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JMU Football Is Ranked Higher Than LSU
By Jamie Mottram | November 25, 2008
As we have the past couple of weeks, let us rejoice in the juggernaut that is JMU football by listing bowl-bound teams from BCS conferences that Sagarin’s ratings have ranked below the No. 33 Dukes:
- 34. LSU — 7-4 (3-4 in the SEC)
- 41. Rutgers — 6-5 (4-2 in the Big East)
- 44. Wisconsin — 7-5 (3-5 in the Big Ten)
And that’s not including West Virginia, Pitt, Northwestern, Wake Forest and others that we’ve listed before. It’s cute and all, but it doesn’t have an actual bearing on anything, right? JMU is a I-AA/FCS team, and that division has its own playoff, so being No. 1 in I-AA is all that really matters and being No. 33 in Sagarin doesn’t matter one … wait, what’s that? Dr. Saturday reports (emphasis added):
“The esteemed Jeff Sagarin’s submission to the BCS this week ranks the Dukes No. 24, making the James Madison — 31-7 loser to Duke in their only game against I-A competition — the first ever I-AA/FCS team to earn BCS poll points of any kind.”
That No. 24 ranking, taken from Sagarin’s ELO-CHESS formula that counts for one-sixth of the computer third of the BCS rankings, is higher than 18 teams that received votes in this week’s AP and Coaches polls. The Doc points this out not to say that JMU or any other I-AA team could or should crash the BCS party, but to say that something is very wrong here. Again, to quote Matt Hinton, who only plays a doctor on the web:
“There’s no evidence JMU can compete in the I-A ranks at all, much less in the top 40. So if two different BCS algorithms [-- Sagarin and Massey --] are already making that kind of leap, what else might they be capable of?”
As sheep-shit crazy as the BCS may be, JMU is still a fine I-AA team and, after stomping Towson last Saturday, is the top seed in the FCS Playoffs, drawing Wofford at home this Saturday. Here’s a dispatch from JMU sports correspondent Rob Abbott on the Towson game as well as the playoffs:
It was cold as shit [in Towson] and there were probably more JMU fans than Towson fans. Other than that, nothing too interesting. Although, we were tailgating next to a group of JMU undergrads playing flip cup with vodka … ah college.
JMU got a tough draw with Wofford, but should take care of business. The potential second-round match up with Villanova would be epic. App. State and Richmond could potentially face each other in Round 2 also. You could make an argument that those are the four best teams.
So there you have it, JMU fans. Get your “Old Guys Leave!” t-shirts made post-haste, and head to Harrisonburg Saturday for some playoff football. We’ll be watching and back next week with the latest madness, because, according to Sagarin, Virginia Tech (No. 29) is in JMU’s crosshairs, and passing them to become the Commonwealth’s top team would be righteous.
Update: This is getting around, and College Football Talk shares a nugget:
“According to the Sagarin rating, James Madison would be the fourth-best team in the SEC.”
Topics: College Football, JMU | 4 Comments »
November 25th, 2008 at 9:57 AM
I enjoy showing this to people who went to Tech, WVU, et al. then listening to their 15 minute diatribe about how bad they would beat us in actual competition.
November 25th, 2008 at 10:11 AM
After watching 1-AA Cal-Poly nearly pull off the upset at Wisconsin up here this past weekend (they only lost because their kicker missed 2 PAT’s), I can safely say that I JMU would probably win that matchup or at least make it a hell of a game.
The loss to Duke in the first game of the year largely had to do with first-game-of-the-year jitters, 3 bad turnovers deep in JMU’s own territory, and Mickey Matthew’s notoriety for playing FBS opponents so as not to hurt his players. Plus Duke just played a damn good game that first week.
November 25th, 2008 at 11:51 AM
The hokie alums are rioting in there cubicles
November 25th, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Even with the loss to Duke, JMU could still probably win the ACC this year.