Be a cornball.

That’s my JMU football fandom motto for the rest of this season.

Minnesota coach PJ Fleck is the definition of cornball. He’s as cheesy as they come. He also makes a few good points every season, and after Minnesota’s win over Michigan this past week, he celebrated as if he had just won a national title.

“Our locker room will be a celebration because we will never, ever, ever take winning for granted,” he said.

You won’t catch me rubbing someone else’s blood on my face this fall — that was weird, P.J. — but I’m all in on Fleck’s message about celebrating wins. It’s especially true as JMU fans, myself included, nitpick 28-point conference wins.

Making the College Football Playoff is a worthwhile goal for JMU football.

There’s nothing bigger than making the 12-team field and competing with the nation’s most elite programs. It’s huge for the university and athletic department, which estimated a marketing value of nearly $300 million for making the CFP and playing at Oregon. It’s special for fans, too, whether they made the trek to Eugene or watched from home.

But, and here comes the cornball, don’t lose sight of the journey. That’s what I’m telling myself, at least, as mid-October nears and my brain starts diving into 2026 playoff scenarios.

ESPN and other national outlets essentially ignore the Group of Six, except for discussing the level’s one guaranteed playoff bid. That doesn’t mean fans of these teams have to ignore other meaningful fall milestones.

Beating Marshall, which is now 3-2 with a blowout loss to Penn State and three uninspiring wins over poor opponents, doesn’t resonate nationally.

Who cares? It resonates with me.

It’s the same Marshall program that has two FCS national titles and 13 bowl wins. The Thundering Herd are a divisional rival with a rich football history. JMU beating that team by 28 means something.

Just like beating Old Dominion means something. Rivalries matter. Conference wins matter. Starting 5-0 matters to me, regardless of the strength of schedule number next to JMU’s resume on ESPN. If being undefeated was easy, every team with a strength of schedule outside the top 100 nationally would do it.

And I still love the playoff chase. It’s an incredible goal for Group of Six programs, and it’s an attainable one for the Dukes. But it’s not the only goal.

JMU can’t control how the playoff selection committee views other top Group of Six teams. There’s a world where the Dukes go 13-0 and get left out of the field because Boise State is 12-1 with a better set of nonconference results including a narrow defeat to an elite Oregon team. The Dukes can’t control that.

But winning a Sun Belt title? That’s something the Dukes control. That’s a meaningful accomplishment and memory, too.

I didn’t make the trip to Eugene, but I was in Harrisonburg for the Dukes’ title-clinching win over Troy. I’ll remember spending 30 minutes celebrating on the field postgame with close friends for the rest of my life.

JMU plays Georgia Southern this week. A win over the 2-3 Eagles won’t convince many AP Top 25 voters that the Dukes are elite. It won’t put the Dukes in pole position for the playoff, either. That’s fine, because a win in Statesboro would be the program’s first in seven tries. Playoff committee members might not be tuned in, but … and here comes the cornball again … I’ll be on the edge of my seat with thousands of other JMU supporters.

Shouldn’t that mean something? Good conference games that don’t always resonate nationally are an important part of the lifeblood of the sport. The two fanbases involved in the game care deeply. That’s meaningful. Plus, a win Saturday makes JMU history. Curt Cignetti and Bob Chesney failed to win in Statesboro. Can Billy Napier be the first JMU coach to accomplish that goal? I care about that storyline, and I don’t need the Allstate Playoff Predictor to validate those feelings. 

I won’t ignore playoff discussions as the season goes on, but I’m working hard to make sure JMU fandom doesn’t morph into ESPN-brained fandom. It’s not College Football Playoff or bust for the Dukes. And it won’t be College Football Playoff or bust for me.

As P.J. Fleck says, don’t take winning for granted. I don’t plan on it.

Photo courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications