I accidentally thought about James Madison today. I communicated with a friend that went to Western Carolina and it made me think of other purple teams I don’t like. First I thought of Furman and ECU and I was about to end my thought and then it crept up out of nowhere. James Madison. They turned their nose up at the Sun Belt years ago, a Sun Belt that has seen 3 different teams in the top 25 this season and another former FCS competitor showing up at #9 in the country in FBS. Are they even playing this season? Would the Sun Belt even want them now? It seems as the Sun Belt has passed C-USA and the MAC, and for at least the current season, on level or better than that G5 conference out west and the imaginary P6 conference and would not need to look to the FCS for a new team. The Sun Belt could call up Marshall, Southern Miss or UAB from the lower level. Possibly that could open a spot for JMU in Conference USA. They could possibly be competitive and have natural rivalries with Charlotte, ODU and WKU. But then again, are they even playing football anymore?

Sucks!

I hate JMU. I’ll never forget when they would come and ruin our field/stands with that ugly purple ribbon. But then I think about the 2007 playoffs when they fumbled for us to seal the game.

I perused through a few pages of their bbs message board and while there are the handful of those who have AAC stars in their eyes most are pretty warm on the sunbelt right now. They do have some legitimate travel concerns. They’d be the extreme geographic outlier in the east.

In a dream scenario where the sunbelt could grab Marshall I think JMU would be a lot more keen on the idea because they’d have 3 “close” opponents (Marshall, App, and Coastal). Not holding my breath though.

No thanks. They have snubbed us at every opportunity going way back. They have always had a superiority complex both athletically and academically. They ain't all that.....

I understand that many are turned off on JMU because of the "snubs" in the past, but they would actually be a very good add for the Belt. I wouldn't be in favor of giving them big concessions to get them in, but if they changed their tune, I would think the conference would be open. Good academics. Good football / basketball. They are as close to a peer institution as anyone around us.

There once was a time when I wanted to be in a conference with JMU. After they turned their nose up at the Sun Belt invite, I have no use for them. They had their chance and they thought they were too good for it. I hope the Sun Belt never extends them another offer.

Not advocating, just speculating but an App, Marsha, JMU, Liberty, Charlotte, Coastal division for a conference wouldn’t be a bad.

No .

AppSt94 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 9:11 am

Not advocating, just speculating but an App, Marsha, JMU, Liberty, Charlotte, Coastal division for a conference wouldn’t be a bad.

It's bad in my book. No Liberty. No JMU.

James Madison and Charlotte waiting on the SEC Invite

Off topic but a funny memory of JMU nonetheless.

Anyone remember how red Mickey Matthews face was when they fumbled at the end of the playoff game in 2007? That was a different color red, and his head was about to explode...

What a great memory, and another instance of Magic on Mountain.

GO APPS!!

I like the Sun Belt as it is. We were a land of misfit toys and we've turned it into a league that can be mentioned with the American (in football, at least). Sucks for those who underestimated us. I know that economics may state otherwise, but I'm not even crazy about the unicorn conference that everyone likes to bring up.

Stay the course.

Just say no to purple.

I married into JMU and tag along to their Homecoming game every year and make fun of all the purple. They're honestly not that much different than where we were 10+ years ago and they have a good fan base who shows up to the games and travel well. Most ASU alum I know thought we were better than the Sunbelt when we joined and hoped for a better conference to jump up to so can't really fault them for thinking the same.

appstate24 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:12 am

Off topic but a funny memory of JMU nonetheless.

Anyone remember how red Mickey Matthews face was when they fumbled at the end of the playoff game in 2007? That was a different color red, and his head was about to explode...

What a great memory, and another instance of Magic on Mountain.

GO APPS!!

I sure do. He got greedy plain and simple. The possession before, they were up by 5 and he went for it on 4th down and didn't convert giving us a short field to which Armanti quickly scored for us to go up by 1. Then they got it back and my recollection was he was trying to score to ram it down our throats instead of kick the field goal and they fumbled with 6 seconds left. It was pure agony on his face. We owned the CAA that year beating JMU, Richmond and Delaware on our way to #3.

Any team that thinks "purple streamers" are cool is not tough enough for the Belt.

On topic of purple, Furman still sucks!

App_in_Maiden wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 16, 2020 2:36 pm

I hate JMU. I’ll never forget when they would come and ruin our field/stands with that ugly purple ribbon. But then I think about the 2007 playoffs when they fumbled for us to seal the game.

So I just took 5 minutes and watched the Pierre Banks fumble recovery from that game...the all black unis with the gold trim across the chest and shoulders are fire. I'd love to see us get back to something similar to those

I’ve said this elsewhere, but I’d gladly dump ULM for JMU.

While we are at it, trade Texas State to CUSA for Marshall.

Sun Belt West
ULL
Arkansas State
South Alabama
Troy
Georgia State

Sun Belt East
App State
Marshall
JMU
Georgia Southern
Coastal Carolina

Hell of a football conference. And I think everyone is happy here including Texas State and their CUSA Texas peers. (Good luck to ULM in FCS).

I think JMU is foolish for snubbing the Sun Belt. They’ve since spent their time not playing football in 2020 and the past 5 years as a bridesmaid to NDSU. Congrats on the consolation prizes.

That said, they’d be a net positive add to the Belt and denying that is equally foolish. Don’t let emotion get in the way of a good decision.