James Madison has despatched a letter to the NCAA Board of Directors requesting the group permit the Dukes to be eligible for postseason festival. In the, letter bought by means of more than one shops, JMU issues to its total luck within the Sun Belt and robust scholarship investment ranges as extenuating instances.
The Dukes have put in combination one of the crucial largest transitional runs in NCAA historical past, posting a 17-3 report of their first 20 video games as an FBS member. JMU sits at 9-0 in 2023 and ranks No. 21 within the AP Top 25, the second-best rating within the country for a Group of Five group. But thank you to NCAA transition regulations which make an FCS-to-FBS transitioning group ineligible for the postseason of their first two seasons, the Dukes are not able to play for a Sun Belt name or seem within the College Football Playoff Rankings.
“JMU presents a unique set of factors in making this request for relief,” the letter reads. “No other school has gone above and beyond the transition requirements in all the ways we have. This request is specific, unique, and consistent with the principles of student-athlete welfare espoused by the NCAA.”
James Madison up to now carried out for a waiver to shorten its FBS transition from two years to one after the Dukes went 8-3 of their first FBS season below trainer Curt Cignetti. The waiver was once in the end denied.
Said the NCAA in a observation to The Athletic: “The NCAA has received a waiver request from James Madison and the request will be considered by the appropriate membership committees in a timely manner.”
In their letter, the college’s management issues to amended necessities for FBS participation that come with a better minimal scholarship requirement and no less than $6 million in annual spending. The Dukes have reached that threshold in every in their two seasons as an FBS program.
James Madison athletic director Jeffrey Bourne said that obtaining relief from the NCAA on the sort of quick period of time is tricky to challenge. However, he additionally said the case of North Carolina broad receiver Tez Walker, the place offering additional information and nationwide consideration to the problem in the end led to Walker being declared eligible one month into the season.
“It’s very, very difficult in this current environment to anticipate what kind of relief would be provided by the NCAA,” Bourne stated. “Our goal with this is to put our best foot forward and to cite what we feel are defensible, solid points of contention where we feel like JMU is already ready for this opportunity.”
If the NCAA have been to act, it could shake up the Group of Five season. James Madison would instantly grow to be the frontrunner to win the Sun Belt as the one undefeated closing. Additionally, the Dukes could be in rivalry with Tulane as the prospective Group of Five consultant in a New Year’s Six bowl.
The Sun Belt has agreed that if James Madison was once declared eligible for the postseason by means of the NCAA that the convention would permit the group to take part in its convention championship sport. Bourne stated that he believes the convention does no longer need to crown a champion that will be ineligible to compete for the New Year’s Six bowl variety.
Despite being ineligible, James Madison is ready for the opportunity of internet hosting the Sun Belt Championship Game on quick realize. The sport is performed on-campus on the higher-rated convention name sport finalist. If the NCAA modified its verdict, James Madison could be ready.
“Here’s where I am: We’ve become kind of America’s team because our situation doesn’t make sense to people,” Cignetti instructed SiriusXM College Sports Radio. “It doesn’t make common sense… we’re the first team ever to go right to 85 scholarships and play an FBS schedule in Year 1. That’s why the waiver should have won. I doubt they looked at it very hard.”
James Madison sits at 9-0 with video games closing in opposition to UConn, Appalachian State and at the street in opposition to Coastal Carolina. The Dukes host the Huskies on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.