How James Madison’s football program passed ETSU by

The two teams used to play annually. Now the Dukes are playing on college football’s highest stage while the Bucs continually wallow in FCS mediocrity.

Once upon a time, boys and girls, ETSU and James Madison played a football game.

And ETSU was an FBS program, while James Madison was merely Division II.

The year was 1979. Yes, almost a half-century ago, but not so long ago that the tentacles of that year don’t touch modern times.

The film of the year is in color. Terry Bradshaw was a big name then as a player and is a big name now as a studio host.

And on September 8, 1979, ETSU and James Madison began an annual football series that would last through 1987 with only a one-year hiatus.

ETSU had just joined the Southern Conference, which was then part of classification Division I-A, today called the Football Bowl Subdivision.

James Madison had just become James Madison University. Only two years earlier the college simply went by the name “Madison College,” but they had changed their name to reflect not only their postgraduate studies but to evolve away from their beginnings as a women’s teacher’s college.

Starting football teams has often been used as a way to increase male enrollment, and Madison was no exception, fielding their first team in 1972.