The Patriot League, Ivy League, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) have all canceled fall sports. The CAA are the latest to put a hiatus on the 2020 fall sports season, canceling all sports in the fall, as it was released earlier today.
The Southern Conference plans to go ahead with a full fall slate as of July 17, 2020. However, with so many conference cancellations for the fall so far, it will be interesting to see how it shapes the landscape of SoCon football in the non-conference, as well as perhaps the non-conference in even men's basketball in the future.
The only two schools wavering on whether or not to go through with a 2020 campaign in the CAA are James Madison and Elon, but other schools may follow suit on an individual basis. Both the Dukes and Phoenix are slated to go ahead with their respective 2020 campaigns, playing as independents.
https://jmusports.com/news/2020/7/17/administration-update-on-2020-21-jmu-athletics-competition.aspx
As both of those schools continue to weigh their options for fall sports, both the Dukes and Phoenix have games slated against Southern Conference competition. The Dukes will take on Chattanooga in the second game of the season, with a trip slated for Harrisonburg to take on the Dukes on Sept. 12.
Both Chattanooga and James Madison faced off against each other last season, with the Dukes posting what was a 37-14 win in the Scenic City early last season. Under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti, the Dukes would of course go all the way to the national championship game for a second-straight season before eventually losing in the championship game, 28-20, to juggernaut North Dakota State in Frisco, Texas.
It would be one of only two blemishes on the season for the Dukes, who also dropped a 20-13 decision to FBS and power five member West Virginia out of the Big 12 Conference. James Madison will be expected to be one of the elite programs in FCS football once again this fall, and despite losses due to graduation, which includes quarterback Ben DiNucci, the Dukes were once again the favorites to claim one of the two major FCS power conference regular-season titles in 2020, as most publications already had Cignetti's Dukes favored to claim the CAA crown.
Despite losing its quarterback, the Dukes return one of the top running backs in all of FCS football, with the return of Percy Agyei-Obese, who rushed for 1,216 yards last season, while his partner in crime in the backfield, Javon Hamilton, finished the campaign with 919 yards on the ground. Running behind an offensive line that figures to be one of the strongest in the nation, which includes All-American Liam Fornadel, the Dukes are poised to have one of the better ground games in the nation this fall.
Meanwhile, Elon, which ironically also is the former employer of current JMU head coach Curt Cignetti, also made a decision to weigh its options in their entirety against the pandemic before deciding to forego football in the fall all together.
Elon is slated to take on one of the Southern Conference favorites--The Citadel--in the season opener on Sept. 5 at Johnson-Hagood Stadium in Charleston. Elon served a decade in the Southern Conference as a league member, joining in August of 2003 and left following the 2013 season.
The Phoenix lost its first-ever game as a league member to Furman, 24-7, on Aug. 30, 2003. Elon also lost its last game in Southern Conference history--a 33-32 setback to Samford on a touchdown catch catch by Chris Cephus from Andy Summerlin on a 7-yard fade route to the corner of the end zone in the waning seconds, clinching a three-way tie between the Bulldogs, Furman and Chattanooga for the 2013 Southern Conference Football crown, and ensuring the automatic bid to the FCS postseason for the Paladins.
Success hasn't come easy on the gridiron for the Phoenix during its membership in the CAA either, however, despite finishing 5-6 last fall, Elon has made it to the FCS playoffs two out of the past three seasons, losing both times to Southern Conference teams, with a 28-27 loss to Furman in 2017, and
The CAA, which was formally established as an FCS football conference in 2007, and went by the Atlantic 10 and Yankee Conference during its days as a Division I-AA conference. All told, the CAA has become one of the power conferences of FCS football, surpassing even the tradition-rich Southern Conference on the gridiron over the past couple of decades.
Conference Rights vs. Individual Schools Rights and Capitalizing on this Opportunity
Here's where COVID clouds the picture. You have two schools that are doing all within their respective power to put together, or at least consider a season, in Elon and James Madison, yet they have no conference to play because the league has already suspended its fall sports and championships.
James Madison is a big-time football program, much like North Dakota State and the Appalachian State and Georgia Southern of old. I am not saying this is what happened, but it's probably more how I perceive the situation. In a way, to a school like JMU, who has carried the banner for the CAA on the gridiron since Mickey Matthews started to transform the program in the mid-late 1990s until now, it feels a little like the CAA didn't take care of its premier program.
It wasn't long ago that the higher-ups around the CAA were worried about losing JMU to a Group of Five conference such as the Sun Belt. However, the Dukes stayed. The CAA has said it's up to the individual schools how they conduct their safety during the pandemic, but they really didn't throw a rope to any of their members, and really washed their hands of the fall.
At least the SoCon and other FCS leagues such as the OVC and Big South are taking a long hard look, waiting on some of the bigger FBS conferences to finalize their fall plans. I am much more in favor of that because it lets me know that Jim Schaus and his staff are doing everything possible, and weighing every single scenario instead of just throwing in the towel. If the SEC throws in the towel, then that's when it might be time to call it a day.
So what does this have to do with the SoCon you might ask? Well, the SoCon has a chance to themselves a solid if hypothetically there is a season. It's a chance to win back a little of bragging rights for the storied league, which has had more playoff success than any other FCS conference in terms of winning percentage, and the SoCon, in a way be what the CAA was not and won't be for both James Madison and Elon this season.
I don't even know if this is possible, but I am pretty sure if Notre Dame can be coddled to be an independent, yet auxiliary member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in football, it would seem to me there is an actual reason for new SoCon commissioner Jim Schaus to step in and capitalize on this opportunity before the league.
Let's add James Madison for a season, and even though Elon bailed on the SoCon eight years ago to increase their northern enrollment, we'll let them back in the SoCon at least for a year any way. If the CAA wants to forego its season, that's fine, however, I would make the SoCon open to accept regional teams like Elon and James Madison. Others in the CAA would be more difficult because of travel expenses during a pandemic.
Both James Madison and Elon have had some great games against SoCon rivals over the years. With Marshall, Appalachian State, and Georgia Southern having left the SoCon, Furman remains the only member a national championship (1988) in the tradition-rich league. Adding James Madison to the league would give the SoCon multiple national title winners again.
Should Richmond and William & Mary seek a one-year return to their one-time conference home, it would be feasible with regional travel, but I doubt either Richmond or William & Mary will have fall sports.
Schaus could also consider adding James Madison and Elon for all sports for a year. It would show the SoCon is ready to capitalize on the moment, which oddly, COVID-19 has presented. The time for the SoCon to seize that opportunity is now. Their aren't nice guys when it comes to business. It's cut-throat, and adding JMU and Elon, even if only for a season, would say something to me about taking a chance.
It probably wouldn't enhance the relationship between the SoCon and the CAA, but they never were BFFs anyway. Simply put, most people will see all the negatives with COVID and rightfully so, but should the SoCon and other FCS leagues decide to go ahead in the fall, the tradition-rich league could send shockwaves through the rest of the sub-classification by presenting that offer to both schools.
And let's be honest, would it really even be ethical for the CAA to make JMU or Elon to pay a buy-out clause for one season when it was the CAA that canceled the fun to begin with?
Hendrix has to go. I just hope the AD has the foresight to act NOW. Been watching FU football for 70 years. Worst I have seen since the Bob Kings no scholarship teams. At least those teams had spirit.
ReplyDelete