CAA Preseason Poll

[bluehenbillk]

JMU has sold out every game in pretty lame facilities for the last 5-6 years. No one is expecting that we'll pack 27k into BFS every game

Yes JMU gets good crowds but they haven't sold out every game for the past 5-6 years. I've seen a couple late-season games when you've been out of it with swaths of empty seats & I'm not talking about the student section after halftime.

[JmuSkinsfan]

JMU has sold out every game in pretty lame facilities for the last 5-6 years. No one is expecting that we'll pack 27k into BFS every game

Yes JMU gets good crowds but they haven't sold out every game for the past 5-6 years. I've seen a couple late-season games when you've been out of it with swaths of empty seats & I'm not talking about the student section after halftime.

You do know what "sold out" means right? As in ... all tickets have been sold ... JMU sold out every game but 2 prior to the season last year and I believe after the VT game the other 2 sold out. Just because games are sold out doesn't mean everyone shows up. I'm pretty sure JMU has sold out all but MAYBE 1/2 games the last 4-5 years. Of course, when the team is 2-5 and it's a rainy day in early November ... it's going to be hard to pack the stadium ...

[bluehenbillk]

Yes JMU gets good crowds but they haven't sold out every game for the past 5-6 years. I've seen a couple late-season games when you've been out of it with swaths of empty seats & I'm not talking about the student section after halftime.

You do know what "sold out" means right? As in ... all tickets have been sold ... JMU sold out every game but 2 prior to the season last year and I believe after the VT game the other 2 sold out. Just because games are sold out doesn't mean everyone shows up. I'm pretty sure JMU has sold out all but MAYBE 1/2 games the last 4-5 years. Of course, when the team is 2-5 and it's a rainy day in early November ... it's going to be hard to pack the stadium ...

And the point is exaggerated more at JMU b/c of the higher percentage of students that are given tickets for your games.

[State Line Liquors]

This is about the preseason CAA poll. If we want to talk JMU attendance let's head back to JMU Hugfest with the teenagers on their CAAZone board.

I haven't heard much UNH talk here. Any of their fans have any thoughts on what they've got happening this fall. I'm wondering if we might be giving them more credit than they deserve, at least in comparison to VU and UR.

[JMUpurplehazed]

Bluehen, stadium envy noted...

[BDKJMU]

I think the Dukes success will depend on two things. Can Coach Matthews stay calm enough on the sidelines to call the plays and can a talented offensive line stay healthy. Matthews has ounce again under recruited the offensive line in terms of quantity , not quality.JMU roster lists eight players as off linemen. Compare that with 16 ol at W&M, 12 ol at Richmond, 14 ol at ODU and 14 listed at Montana.But , We have AJ Scott, a transfer from Marshall who was projected to start. He will take Theo Sherman`s spot. Add Watford and Babinton, the left side of the line is awesome.
I managed to watch seven or eight spring practices. Early on,(with Thorpe being held out) Jace Edwards looked really good at QB. Billy Cosh just kept getting better as he got more comfortable with the recievers and the plays.Andre Coble, boy is he gonna be fun to watch !!! WOW
Then about halfway through spring practice, enter Justin Thorpe at QB and move Coble to reciever.Thorpe looked great. I saw no effects from his knee injury.And make no mistake about it, Justin Thorpe is the leader of this team. I think to compare him with Landers is not fair. Landers got to learn from Justin Rascoti for two years and started his JUNIOR year. Thorpe was thrown in as a rFR. CAA rookie off the year !!! I think Thrope will be the starter and Cosh will get some playing time also. He has a great arm.He made some unbelievable throws this spring.
I would like to see an offensive package with Cosh at QB , with Thorpe, Dae Quan Scott, Dejor Simmons (track champion),Coble and Kerby Long. That is speed that is unmatched in the CAA.
Go DUKES !!!!!

Just to clarify Purple, the 2011 roster (which still shows 2010 weights and doesn't list the freshmen, only the class yr is updated). It list actually lists only 7. I noticed that Richard Williams, who would be a rJr, is no longer listed on the roster. Didn't notice on the Zone anybody say anything, but I assume he's gone. Other than the Morehead St game, he didn't see much, if any PT, and wasn't a contender for a starting spot. Doesn't help depth, though. Makes it the 5th yr in a row by my count that have lost a scholly OL in the offseason for one reason or another. At least Williams wasn't a starter or would be starter. The previous 4 offseasons/preseasons 07'-10' I believe there was 5 starters or would be starters lost for one reason or another. Throw on top of that a couple of 2 deep guys (not all for negative reasons, like graduating and not coming back for 5th yr as a backup). So off season losses over the last 5 seasons have been as much a part of not having enough OL bodies as Mickey not recruiting enough.

There is AJ Scott the Marshall transfer expected to be at summer camp who's not listed along with the 3 freshmen that signed LOIs (one of whom was straight out of HS, one was a PG at FUMA, and the 3rd was listed as a 6'7" 255 DL as a HS senior, but from what I've heard he'll be playing OL). Throw in your usual 2-4 walkons and there should be 13-15 OL out there (which I know isn't enough, ideally 17-18 would be, so you would hopefully have 15 healthy for practice, 10 for the 2 deep and 5 more to run the scout team.

[Tribal]

Take the top 5 CAA teams and randomly place them on a 1-5 chart. Each CAA team will win at least one that they should have lost and lose at least one that they should have won. It will come down to 5 teams at the end of the season with 4, maybe 5, getting a shot in the postseason. JMU and UD are at an advantage because they won't play each other. UD and W&M are at a disadvantage because they scheduled a D2 team. W&M, UD, and JMU fans had better hope that Nova and UR have fallen as much as speculated.

[BDKJMU]

Take the top 5 CAA teams and randomly place them on a 1-5 chart. Each CAA team will win at least one that they should have lost and lose at least one that they should have won. It will come down to 5 teams at the end of the season with 4, maybe 5, getting a shot in the postseason. JMU and UD are at an advantage because they won't play each other. UD and W&M are at a disadvantage because they scheduled a D2 team. W&M, UD, and JMU fans had better hope that Nova and UR have fallen as much as speculated.

UD gets the huge advantage. Pre season coaches poll:
1. William and Mary- at home
2. James Madison- don't play
3. Delaware ---------------
4. New Hampshire - dont play.
5. Massachusetts- at home
6. Richmond- at home
7. Villanova- "neutral" PPL park in Chester. Technically a Nova home game but will be majority UD fans.
8. Rhode Island- on road Oct
9. Maine- on road early Oct
10. Old Dominion- at home
11. Towson- on road

So of the other 3 pre season top 4, UD doesn't play 2 and gets the 3rd at home. None of the pre season top 7 in a true road game. No New England road game in Nov (JMU has 2- @ UNH and @ UMass). Don't know who's cock UD sucked to get that schedule from the CAA. They have a big advantage on making the playoffs UNLESS they go 7-4 because they scheduled a Div II and won't be able to get a bid at 7-4 because of the 7 Div 1 wins requirement.

Same goes for W&M. I would laugh my ass off if one of those 2 slips to 7-4 and can't get a bid because they scheduled a Div II, because they would only have themselves (well their AD) to blame. With the expanded playoff field 7-4 out of the CAA with a I-A on the schedule (everyone but ODU) will likely get a team in almost every time provided they didn't play a Div II. Out of the CAA it is idiotic to now schedule a Div II....

[BDKJMU]

Take the top 5 CAA teams and randomly place them on a 1-5 chart. Each CAA team will win at least one that they should have lost and lose at least one that they should have won. It will come down to 5 teams at the end of the season with 4, maybe 5, getting a shot in the postseason. JMU and UD are at an advantage because they won't play each other. UD and W&M are at a disadvantage because they scheduled a D2 team. W&M, UD, and JMU fans had better hope that Nova and UR have fallen as much as speculated.

Yeah, everyone is saying Nova will have fallen. Who's saying UR has fallen? I don't see anyone saying that. They were 6-5/4-4 last yr, and I don't think anyone is saying they are going to fall from that. They lost a 1/2 doz starters from their defense, including the 3 AAs/NFL prospects, so their defense isn't going to be nearly as good. They were 8th in the CAA in rushing offense last year, and I think they'll be near the bottom in that category again. But with Corp at QB they could be the top, or one of the top passing teams in the league. I can't see them being any worse than 5-6/3-5, and they could be as high as 8-3/6-2. So if anything, they are more likely to the do the same or better than last season than they are to have fallen.

Last season the league standings were as follows:
1. W&M 6-2
2. UD 6-2
3. UNH 5-3
4. Nova 5-3
5. UR 4-4
6. URI 4-4
7. UMass 4-4
8. JMU 3-5
9. Maine 3-5
10 Towson 0-8

Notice that there were zero teams at 8-0. Zero teams at 7-1. Zero teams at 2-6. Zero teams at 1-7. 9 of the 10 teams finished between 6-2 and 3-5. 7 of team between 5-3 and 3-5. I think you'll see similar this season. No dominant team, with only 2, at most 3, teams better than 5-3. No subpar team other than Towson, who should be improved, so only 1-2 teams worse than 3-5.

Bottom line is they'll probably 7-8 of the 11 teams teams from 3-5 to 5-3. Going to be a big friggin log jam towards the middle, with everybody knocking everybody off.

The CAA is like a box of chocolates- you never know what you're gonna get. Only a few certainties in like- death, taxes, and Towson won't make the playoffs. Close to a certainty for ODU not making the playoffs because I think with their schedule (only CAA team without a I-A) it will take them 8-3 to get in, just like W&M and UD, and I think all of us on here outside of some ODU fans would be absolutely stunned if ODU went 5-3 in the CAA and made the playoffs

As far as any specific order of finish for the entire league, anyone who tries to do predict that is just going to set themselves up to look like an idiot in less than 4 months because again, like a box of chocolates.

[LeadBolt]

Take the top 5 CAA teams and randomly place them on a 1-5 chart. Each CAA team will win at least one that they should have lost and lose at least one that they should have won. It will come down to 5 teams at the end of the season with 4, maybe 5, getting a shot in the postseason. JMU and UD are at an advantage because they won't play each other. UD and W&M are at a disadvantage because they scheduled a D2 team. W&M, UD, and JMU fans had better hope that Nova and UR have fallen as much as speculated.

Good analysis. The skuttle butt I heard was that W&M had scheduled Penn, but they backed out late and all W&M could get was a D-2 opponent. Any idea if that is true or if it is a rumor to protect someone?

[etiger1]

UD gets the huge advantage. Pre season coaches poll:
1. William and Mary- at home
2. James Madison- don't play
3. Delaware ---------------
4. New Hampshire - dont play.
5. Massachusetts- on road
6. Richmond- at home
7. Villanova- "neutral" PPL park in Chester. Technically a Nova home game but will be majority UD fans.
8. Rhode Island- on road Oct
9. Maine- on road early Oct
10. Old Dominion- at home
11. Towson- at home



You are wrong on the Towson game. It is at Towson not UD. The game is on 29 Oct at 6:00pm. Towson will not be so easy this year....We are an improved team and don't just put down a "W" aginst us!

[andy7171]

UD gets the huge advantage. Pre season coaches poll:
1. William and Mary- at home
2. James Madison- don't play
3. Delaware ---------------
4. New Hampshire - dont play.
5. Massachusetts- on road
6. Richmond- at home
7. Villanova- "neutral" PPL park in Chester. Technically a Nova home game but will be majority UD fans.
8. Rhode Island- on road Oct
9. Maine- on road early Oct
10. Old Dominion- at home
11. Towson- at home



You are wrong on the Towson game. It is at Towson not UD. The game is on 29 Oct at 6:00pm. Towson will not be so easy this year....We are an improved team and don't just put down a "W" aginst us!

Keep it down ed! We are the same team as last year. No need to alert anyone that we are not.

[BDKJMU]

Take the top 5 CAA teams and randomly place them on a 1-5 chart. Each CAA team will win at least one that they should have lost and lose at least one that they should have won. It will come down to 5 teams at the end of the season with 4, maybe 5, getting a shot in the postseason. JMU and UD are at an advantage because they won't play each other. UD and W&M are at a disadvantage because they scheduled a D2 team. W&M, UD, and JMU fans had better hope that Nova and UR have fallen as much as speculated.

UD gets the huge advantage. Pre season coaches poll:
1. William and Mary- at home
2. James Madison- don't play
3. Delaware ---------------
4. New Hampshire - dont play.
5. Massachusetts- on road
6. Richmond- at home
7. Villanova- "neutral" PPL park in Chester. Technically a Nova home game but will be majority UD fans.
8. Rhode Island- on road Oct
9. Maine- on road early Oct
10. Old Dominion- at home
11. Towson- at home

So of the other 3 pre season top 4, UD doesn't play 2 and gets the 3rd at home. Only one of the pre season top 7 in a true road game. No New England road game in Nov (JMU has 2- @ UNH and @ UMass). Don't know who's cock UD sucked to get that schedule from the CAA. They have a big advantage on making the playoffs UNLESS they go 7-4 because they scheduled a Div II and won't be able to get a bid at 7-4 because of the 7 Div 1 wins requirement.

Same goes for W&M. I would laugh my ass off if one of those 2 slips to 7-4 and can't get a bid because they scheduled a Div II, because they would only have themselves (well their AD) to blame. With the expanded playoff field 7-4 out of the CAA with a I-A on the schedule (everyone but ODU) will likely get a team in almost every time provided they didn't play a Div II. Out of the CAA it is idiotic to now schedule a Div II....

I stand corrected. Its even better for UD than I thought, as I had flipped their Umass and Towson games. It should read:
So of the other 3 pre season top 4, UD doesn't play 2 and gets the 3rd at home. None of the pre season top 7 in a true road game.

UD gets the huge advantage. Pre season coaches poll:
1. William and Mary- at home
2. James Madison- don't play
3. Delaware ---------------
4. New Hampshire - dont play.
5. Massachusetts- at home
6. Richmond- at home
7. Villanova- "neutral" PPL park in Chester. Technically a Nova home game but will be majority UD fans.
8. Rhode Island- on road Oct
9. Maine- on road early Oct
10. Old Dominion- at home
11. Towson- on road

[BDKJMU]

UD gets the huge advantage. Pre season coaches poll:
1. William and Mary- at home
2. James Madison- don't play
3. Delaware ---------------
4. New Hampshire - dont play.
5. Massachusetts- on road
6. Richmond- at home
7. Villanova- "neutral" PPL park in Chester. Technically a Nova home game but will be majority UD fans.
8. Rhode Island- on road Oct
9. Maine- on road early Oct
10. Old Dominion- at home
11. Towson- at home



You are wrong on the Towson game. It is at Towson not UD. The game is on 29 Oct at 6:00pm. Towson will not be so easy this year....We are an improved team and don't just put down a "W" aginst us!

Fixed it- I have UD's UMass and Towson games flipped.

I would be surpised if Towson doesn't win a CAA game this year (course I said that same thing last yr). Even 2 wouldn't really surprise me. 3 would.