Welcome Back to my Good Side, Jeff Bourne

JMU recently released their football schedule.  I'm giddy just writing about this.  In case you haven't seen it, here we go:


September 1- St. Francis (Pa)

The only thing even worth mentioning is that the last few home openers have been late afternoon/night games.  That means grilling and tailgating.  Am I the only one that wants more night games?  Just sayin.


September 8- Alcorn State

Please.



September 15- West Virginia at FedEx Field

As you all know, this is the game that has been circled on my calendar for quite some time now.  I will be at the game, large portions of my family will be at this game, and I hope all of you make the drive up to Maryland too.  Personally, I'm waiting for the WVU and JMU AD's to decide that I'm the best person on Earth to do color commentary for this game on TV.  Hit me up Curt Dudley.  We could be great together.


September 22- @ Rhode Island


Sure, it's not a home game, but if you've got to go on the road, this is probably where you want to go in CAA play. 


October 6- Towson (Family Weekend)

I've got some mixed emotions about this.  It's great that one of our biggest weekends is against the reigning CAA champs.  But if you sat with me last fall for family weekend or read my reaction piece (blog or Breeze) afterwards, you probably know I was none too happy with the surprisingly large amount of family sitting in the student section.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but if you're going to be a "student" for the game, you better stand up and make some noise.  If Towson remains a quality team next year, which I think they will, we're gonna need the full noise advantages that Bridgeforth can provide us.  Let's step it up families.


October 13- William and Mary

The tribe has been a bit hard to pin in recent years, but this should be another good, quality home game to witness in the heart of football season.


October 20- @ Richmond

8000 people will show up to this game, and around half will be Dukes fans.  Poor spiders.  Their fans are more worried about derivatives and less worried about our special teams breaking their kicker's leg.  If the Creepy Crawlers are twice as good as they were last year, we could probably win by 50.


October 27- Georgia State (Homecoming)

Ouch. Sorry GSU, it's a long drive home.


November 3- @ Maine

This is a key game JMU can't afford to drop.  Maine was good this year despite being pretty young across the board.  If JMU wants to win the CAA regular season title, they need to close it out down the stretch.  Winning in the land of the frostbitten willl be step 1.


November 10- @ Villanova

Villanova was so incredibly bad in 2011 that I have no idea what to expect from them in 2012.  They historicaly field a good team, so it's hard for me to imagine them being a cellar dweller twice.  We will probably be a better team than them, but this could be a let down game as the Dukes look forward to...


November 17, Regular Season Finale- ODU

If you're looking for a rivalry where rich intellects sit around and eat cheese while talking about politics in a luxury box, go watch William and Mary play Richmond.  I barely consider them a rival.  If you're looking for a dirty war in the trenches where people beat the crap out of each other, show up to JMU vs ODU.  Going forward, it's going to be the game on JMU's calendar not only because it will cap the regular season every year from now on, but also because Monarch fans seem to be the only FCS fans in Virginia that actually care about what's happening on the gridiron.  Both teams were playoff bound in 2011.  ODU won a close, physical, injury-laden game.  It's gonna be a bruiser, and it's going to set attendance records.  Buy your tickets now.




Okay, now time for my reaction.  Some of you may remember this wonderful letter issued by Jeff Bourne after his incredibly low 12k attendance bid on the first round playoff game against Eastern Kentucky on Thanksgiving weekend.  The end result was JMU defeating EKU in what was essentially a high school stadium six or eight hours down the interstate from Harrisonburg.  For the class of 2013 (and everyone younger), we still haven't seen a playoff game at JMU.  I know I speak for a lot of people when I say that my ass would have been in Bridgeforth for a playoff game regardless of the date or holiday.  Period.  So going into the Christmas season, Jeff Bourne was on my naughty list.  He was on a lot of people's lists, I would imagine.


Jeff Bourne, welcome back to my good side.


This schedule is incredible.  We don't draw New Hampshire, but we do play the remaining three top-four finishers from 2011's CAA play.  Two of the three (Towson, ODU) we get at home on notable weekends.  As for the remaining team (Maine), we go on the road to one of the lamest home field advantages in the conference.  Maine students are too busy working on their double major in Animal Husbandry and Frostbite Survival to go watch a football game.


It's about 7 months too early for football predictions, but I have JMU going 9-2 next year.  If Thorpe can straighten out his off the field issues and lead this locker room, we have a real shot to win the CAA and grab a 10-win season.  And that's just the regular season.


JMU won the national championship in 2004, and almost did it again in 2008.  I don't know what they'll do in 2012, but I have a vague idea.  I like where this is going.