CAA announces 2011 schedules

[UNHWILDCATS05]

2011 Conference Schedule (https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/701690.pdf)

No DE or ODU for UNH

[jmu_duke07]

Looks like Saturday, October 29, 2011 will be a pseudo-bye week for JMU.

xlolx

[Tribe4SF]

W&M skips UMass and Maine.

[Rob Iola]

Looks like Saturday, October 29, 2011 will be a pseudo-bye week for JMU.

xlolx
Assuming they can find ODU on the map...

[T-Dog]

CAA games that won't happen in 2011

JMU vs Towson
Delaware vs JMU
UNH vs Delaware
ODU vs UNH
Maine vs ODU
W&M vs Maine
UMass vs W&M
Towson vs UMass
Richmond vs Nova
URI vs Richmond
Nova vs URI

[tribe_pride]

Looks like W&M and Delaware will be the only schools to have all 3 of ODU, Towson and URI on their schedule in 2011

[NHwildEcat]

I like how we will finish with Maine on the final weekend again...stinks it changed this year. I also like how most of the conference games for UNH are at home towards the end of the season.

[bkrownd]

Argh, no way I can get to Amherst. I hate being employed!

[JMUNJ08]

How can we miss Towson? The CAA just last year said they were our rival!

[SaintDK10]

Good to see that no one wants to shell out the money to fly a CAA team to Atlanta. I mean, how much sense does it make to schlep an FCS team from Maine to Georgia, right? Now if someone at Georgia State would realize this and give a call to SoCon, or better yet, Sun Belt commissioner, that would be great.

[tribe_pride]

Saint - you realize that those are in conference schedules only, right? Georgia State doesn't join until 2012. And aren't you guys doing a home and home versus ODU?

All that said, W&M is the only team to play ODU from the CAA in ODU's 1st 2 seasons so to expect more than 1 CAA team to do so for Georgia State would be surprising notwithstanding geography.

[SaintDK10]

Saint - you realize that those are in conference schedules only, right? Georgia State doesn't join until 2012. And aren't you guys doing a home and home versus ODU?

All that said, W&M is the only team to play ODU from the CAA in ODU's 1st 2 seasons so to expect more than 1 CAA team to do so for Georgia State would be surprising notwithstanding geography.
I am fully aware this is CAA conference schedule. ODU does not really count as an established CAA team. They are merely returning the home-and-home favor in 2011. The greater point of all this is that the travel cost for GSU (which will be sent to CAA North) is uneconomical at best, and a budgetary wreck at worst. If you think otherwise, please do tell, because I'm all ears. How does it make sense for an FCS team in Atlanta to be playing in a conference that stretches all the way to Maine?

[LeadBolt]

It is interesting that after 2010, when W&M has to make 3 trips to NE to play UMass, UNH and Maine, only UNH has to make the trip south in 2011...

[tribe_pride]

I am fully aware this is CAA conference schedule. ODU does not really count as an established CAA team. They are merely returning the home-and-home favor in 2011. The greater point of all this is that the travel cost for GSU (which will be sent to CAA North) is uneconomical at best, and a budgetary wreck at worst. If you think otherwise, please do tell, because I'm all ears. How does it make sense for an FCS team in Atlanta to be playing in a conference that stretches all the way to Maine?

Oh agreed with the premise Georgia State being in the CAA (whether North or South) seems to make little sense with the closest school in any sport being in Wilmington and in Football being in Richmond I guess.

I just meant that it would be really surprising to see a CAA team head to Georgia State in the first 2 years not necessarily because of geography but more because most wouldn't do it for any school


It is interesting that after 2010, when W&M has to make 3 trips to NE to play UMass, UNH and Maine, only UNH has to make the trip south in 2011...

Don't complain. Those are 2 solid programs that we don't have to play that year and we will be one of 2 schools to play all 3 of ODU (a 3rd year program), Towson and Rhode Island (2 of the traditional weaker schools). Not saying those schools can't play well. Just that traditionally, that makes for a favorable schedule. It's not like we'll be going to UNH and Maine 2 years in a row.

[wr70beh]

CAA games that won't happen in 2011

JMU vs Towson
Delaware vs JMU
UNH vs Delaware
ODU vs UNH
Maine vs ODU
W&M vs Maine
UMass vs W&M
Towson vs UMass
Richmond vs Nova
URI vs Richmond
Nova vs URI

ODU catches a break by not having to travel to either UNH or Maine in their first year of conference play. Of course they have that non-conference bout with Ga State, but it's easier to get to Atlanta from Norfolk than it is to Orono.

[Wildcat80]

Who does ODU play the last week? Not listed as a CAA matchup.

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

Who does ODU play the last week? Not listed as a CAA matchup.

Since the season ending match up between JMU and Towson hasn't grown into anything special, I'm guessing that in due time we'll see JMU and ODU play on that last weekend. Not a bad slate of rivalry games.

Maine-New Hampshire
Massachusetts-Rhode Island
Delaware-Villanova
-------------------------- (Mason-Dixon Line ;))
William & Mary-Richmond
James Madison-Old Dominion
Towson-Georgia State

Of course, GaStU will prefer GaSoU, Jax St, Charlotte, or ??????? Too bad UMBC didn't take that Raven's offer. we could have had a Charm City Beltway Battle. :D

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

I am fully aware this is CAA conference schedule. ODU does not really count as an established CAA team. They are merely returning the home-and-home favor in 2011. The greater point of all this is that the travel cost for GSU (which will be sent to CAA North) is uneconomical at best, and a budgetary wreck at worst. If you think otherwise, please do tell, because I'm all ears. How does it make sense for an FCS team in Atlanta to be playing in a conference that stretches all the way to Maine?

Your administration didn't see that reality in their crystal ball when they chose to join the CAA for all sports? xconfusedx xconfusedx Why don't they just go the Texas-San Antonio route of playing as a FCS Independent right into the FBS even if they have to burn bridges with the CAA? Doesn't the Sun Belt want you?

And cue the Big Sky fans to compare the distance between Flagstaff and Missoula to Atlanta-Orono.

[Jackman]

It is interesting that after 2010, when W&M has to make 3 trips to NE to play UMass, UNH and Maine, only UNH has to make the trip south in 2011...

UMass is going to ODU instead, which is the exact same trip. Everyone had to lose 2 opponents when the league expanded to 11. Wouldn't have made much sense to pull ODU and Richmond off W&M's schedule.

What I think is interesting though is that UMass is only playing W&M, Towson and Villanova once each over a 4 year span, while playing Delaware, JMU and Richmond 4 years straight. Those 3 are starting to feel like division opponents. I'm fine with that, glad to get the annual series with Delaware back, I'd just have thought they'd want to spread the games around more evenly.

[panama]

I personal opinion and this just MY opinion, is that out of pressure our past President and AD stuck us in CAA because the CAA made an offer. The previous administration was anti football and their hand was forced by the unforeseen response to the feasibility study and the student vote. Faced with that pressure they took the first offer that showed up in the mail. I am sure there was shock at the reaction to Dan Reeves being hired as consultant and then even worse for them, Bill Curry accepting the head coaching job. The smart considered approach would have been to go some semblance of the UTSA approach and/or talk to the Sun Belt conference that ironically we helped found in 1976. It makes far more sense in all sorts for us to be traveling to Chattanooga, Birmingham, Mobile, Charlotte and the like. It also makes far more since with the competition for sports dollars in a city like Atlanta for GSU to be going FBS asap. This is a fickle sports town with too many options kind of like South Florida and Texas on steroids. Unfortunately as is often the case, you dont always have leadership that gets the big picture and realizes that in our situation you need to be thinking like UTSA, USA and USF. Thankfully I think Becker (New President) and Levick (New AD) actually get it. But I share Saints reservations regarding being put in the CAA North and what that means travel expense wise as well as our ability to draw anyone downtown to the Dome to see us play Maine.


Your administration didn't see that reality in their crystal ball when they chose to join the CAA for all sports? xconfusedx xconfusedx Why don't they just go the Texas-San Antonio route of playing as a FCS Independent right into the FBS even if they have to burn bridges with the CAA? Doesn't the Sun Belt want you?

And cue the Big Sky fans to compare the distance between Flagstaff and Missoula to Atlanta-Orono.

[SaintDK10]

Your administration didn't see that reality in their crystal ball when they chose to join the CAA for all sports? xconfusedx xconfusedx Why don't they just go the Texas-San Antonio route of playing as a FCS Independent right into the FBS even if they have to burn bridges with the CAA? Doesn't the Sun Belt want you?

And cue the Big Sky fans to compare the distance between Flagstaff and Missoula to Atlanta-Orono.
Back when GSU joined the CAA in 2005, we were under the previous administration that was anti-football, and not very pro-athletics in general. The move to the CAA was actually a favor done to our former president Patton, who is an old friend of Yeager. The old A-Sun was losing its top teams (UCF, Troy, Samford, etc.), so we needed to find a place to jump to. Since football was not even an afterthought back then, GSU went to the CAA, which to some extend made sense. We couldn't go to SoCon with Samford since we didn't have football, nor could we follow our long-time rival UCF to C-USA, nor could we go with Troy to Sun Belt because again, we didn't have football. CAA is a great basketball league so we went there.

But now that football is on the horizon, the CAA makes absolutely zero sense for GSU. If we want to stay FCS, then we need to join SoCon where are old regional rivals like GA Southern and Samford are. I keep harping about this, but the GSU/GSU rivalry would be the greatest in FCS bar none. We would pack 30,000 minimum in the Dome for that game. But better yet for GSU, we should go to Sun Belt, because we have the means to go FBS, and in a city like Atlanta, FCS football is not going to cut it, especially when you don't have any regional rivals as is the case with the CAA.

[GannonFan]

Back when GSU joined the CAA in 2005, we were under the previous administration that was anti-football, and not very pro-athletics in general. The move to the CAA was actually a favor done to our former president Patton, who is an old friend of Yeager. The old A-Sun was losing its top teams (UCF, Troy, Samford, etc.), so we needed to find a place to jump to. Since football was not even an afterthought back then, GSU went to the CAA, which to some extend made sense. We couldn't go to SoCon with Samford since we didn't have football, nor could we follow our long-time rival UCF to C-USA, nor could we go with Troy to Sun Belt because again, we didn't have football. CAA is a great basketball league so we went there.

But now that football is on the horizon, the CAA makes absolutely zero sense for GSU. If we want to stay FCS, then we need to join SoCon where are old regional rivals like GA Southern and Samford are. I keep harping about this, but the GSU/GSU rivalry would be the greatest in FCS bar none. We would pack 30,000 minimum in the Dome for that game. But better yet for GSU, we should go to Sun Belt, because we have the means to go FBS, and in a city like Atlanta, FCS football is not going to cut it, especially when you don't have any regional rivals as is the case with the CAA.

Have you even seen an FCS game, let alone even seen other rivalries? I have no doubt such a game would be good, but you're jumping the shark with the "greatest in FCS bar none" talk. Heck, the Bayou Classic does more than double that attendance number and most people wouldn't even call that the best rivalry out there.

[LeadBolt]

UMass is going to ODU instead, which is the exact same trip. Everyone had to lose 2 opponents when the league expanded to 11. Wouldn't have made much sense to pull ODU and Richmond off W&M's schedule.

What I think is interesting though is that UMass is only playing W&M, Towson and Villanova once each over a 4 year span, while playing Delaware, JMU and Richmond 4 years straight. Those 3 are starting to feel like division opponents. I'm fine with that, glad to get the annual series with Delaware back, I'd just have thought they'd want to spread the games around more evenly.

Good point! xsmileyclapx

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

As I understand things, GaStU is guaranteed a spot in the CAA Football League because they are an all sports member. That was written into the bylaws when the CAA Football League was formed. But is there anything forcing GaStU to play football in the CAA? Meaning, is there anything in the the bylaws of the CAA all sports conference that says GaStU has to play football in the CAA? Or like with the Southland discussion, any issues with remaining an all sports member if football goes elsewhere?

If GaStU doesn't want to play football in the CAA, then I hope they're already charting an alternate course. I hope they're already negotiating an independent schedule. Let's see GaSoU, TN-Chattanooga, Jax State, South Alabama, Lamar, USTA, ODU and an FBS ought to give you a quick start and solid foundation for an independent schedule.

Seriously, why come into the CAA and screw up everyone's schedule for 2-3 years and increase your expenses as well as your league mates? From what has been written, your all CAA sports mates don't even want you in their division! Why not just make a clean break now? xtwocentsx

[Jackman]

But I share Saints reservations regarding being put in the CAA North and what that means travel expense wise as well as our ability to draw anyone downtown to the Dome to see us play Maine.

GSU to the CAA North would be in name only. They're really going to be in their own 1 member division and split their games 50-50 between North and South. Makes little difference which division they're in since nobody is within driving range of Atlanta.

[jmufan999]

[Since the season ending match up between JMU and Towson hasn't grown into anything special, I'm guessing that in due time we'll see JMU and ODU play on that last weekend.

you're right... but can't we just stick with Towson? that's the only week i feel like i can relax during the slate of conference games. no offense, Tigers fans. well, URI also whenever we play them every few years.

[SaintDK10]

Have you even seen an FCS game, let alone even seen other rivalries? I have no doubt such a game would be good, but you're jumping the shark with the "greatest in FCS bar none" talk. Heck, the Bayou Classic does more than double that attendance number and most people wouldn't even call that the best rivalry out there.

I've seen enough FCS games in the South to know what your above average FCS rivalry is, and the GSU/Ga Southern would be the cream of the crop. How many FCS games have you seen in SoCon? How much do you know about GSU and GA Southern history? Tell me, how many FCS games not played at a neutral stadium draw 30,000+ fans?

[SaintDK10]

As I understand things, GaStU is guaranteed a spot in the CAA Football League because they are an all sports member. That was written into the bylaws when the CAA Football League was formed. But is there anything forcing GaStU to play football in the CAA? Meaning, is there anything in the the bylaws of the CAA all sports conference that says GaStU has to play football in the CAA? Or like with the Southland discussion, any issues with remaining an all sports member if football goes elsewhere?

If GaStU doesn't want to play football in the CAA, then I hope they're already charting an alternate course. I hope they're already negotiating an independent schedule. Let's see GaSoU, TN-Chattanooga, Jax State, South Alabama, Lamar, USTA, ODU and an FBS ought to give you a quick start and solid foundation for an independent schedule.

Seriously, why come into the CAA and screw up everyone's schedule for 2-3 years and increase your expenses as well as your league mates? From what has been written, your all CAA sports mates don't even want you in their division! Why not just make a clean break now? xtwocentsx
You are preaching to the choir here. Most GSU fans don't want to be in the CAA, and 99.99999% of CAA fans don't want GSU. We don't make sense geographically, whatsoever. We are all hoping calls are being made or will be made this fall to other conferences (i.e. SoCon, Sun Belt, etc.)

[panama]

Its so ironic to me that if we had stayed in the Sun Belt to begin with we would be on the same path as South Alabama which has an identical football path to ours (Club Football to Startup)


You are preaching to the choir here. Most GSU fans don't want to be in the CAA, and 99.99999% of CAA fans don't want GSU. We don't make sense geographically, whatsoever. We are all hoping calls are being made or will be made this fall to other conferences (i.e. SoCon, Sun Belt, etc.)

[bkrownd]

... Not a bad slate of rivalry games.
...
Massachusetts-Rhode Island
...


"Rivalry"?!?!? You take that back this instant! xmadx xsmhx

[henfan]

How many season tickets has GSU sold to date? Less than 2000?

It would be reasonable to feel more confident about GSU eventually building a solid D-I FB program if they had some history or prior foundation for athletic support. Unfortunately for GSU and the CAA, this does not appear to be a situation similar to what ODU has built.

Still, it's great to see a few GSU fans have high expectations for their new program, even if they seem wildly out of touch with reality at times.

[SaintDK10]

How many season tickets has GSU sold to date? Less than 2000?

It would be reasonable to feel more confident about GSU eventually building a solid D-I FB program if they had some history or prior foundation for athletic support. Unfortunately for GSU and the CAA, this does not appear to be a situation similar to what ODU has built.

Still, it's great to see a few GSU fans have high expectations for their new program, even if they seem wildly out of touch with reality at times.
We've actually passed 2,000 and the pace is starting to pick up. Season ticket sales are a hard sell for a program like GSU, because as you said, there is not a lot of history in terms of athletic support for the school. Many people are taking the wait-and-see approach before they commit to season tickets. But GSU had 3,200 people show up for their spring scrimmage, which was one of the highest turnouts in FCS this year. Heck, ODU didn't have that many for their first spring game last year.

What I find interesting about the whole GSU season ticket sales thing is that everyone tries to gauge our success by comparing us to ODU. ODU had 6,000 basketball season tickets, and all they had to do was call those people up and ask them to add an extra ticket to their account for football.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't JMU fans ecstatic about selling 3,000 season tickets just five years ago, and that was after they won a national championship. If GSU gets close to 4,000, which I think is doable, it's certainly going to be a substantial accomplishment for a program that historically has nothing to draw upon.

The main driving force for GSU football attendance will be students and single-game/walk-up fans. As I said, if spring game attendance is any indication, GSU will do just fine.

[JMU2004]

We've actually passed 2,000 and the pace is starting to pick up. Season ticket sales are a hard sell for a program like GSU, because as you said, there is not a lot of history in terms of athletic support for the school. Many people are taking the wait-and-see approach before they commit to season tickets. But GSU had 3,200 people show up for their spring scrimmage, which was one of the highest turnouts in FCS this year. Heck, ODU didn't have that many for their first spring game last year.

What I find interesting about the whole GSU season ticket sales thing is that everyone tries to gauge our success by comparing us to ODU. ODU had 6,000 basketball season tickets, and all they had to do was call those people up and ask them to add an extra ticket to their account for football.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't JMU fans ecstatic about selling 3,000 season tickets just five years ago, and that was after they won a national championship. If GSU gets close to 4,000, which I think is doable, it's certainly going to be a substantial accomplishment for a program that historically has nothing to draw upon.

The main driving force for GSU football attendance will be students and single-game/walk-up fans. As I said, if spring game attendance is any indication, GSU will do just fine.

Your season ticket sales are strong. But season ticket sales don't neccesarliy equate to butts in seats. If you can get over 10,000/game, then I think GSU will be fine down the road. No one is putting GSU down by suggesting that GSU has no HISTORICAL fan support. That is just an observation that may or may not be relevant.

JMU caps season ticket sales at around 5500. This was done b/c our stadium was too small.

[henfan]

Selling 2000 season tickets is just OK for an FCS program. Time will tell if GSU is ever able to build any sort of real fanbase. I hope they do because it could prove very beneficial for the CAA and UD. A weak GSU program hurts the conference.

That said, my comment was more of a directive at those GSU rooters with outlandish expectations for GSU FB, especially at this very early stage. Talking major college athletics when you have zero history of support comes off as kind of silly. It's probably not a bad idea to temper the enthusiasm with a healthy dose of realism and patience.

As for SoCon talk, that ship probably sailed long ago for GSU. Increasingly, the SoCon's profile has shifted dramatically towards smaller private institutions. The conference hasn't admitted a larger public school with football in nearly 20 years. That phone call probably isn't going to ever come for the Panthers. In the meantime, I wouldn't be too surprised if changes happened in the CAA that provided the Panthers with an opponent or two closer to Atlanta.