I should dig up all 20yo threads where this was discussed, but it's not nearly the same situation. The bang-for-the-buck for going from FCS to FBS is pretty minor compared to that of going from D2 to DI (Big Dance.)
I don't think that it's even debatable that college sports are regional in nature.
In our region, Bemidji State, Black Hills State, Concordia-St Paul, Crookston, UMary, Minn State-Moorhead, Minot State, Northern State, Sioux Falls, SD School of Mines, SW Minnesota State, Winona State had either moved to D2 or were on their way. We've had Augustana and St. Thomas and the UxDs move up to DI - not thrilled about Augie, but the other 3 are just fine even if I much preferred it when it was just us and SDSU. It's not like we're in JMU's shoes - they've seen a ton of schools in their area move to the FBS so they are being left behind.
Moreover, D2 was a complete clusterfuck. Delta State getting home field, regionalization, the uselessness and backbiting of NDSU's own conference, the Simple Rating System, scholarship drops, etc. There was not a single issue in which D2 was going in the right direction for NDSU.
I'm in a minority in that I wouldn't care all that much if JMU went FBS - it's not like we recruit against them for fans, eyeballs, or students. Now, if somebody in our region goes, that's a whole different animal (the Montana schools or, even worse, SDSU.)
The other thing is that people seem to have forgotten how much planning, commitment, and effort went into going DI. It was all hands on deck. What disturbs me is that too many people think that NDSU will go FBS and immediately win without breaking a sweat. Yeah, some big dog donors might say that they're withholding money now because NDSU is not FBS - but with that lack of commitment to NDSU, I'm not sure that they'd be reliable partners in either the short or long term for a difficult move to an FBS conference.
All that said, if the Mountain West calls, NDSU has to answer.