Is JMU win Hofstra football’s biggest?

Nobody would argue that the Pride’s 24-17 upset of seventh-ranked James Madison was the biggest in the Dave Cohen-era but where does it rank in all-time Hofstra gridiron victories since joining Division I in 1991?

The last time Hofstra beat a team as high as seventh-ranked was head coach Joe Gardis’s final game against Massachusetts (21-10) on Nov. 19, 2005, but since it was to end a non-playoff season at 7-4, that cannot  even be considered on the same planet as the JMU triumph. Hofstra’s 10-9 win at second-ranked Montana to start the 2000 season when the Pride were ranked 11^th certainly ranks up there as that allowed the blue and gold to reach the playoffs as an independent despite having three losses. Hofstra winning its first Division IAA playoff game against Lehigh 27-15 in 1999 had its own significance, but it was a game the Flying Dutchmen (as they were called then) were expected to win at home.

I would rate the Montana win over James Madison as biggest in the Division I-era because of being able to accomplish the feat over a national-championship caliber team in a hostile environment on the road. However if Hofstra can keep the momentum from the JMU victory and reach the playoffs for the first time since 2001, it will certainly go down as one of the most important wins in program history.