Oklahoma and Texas’ moves to the SEC are set to reverberate through the entire college football world. Some of the biggest impact may happen down at the Group of Five level, as Conference USA and the Sun Belt could wind up dueling it out for one of the big prizes in the FCS world: James Madison University.
The Dukes are one of the powers of the FCS, and are pretty solidly in the footprint for both leagues, which could look to expand after the AAC makes its decisions on bringing up teams to replace their own outgoing squads: Big 12-bound Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF.
The AAC appears set to gobble up a number of programs from Conference USA: Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA, per a report by Yahoo’s Pete Thamel. The additions expand the AAC’s influence in recruiting rich areas like Florida, Texas, and North Carolina, and add a number of programs that have invested pretty heavily in becoming competitive like Charlotte and North Texas.
The move leaves the Sun Belt intact, and in a potential position of power over its regional rival C-USA, which certainly appears to be scrambling. The Sun Belt was already viewed as a more cohesive, competitive league, valuing the actual football over markets and other things. Now, both leagues are looking to add, and a common name listed is James Madison:
Sources: The Sun Belt is examining expansion. The league is considering adding up to four schools. Among those targeted are Southern Miss, Marshall, ODU and James Madison. Also, Conference USA is exploring additions. Those include Liberty and James Madison.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 20, 2021
Landing the Dukes, if they are determined to be a value add, could be very important for C-USA, with Thamel indicating that the Sun Belt could look to poach from it and consolidate Group of Five power in the area, aside from the AAC of course. James Madison could be a potential travel partner and form natural rivalries with schools like Marshall and Old Dominion, and either help keep them in C-USA, or help convince them to make a jump to the SBC.
Per Vannini, it seems like the Sun Belt is currently weighing out 3 options:
1. Stay at 10 schools
2. Expand to 12 with Marshall & Southern Miss
3. Expand to 14 with James Madison and Old Dominion. https://t.co/JV49R5OnGz— Adrian Broaddus (@AdrianBroaddus) October 20, 2021
“Old Dominion and James Madison are in Virginia and a bit outside the footprint, but they could work as travel partners,” Chris Vannini of The Athletic writes. “They have large athletic budgets, in the $50 million range, though those budgets are heavily subsidized by student fees. ODU is a young program but recently rebuilt its football stadium, while JMU has good facilities. JMU is one of the top FCS programs, and the Sun Belt has found a lot of success adding from the top of the FCS with App State, Georgia Southern and Coastal Carolina.”
If James Madison gets to choose, the Sun Belt makes way more sense. Three potential opponents you can bus to, plus better competition. https://t.co/8Mi6zkquSP
— Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch) October 20, 2021
If i am understanding everything correctly, the mostly important team in the G5 right now is James Madison, a team that isn’t even in the G5.
— Matt Brown (@MattBrownEP) October 20, 2021
Never would have imagined that it would fall on James Madison to find a way to unite a ragtag band of misfits looking to hold their own and compete against much stronger, older powerhouses. https://t.co/WHDOr0hhAu pic.twitter.com/VVovNoSvoV
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 20, 2021
My unsolicited advice for the Sun Belt: Add Southern Miss and James Madison.
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) October 20, 2021
Leave it to college football to all of a sudden make James Madison University the potential key in either keeping a conference alive, or essentially dealing it a death blow.
The post College Sports World Reacts To James Madison Speculation appeared first on The Spun.
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