Home School Fans Episode 1: Preseason Sizing Up Competition JMU - 2022 Pt. 8

Last one! Eight for eight! This season will be great. Maybe.

I am tracking the developments of seven teams more closely this season. I have predicted crazy things, like Utah, Texas A&M, and BYU all going undefeated. This would be sheer mayhem madness, very welcomed by me. but not very likely. The other four teams are UVA of Charlottesville, Fresno State of the very same, Indiana of Bloomington, and James Madison of Harrisonburg.

Previous blog posts have shown who the opponents of those other teams will be, now in this last of 8 parts for the preseason forecasts we will focus on the newest members of the FBS top 131 schools, none other than the Dukes of James Madison. They are done beating up the lower tier FCS Colonial Athletic Association; the Dukes are joining the up and coming Sub Belt Conference.

    Due to the shenanigans of the richest and most powerful conferences, the SEC poaching Texas and Oklahoma and the Big Ten unthinkingly stealing the two PAC-12 powers from the City of Angels (California? in the Midwest?), lower conferences like the flagging Big 12 have expanded from Florida to Ohio and Utah, and other conferences even with smaller economies are poaching and replacing, and thus moves the world of college football. Not to mention all the NIL contracts making a lot of money for these athletes. New times, new money, ever progressing to help the little guys get ahead. We hope. More money, more opportunities, more education, more equity for athletes and students and their families.

    Enter JMU. The Dukes. Lindy's Sports has them at 110 pre-season, and finishing 9th of 14 newly expanding teams in the Sun Belt, predicted 5th in their 7 team division, Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina leading the way there. Let's see opponent rankings according to Lindy's Sports. Athlon Sports has them picked 98th nationally, finishing 6th in the Sun Belt, 4-4. 

Middle Tennessee State (105)

Norfolk State (FCS, 3rd of six in the Mid Eastern Conference)

Appalachian State (52, 1st in the Sun Belt)

Texas State (126, 14th in the Sun Belt)

Arkansas State (101, 7th in the Sun Belt)

Georgia Southern (120, 12th in Sun Belt)

Marshall (73, 4th in the Sun Belt)

Louisville (61, 11th in the Atlantic Coast Conference)

Old Dominion (111, 10th in the Sun Belt Conference)

Georgia State (96, 5th in the Sun Belt Conference)

Coastal Carolina (53, 2nd in the Sun Belt Conference)

    Five teams are better ranked, and one FCS team should be easy pickings, with a few within 10 rating picks. I want my BYU Cougars to surpass the Dukes in all-time winning percentage, which may happen if the new Sun Belt member gets some humble pie and does as some predict, not much better than .500. BYU needs to go stellar, get some top 15 teams knocked off and have a fabulous season.

    Health, execution, and luck.

    Should be fun to see how it all shakes out. Good luck, new dogs. We will report on the games throughout.