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Post by smith79jordan on Feb 14, 2023 9:17:18 GMT -6
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Post by Whup Em All on Feb 14, 2023 9:58:35 GMT -6
I know this isn't Brett Favre's Southern Miss, and comparatively speaking, they've been kind of a big ball of suck in recent years, but this is huge all the same.
Southern Miss is one of those teams that even Joe Random knows is a "Division I" team. Getting them at the Snow on the front end of a home-and-home is freaking great.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2023 10:53:09 GMT -6
It will be interesting to see if their fans are excited about this game or if they are going the MTSU/EKU route of being embarrassed.
Southern Miss is 2-0 against us with shoutout blowouts in 1937 and 1946
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stevo
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Post by stevo on Feb 14, 2023 11:43:58 GMT -6
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Post by Whup Em All on Feb 14, 2023 13:25:27 GMT -6
“This is one of the regional series that we anticipated when we made the move to FBS. The move into Conference USA has allowed us to connect with several regional programs like Southern Miss, and this allows us to bring an established FBS program to Burgess-Snow Field, while offering a road game that is easy for our fans to travel to. We’re excited about the opportunity to play them and will continue to schedule similar opponents going forward.” -- Greg Seitz, Jax State Athletic Director
The jury's still out on how successful we'll ultimately be at the FBS level, though one would hope we'd at least match that school down in Pike County.
But if nothing else, the future schedules (and this quote) have shown Seitz gets it.
The biggest benefit of the move to FBS *should be* playing teams that casual fans are more familiar with. This in turn *should* cause crowds to increase, since it's harder for people (especially locals) to ignore a team they're familiar with.
It's not rocket science: In conference, MTSU and Kennesaw should draw far larger crowds than NMSU and FIU.
In nonconference games, teams like Ga Southern and Southern Miss should draw far larger crowds than Davidson, Nicholls, and Southeast Louisiana.
If we're able to continue lining up home games against other regional (and state) FBS programs, we should have no trouble whatsoever averaging over 20K per game. (And I'm talking legit butts in seats, not creative NCAA counting.)
Since Seitz appears to be competently handling the scheduling, all we have to do now is win.
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Post by troysux on Feb 14, 2023 16:16:21 GMT -6
The guy who runs the future schedules site now has us grouped under CUSA. First time I’ve seen us in an official list in FBS. Kind of cool.
We now have three games for 2024/5. I guess we need to wait and see how many conference games we play.
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Post by jsumania on Feb 14, 2023 19:56:15 GMT -6
The jury's still out on how successful we'll ultimately be at the FBS level, though one would hope we'd at least match that school down in Pike County. I think it will take time. Troy has made big gains in their fan base and revenue. I believe they had 31,000+ last season for one of their home games. It would probably take a quite a while for JSU to do something like that. The home game with Southern Miss is huge though. Everyone has heard of them. I still remember growing up in the 90's and watching Southern Miss beat teams like Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss State, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma State like it was normal.
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Post by gemofthehills on Feb 14, 2023 22:21:28 GMT -6
The jury's still out on how successful we'll ultimately be at the FBS level, though one would hope we'd at least match that school down in Pike County. I think it will take time. Troy has made big gains in their fan base and revenue. I believe they had 31,000+ last season for one of their home games. It would probably take a quite a while for JSU to do something like that. The home game with Southern Miss is huge though. Everyone has heard of them. I still remember growing up in the 90's and watching Southern Miss beat teams like Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss State, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma State like it was normal. Went to a troy state/App game a few years back and probably under 10,000 at the game. Fan wise troy state isnt much ahead if any. JSU will be similiar to troy state in, if a big name come to town the crowd will be big. Not sure todays USM rates as a big name, the program has been on a downhill slide for several years.
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Post by Cleburneslim on Feb 14, 2023 23:17:52 GMT -6
I think the idea is that casual Jax St fans who don't pay attention will still actually know who so miss is.
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Post by Whup Em All on Feb 15, 2023 1:14:12 GMT -6
Southern Miss certainly isn't a "big name" relative to SEC schools. (Even low-end ones like Arkansas and Missouri.)
But if you take a poll of 100 random Gamecock fans to see which G5 teams they've actually heard of (and know to be D-I) USM will be right up near the top, alomg with teams like Memphis, Boise State, and App State.
As for troy state, they've managed to land some big name opponents at home. When they do, or when they play a regional rival when both teams are doing well, they'll pack out the Vet.
But lesser G5 opponents don't draw half that many.
They've made great strides as a program. No doubt about that. But they're not light years beyond us.
We'll need to adjust to FBS, and there will be growing pains, but catching up to the trojans should be the first of several much higher goals for us.
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Post by troysux on Feb 15, 2023 4:09:50 GMT -6
It’s only about 300 miles from Jax State to Southern Miss. Hattiesburg is a straight shot down 20/59, so it is an easy drive for everyone and each game should have a good number of visiting fans. Exactly the kind of game we want to get. Much better than Eastern Michigan.
Not knocking the EMU game, grateful they agreed to visit a first year FBS. Just giving them as an example.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2023 6:33:02 GMT -6
Who will be our first non-bird non-conference opponent?
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Post by gemofthehills on Feb 15, 2023 6:50:51 GMT -6
Southern Miss certainly isn't a "big name" relative to SEC schools. (Even low-end ones like Arkansas and Missouri.) But if you take a poll of 100 random Gamecock fans to see which G5 teams they've actually heard of (and know to be D-I) USM will be right up near the top, alomg with teams like Memphis, Boise State, and App State. As for troy state, they've managed to land some big name opponents at home. When they do, or when they play a regional rival when both teams are doing well, they'll pack out the Vet. But lesser G5 opponents don't draw half that many. They've made great strides as a program. No doubt about that. But they're not light years beyond us. We'll need to adjust to FBS, and there will be growing pains, but catching up to the trojans should be the first of several much higher goals for us. I would put USM in the same group as La Tech and UTEP (minus the easy travel for USM fans). I expect the same type crowd for those games.
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Post by jsumania on Feb 15, 2023 9:13:16 GMT -6
Southern Miss certainly isn't a "big name" relative to SEC schools. (Even low-end ones like Arkansas and Missouri.) But if you take a poll of 100 random Gamecock fans to see which G5 teams they've actually heard of (and know to be D-I) USM will be right up near the top, alomg with teams like Memphis, Boise State, and App State. As for troy state, they've managed to land some big name opponents at home. When they do, or when they play a regional rival when both teams are doing well, they'll pack out the Vet. But lesser G5 opponents don't draw half that many. They've made great strides as a program. No doubt about that. But they're not light years beyond us. We'll need to adjust to FBS, and there will be growing pains, but catching up to the trojans should be the first of several much higher goals for us. That's what I'm saying. Southern Miss has fallen on hard times since 2013, but they're still a storied program among the likes of Boise State, Memphis, App State, etc. like you mentioned. It's a great home game for us.
I'm curious how well we will do with getting other big-name/P5 teams to come to J'ville. Troy State has already had Missouri, Duke, Boise State, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, Army, and Navy visit. Their future schedules have home games against Mississippi State, NC State, BYU, Memphis, and Army. I'd love to see us get some names like that.
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stevo
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Post by stevo on Feb 15, 2023 10:10:20 GMT -6
Guys this schedule is very good for a new FBS program. You have to learn to walk before you run.
If JSU is close at the end of the 3rd quarter against EMU, USM and GA Southern you need to be happy that you have a shot to win.
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