmond. It certainly wasn’t like hosting ODU, let alone Liberty. They may not see JMU as a peer or rival in football or as an institution, but my guess is they get a lot more satisfaction beating the dukes than any of the other schools mentioned.
What that tells me is that even though they would never say it out loud, beating JMU means something to them. It’s not beating Virginia Tech or even a highly ranked conference opponent, but it would still be a meaningful win.
So, what happens if UVA does go down to Conway and slaps around the Beach Chickens? Will their alumni care? To be fair, any win is a good win for UVA at this point. What if they lose? Will alumni care? There’s absolutely no emotional tie between Coastal Carolina and UVA, except maybe baseball. It’s almost like it’s a game for games sake. And like I said, I get it.
Kind of.
There’s no technical upside to UVA playing JMU, let alone traveling to Harrisonburg. Or, I should say there’s no upside for the program or the football team as currently constructed. If you win, you were supposed to win. If you lose, well then, my goodness why did you go into that hostile environment in the first place.
But I think there’s something to be said about putting games on the schedule that your fans and alumni care about. The conference scheduling for the SunBelt and renewed interest in JMU football since moving to FBS is a testament to that. If UVA wants their fan base to start caring about football more, obviously they have to get better, but they also have to put games on the schedule that will also intrigue fans and boosters.
All of this being said, I *think* I’ll be pulling for UVA in Conway? I don’t know. It’s difficult. On the one hand if the Beach Chickens pull it off it’ll be great for the SunBelt and how they look for a potential playoff spot. However, if UVA wins, maybe they won’t be terrified of traveling to an in-state school like JMU in the future. That may be pie in the sky thinking, especially since ACC schools are actively avoiding their in state G5 counterparts now.
Either way, the game on the schedule is weird. UVA traveling to Conway is even weirder. Do something that your fans may actually get excited about and schedule schools they have ties to. Put some emotion back into the games. And hey…if you have the gonadal fortitude to do so, make the trip over the mountain. Y’all need to get a win back from JMU anyway otherwise you’ll never hear the end of it. I’m sure players would love to “right that wrong” too.
We get JMU football in a couple weeks. And we get college football next week. The wait is finally over.
Go Dukes!
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The trouble with being a good G5 school is that you need to schedule P5 schools to bolster your resume for the playoff and to have any hope at being included in the next round of realignment, but no one wants to schedule a G5 game where a loss would be anything other than a flukey major upset. Ole Miss doesn’t play Memphis anymore because it’s too risky; they’ve beaten us too many times. It’s a really tough place to be in for teams who have the talent and infrastructure to compete with teams with more money and prestige, and moving to nine game conference schedules doesn’t help with this either. I think a playoff appearance will help with scheduling, though, and thankfully that’s something that JMU can control just by continuing to be excellent on the field.