We cannot now or ever compare ourselves to JMU. They are NOT our peer. In football our only peer in the CAA is Villanova. Both FCS football in a metropolitan area with the NFL.
In basketball our peers are Drexel and Northeastern and to an extent Hofstra. Again mid major hoops in a metropolitan area.
JMU is the only game in town. It's the only game in a 90 mile radius. Plus, where do their students come from?? I don't have facts on this but I would be that most of their students live farther from home than Towson's. Thus, more of their students stay on campus most weekends and don't head home to PG and Montgomery County. Or to Jersey.
Plus, I went to the Madison game and the announced attendance was not what was in the stadium. And it was their homecoming. If it was sold out, there were about 5,000 no shows. Or like at Towson, they stayed in the parking lot and never came to the game.
I tailgate with 10 others every week, and homecoming I have never seen the parking lots as packed as they were. Went in to watch the game, and we all looked around and said where the hell did everybody go?? So, someone, be it the athletic dept or whoever, is getting people to Johnny U parking lots, now they gotta figure out how to get them into the stadium