stokesjokes wrote: ↑October 21st, 2021, 7:30 am
TallyW wrote: ↑October 20th, 2021, 11:27 pm
We go from beating VT in our first few years of FBS to competing with JMU annually?
This isn’t a good comparison though. Right now we’re also competing with ULM and UMass annually. We’ve scheduled a CUSA-tier schedule (or worse) every year anyway, plus a P5 here and there.
There’s no reason we couldn’t keep the P5s in our non-conference schedule, while also getting something out of beating the G6s.
Obviously independence gives us more flexibility, but is low-level conference membership a faster path to high-level conference membership? Would we rather be 9-3 with a conference championship and a decent bowl or 9-3, unranked and in the Cure Bowl again?
Our early scheduling was considered a miracle at the time... But it wasn't our declared aspiration. We were glad to simply have games to play back then.
Everyone understood it was just our foot in the door.
What recruits will understand from this move is that we aspire to be seen not as a competitor to UVA, VT, or even Syracuse... But JMU, ODU, and Marshall. It'll define our brand for us.
Part of not having a conference means that we get to sell recruits on the future. Once we settle, it's clear... We're a directional school.