Article written by Sully Haq

It’s no secret that JMU has a rich history at the FCS level of college football, but even fans who have fond memories of the 2004 and 2016 FCS titles, will admit that there have been a lot more eyeballs on the program since JMU began its transition to the FBS level in 2022.

JMU started off its transition with a bang in its inaugural FBS season that resulted in an 8-3 record. Then in 2023, the Dukes followed that up with a memorable 11-2 season that led to JMU’s first bowl appearance.

In the last two years since JMU has become an FBS school, the university has seen growth even beyond athletics. JMU received a record number of 40,232 undergraduate applicants in 2024, and JMU also received $1.1 million in non-athletic alumni donations during its annual giving day in 2024.

It’s safe to say JMU fans have been bleeding a lot of purple and gold enthusiasm since the FBS transition, and the Dukes have quickly gotten used to a high level of success across all sports in recent years. Is JMU’s quick start at the FBS level an anomaly? Or has the formula for a lightning transition from FCS to FBS been done before?

The FCS to FBS Jumpers

Since 2014 there have been nine programs who have completed the jump from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

• Appalachian State (2014)
• Old Dominion (2014)
• Georgia Southern (2014)
• Charlotte (2015)
• Coastal Carolina (2016)
• Liberty (2018)
• James Madison (2022)
• Jacksonville State (2023)
• Sam Houston (2023)

We’re making 2014 the cutoff for this comparison. While there are other interesting cases from before 2014, ultimately the college football recruiting landscape in recent years has changed so much that it just wouldn’t be an accurate comparison to include older transitions.

Football Success After FBS Transition

Since JMU has only been through two FBS seasons so far, we’re only going to compare each school’s win-loss record from their first two seasons after their FBS transition. Each school’s football success is ranked based on their winning percentage in their first two FBS seasons.

1. James Madison: 19-5 Record (.792 Winning Percentage)
Dukes fans have been quick to herald themselves as the one the strongest FBS transitions of all time, and even when we take off the purple and gold glasses, there’s some statistical truth to that. A .792 winning percentage across two seasons is a standard of winning that almost any fanbase should be proud of regardless of their time in FBS or their specific conference. JMU’s early FBS run is even more noteworthy when you look at its biggest wins, including a 28-3 comeback versus App State in 2022, and a Power 5 win over UVA in 2023.

2. Appalachian State: 18-7 Record (.720 Winning Percentage)
There are many parallels when comparing JMU and App State’s football success in recent years, and that’s why the rivalry between the two schools has grown more intense since JMU joined the Sun Belt Conference. Beyond a winning record, App State fans can brag to JMU fans that they were actually able to win a bowl game in their second FBS season. App State defeated Ohio in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl in 2015. (Man, some G5 centric bowl games have such hilariously corporate names).

T-2. Georgia Southern: 18-7 Record (.720 Winning Percentage)
To this day, JMU fans are haunted by their ranked loss to Georgia Southern in 2022. Even much before 2022, Georgia Southern quickly established themselves as a winning G5 school. The early FBS Georgia Southern teams featured a surprising amount of NFL talent, including current 49ers RB Matt Brieda, and current Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo. Southern grabbed a bowl win in its second FBS season (2015) versus Bowling Green in the GoDaddy Bowl. (Yet another wonderful corporate bowl game name).

4. *Jacksonville State: 9-4 Record (.692 Winning Percentage)
Jacksonville State has only completed one FBS season so far (2023), but it’s proved so far that it belongs at the FBS level. Jacksonville State’s first FBS season was so strong, that the Gamecocks found a way to quietly lump themselves into JMU’s (somewhat empty) legal threats against the NCAA for a bowl game berth despite the FBS transition rules. Ultimately there weren’t enough 6-6 teams, and Jax State reached a bowl game invite without a legal battle. Jax State won its first ever bowl game against the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns’ in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.

5. Liberty: 14-11 Record (.560 Winning Percentage)
The Liberty Flames have been JMU’s competition when it comes to being Virginia’s premier G5 football program. The Flames had a solid start to their FBS journey with a slightly above .500 record in their first two FBS seasons, but it certainly didn’t gather as many headlines like some of the other teams on the list. Liberty grabbed a bowl win in its second FBS season against Georgia Southern in the 2019 Cure Bowl.

6. Old Dominion: 11-13 Record (.458 Winning Percentage)
The Dukes’ contemporaries in the Royal Rivalry had a relatively pedestrian start to their FBS journey. However, it’s still impressive that ODU was able to play close to .500 football given that the current iteration of their football team only began in 2009. ODU participated as a FCS independent and the CAA for a few years, but had their eyes on a quick FBS transition. Former Washington Commanders cult hero Taylor Heinicke, and current Cardinals wide receiver Zach Pascal, are among the NFL names that were a part of ODU’s early FBS teams.

7. Coastal Carolina: 8-16 Record (.333 Winning Percentage)
At this point in the list we’re getting to the teams that faced the growing pains that are expected from teams transitioning to college football’s premier level. Coastal’s first FBS season in 2017 began with a win over UMass, but was a rough season otherwise. Coastal’s second FBS season wasn’t perfect either, but their 5-7 record began to lay the groundwork for their success in upcoming years. While this list isn’t looking at team success after their two first FBS seasons, it is notable that Coastal began to briefly establish themselves a G5 powerhouse with back-to-back 11-win seasons in 2020 and 2021.

8. Charlotte: 6-18 Record (.250 Winning Percentage)
While some JMU fans have nerves facing Biff Poggi’s current Charlotte squad in Week 1 of the 2024 season, for the most part Charlotte still hasn’t been able to find consistent success since jumping to the FBS level. The 49ers still looked like an FCS team in their first FBS season (2015), finishing with a 2-10 record. In their second FBS season (2016) they finished with twice as many wins as the previous year, but well … that’s still a 4-8 record. Charlotte has only had one winning season (2019) since becoming an FBS team.

8. *Sam Houston: 3-9 Record (.250 Winning Percentage)
In 2023, Sam Houston became a favorite of sickos who enjoy random weekday Conference USA games, but its winning percentage wasn’t on par with its 2023 FBS transition counterpart (Jax State). To give the Bearkats some credit, five of their losses in their 3-9 season were in one possession games. Some of their most entertaining games in 2023 included an odd 14-0 loss to BYU in Week 1, and a 21-16 loss to Liberty that went down to the wire.

*Asterisk designates only one FBS season completed so far

Fan Interest After FBS Transition

Whether it’s the Colonial Athletic Association, or the Big 10, having an active and engaged fanbase is an important part of proving that you belong at a high level of collegiate athletics.

Judging how loud different football stadiums are is a very subjective form of measurement, so to make it as objective as we can, we’re going to look at the percentage of seats filled for each of the teams in this comparison. While most of these G5 stadiums are similarly sized, some did start out a bit smaller than others before renovations, which is why we are looking at the percentage of filled seats in each stadium, and not the sum total of attendance.

Once again, we are only looking at the numbers from each team’s first two FBS seasons.
*Sources: (School Websites, Wikipedia, ESPN Box Scores, FBSchedules)

James Madison: Bridgeforth Stadium (24,877 Seats)
Year 1 (2022): 92.3% Capacity Filled
Year 2 (2023): 101.5% Capacity Filled

Old Dominion – S.B Ballard Stadium (20,118 Seats in 2014, Currently 21,944 Seats)
Year 1 (2014): 91.7% Capacity Filled
Year 2 (2015): 100% Capacity Filled

Charlotte – Jerry Richardson Stadium (15,314 Seats)
Year 1 (2015): 95.5% Capacity Filled
Year 2 (2016): 92.7% Capacity Filled

Appalachian State – Kidd Brewer Stadium (24,050 Seats in 2014, Currently 30,000 Seats)
Year 1 (2014): 96.3% Capacity Filled
Year 2 (2015): 89.2% Capacity Filled

Liberty – Williams Stadium (19,200 Seats in 2018, Currently 25,000 Seats)
Year 1 (2018): 84.8% Capacity Filled
Year 2 (2019): 95.2% Capacity Filled

Georgia Southern: Allen E. Paulson Stadium (25,000 Seats)
Year 1 (2014): 84.4% Capacity Filled
Year 2 (2015): 82.0% Capacity Filled

Jacksonville State – AmFirst Stadium (24,000 Seats)
Year 1 (2023): 83.5% Capacity Filled

Coastal Carolina – Brooks Stadium (15,000 Seats in 2017, Currently 21,000 Seats)
Year 1 (2017): 99.7% Capacity Filled
Year 2 (2018): 69.8% Capacity Filled

Sam Houston – Elliot T. Bowers Stadium (14,000 Seats)
Year 1 (2023): 79.3% Capacity Filled

For all the slack the JMU fanbase receives times for leaving after halftime, they’ve found themselves near the top of the list for how much they’ve filled their seats since their FBS move. Certainly the increased interest in JMU season tickets has helped attendance numbers, as well as simply having a football team that straight up wins. Bridgeforth certainly wouldn’t be as full as it was last season if the Dukes presented a mediocre or bad team. JMU isn’t rushing to expand Bridgeforth, but a few more seasons at near 100% capacity, and there might be a good case to build out the Godwin side of the stadium.

Looking at the other teams on this list, for the most part every team had relatively similar attendance numbers between seasons 1 and 2 of their transitions. Coastal Carolina was the one outlier with a dramatic dropoff in attendance in their second FBS season, but that was most likely due to the quality of football being put out at the time.

Schools like App State with a notoriously rowdy fanbase were expected to be near the top of this list, but schools such as Charlotte having strong attendance despite lackluster play was a bit of a surprise. Charlotte having strong attendance shows the power of a strong marketing team, as well as proximity to a large metropolitan area.

Sam Houston having attendance figures below 80% with only a 14,000 seat stadium does raise a bit of concern regarding their future ability to build a competitive G5 team.

The first FBS season naturally should get a lot of fans in their seats, but maintaining a consistent following in other seasons shows that a school deserved the bump to the FBS level.

Concluding Thoughts

JMU fans have been proud and loud about their success since joining the FBS ranks, and the metrics on this list help give supporting power to their bragging rights. While Georgia Southern and App State fans also have the right to say they’ve also done what JMU has done, there’s no shame with these schools being associated with each other.

It’s interesting how much of the Sun Belt Conference contains teams that have only relatively recently transitioned from the FCS to FBS level. Texas State, South Alabama, Georgia State, App State, Georgia Southern, Old Dominion, Coastal Carolina, and of course James Madison are all Sun Belt teams that made their transition to FBS after 2012. The Sun Belt has done an excellent job recognizing which schools have the best potential to be G5 contenders in these recent years.

The Sun Belt schools mentioned above make up a majority of the SBC contenders, and even non-SBC schools in this comparison such as Liberty are already established as CFB playoff dark horses for years to come.

Some JMU fans have seen their early success and are chomping at the bit to one day get a Power Four invite, but for now, fans should appreciate how fun JMU’s time in FBS has already been. If Bob Chesney’s coaching prowess is as good as advertised, JMU is going to be a fun football school for the next few years (at least until his P5 offers start rolling in).

Header image courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications