Every team except NDSU looks flawed this year. And even then NDSU by way of eye test doesn't look as spectacular as usual and yet, we all know they are (I'm not going to argue this point, it's more qualitative than quantitative).

NDSU wins big games big at home by forcing turnovers, playing good defense, and using a rowdy atmosphere to rattle opponents. It's completely unique. Right now, the only team that looks to possibly compete with them is UC Davis, and the only reason I say that is because they haven't played in the last few years.

What JMU did last year and the year before that was special. They did the same things as NDSU, dominating quality opponents and having the balance on both sides of the ball to beat teams 70something to 7. At this level, you see teams who can often hold opponents under 20 regularly, and even score over 40 (with a high end in the 70s) regularly, but it's rare that you see teams have both. JMU had both. NDSU didn't really, but that's not because NDSU was "bad" compared to the Dukes, but because they just played a style that wouldn't score more than 40 on a regular basis in a conference that played power I football. Meanwhile the CAA featured teams that would give the Dukes multiple possessions (bad defense, spread offense) so they could score 70.

What made JMU interesting is that they didn't do this with an ungodly legendary home field advantage and it didn't turn on in the playoffs (NDSU turns it on to another level in the playoffs for some reason). It was every game, seemingly.

But now, that's gone, and JMU is down to earth again IMO. Even though I said in this very post that NDSU "looks down," I still think the only reasonable way one could say any team could beat them is if that team is regularly winning games in the CAA, southland, MVFC, Southern Conference or Big Sky by margins of 59-14 or so (not against bottom feeders). That team does not exist this year.