NOT IN THE CARDS

It would be wrong to say James Madison didn’t try.

The Dukes, who have been to three of the last four FCS national championship games and who have won it all twice in their history, aren’t playing football this fall. But it’s not because they didn’t strive to do so — it’s at least partly due to the fact that they couldn’t secure enough opponents to piece together a schedule on the fly.

“We really worked diligently to set a schedule for the fall,” JMU athletic director Jeff Bourne told the Daily News-Record by phone on Friday. “We tried to go geographically where our travel would’ve been kept to a minimum and we looked at institutions that we had heard were potentially looking for games, still playing and teams that we felt would be a good fit to bring into Harrisonburg.”

Late Thursday, the Daily News-Record obtained the list of schools JMU had conversations with about scheduling a possible game for this fall as it pursued an independent schedule.

The Dukes attempted to forge forward as an FCS independent when the Colonial Athletic Association decided in July it wouldn’t hold competition.

The comprehensive list includes 27 potential opponents as well as Dave Brown Gridiron, an agency that assists athletic departments all over the country with football scheduling. Of the 27 schools, nine were FBS, 18 were FCS and four were in-state programs.

Bourne said associate athletic director Kevin White, who handles scheduling at JMU, did a great job of reaching out to various programs, keeping in touch with Dave Brown Gridiron and communicating the options to Bourne.

“What would happen is we would have an opponent and then that opponent would drop,” Bourne said, “so then we would go back to the original list we had and try to fill it. … I think if I went back and looked that the number of institutions we had tentatively agreed to games [with] it was no more than three or four outside of a conference [opponent] or two.

“So, even for as diligent as we were in that process to find opponents, we were still challenged to get games nailed down.”

The FBS programs JMU spoke with were Army, Charlotte, East Carolina, Liberty, Marshall, North Carolina, Old Dominion, Temple and Virginia, according to the email obtained by the News-Record.

JMU and North Carolina had an originally slated contest for Sept. 19 in Chapel Hill, N.C., but once the Dukes made it official that they weren’t playing this fall the bout against the Tar Heels was moved to 2028.

East Carolina is where former Dukes coach Mike Houston, who led them during their 2016 national-championship winning season, holds the same gig now.

Earlier this month Old Dominion decided it wouldn’t play this season even though its league, Conference USA, is. But the other eight FBS teams JMU had dialogue with are all still planning to compete this fall.

“There’s some gamesmanship involved,” Bourne said about trying to fill the schedule. “They’ll have you [scheduled], but if they haven’t signed a contract with you they’ll go accept a game with someone else that might be a better fit for them. What happens is you end up with tentative games or games that you hope will come through, but in essence we’re never able to execute a signed contract on them.”

Bourne said he isn’t sure whether or not the Dukes would’ve attempted to play in the fall had they assembled an impressive schedule featuring multiple FBS foes.

“A lot of it would’ve been dependent on what we felt the medical and scientific information and feedback was on our general student body and athletic department,” he said.

Notable FCS schools JMU talked with included Chattanooga, Elon, Merrimack and Villanova, according to the email.

Chattanooga and Merrimack were non-conference foes on the Dukes’ initial 2020 schedule. The CAA schedule had JMU going to Villanova and Elon coming to Harrisonburg this year. The Wildcats and the Phoenix were the only CAA teams listed.

“I think if you can build enthusiasm in your constituency base,” Bourne said, “and it’s games that fans want to come to, then it makes sense playing them.

“Where it was losing a lot of the incentive for us was how many people were you going to actually have come view the game? And were you going to have a crowd large enough from a financial standpoint that you try to push the season through?”

Other FCS programs listed in the email were Austin Peay, Campbell, Charleston Southern, Duquesne, East Tennessee State, Gardner-Webb, Presbyterian, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis, Stephen F. Austin, Tennessee Tech, VMI and Western Carolina.

And only four of those schools — Austin Peay, Campbell, Stephen F. Austin and Western Carolina — are still attempting to play some sort of schedule this fall.

Austin Peay opens the college football season Saturday against Central Arkansas in the FCS Kickoff on ESPN at 9 p.m., and the Governors have two other games scheduled against FBS foes for this fall. Campbell is playing four FBS opponents and Stephen F. Austin has lined up contests against three FBS schools, one FCS program and a Division II school. Western Carolina will play one FBS contest and one FCS contests.

Those schools will also play a conference slate in the spring, and Bourne said he’s not a fan of splitting the season between the fall and spring semesters.

“I don’t think it’s right to allow some schools to practice and play in the fall,” Bourne said, “and then let them play, practice and be eligible for the championship in the spring. The NCAA prides itself on creating as much as it can a level playing field, and in my opinion this is a direct opposition to that initiative.”

Bourne said the CAA had discussions about what its spring slate will look like but, before making definitive plans, is waiting on the NCAA in coming weeks to make final decisions regarding how the spring could be structured across all of FCS.

JMU’s determination to suspend the season came earlier this month after its independent attempt failed and just weeks following the decision the CAA made not to hold competition in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The school’s choice to instead pursue a spring slate also coincided with the NCAA opting to likely move the FCS postseason to the spring.