A Sea Of Red

JMU or Coastal?

I pretty much know that the majority of people on here will say the Coastal rivalry is bigger. However, I would argue that the JMU game means more to the school and to most fans. First of all, not many new students know where Coastal Carolina is. Most assume it's in the carolinas but no one really cares. On the other hand, even out of state students are aware of JMU and how close the school is to campus. Secondly, JMU fans hate us more than Coastal fans. Sure, we're hated on the Coastal message boards but it's more of a fun hate rather than an actual hate. I have JMU friends who actually HATE Liberty. It's kind of similar to the Radford basketball rivalry we had a few years back. Lastly, hating Coastal just doesn't make any sense. I mean we have no reason to hate these guys except that they're competitive. They're not close to us, there hasn't been any real fan to fan interaction or player to player fight and we've never played them close. Every time we beat them really bad or they beat us by a couple of touchdowns. However, the JMU game is always close, even though we can't find a way to win. So, my question is which rivalry means more or is bigger to you? Obviously, I think winning over JMU would be more beneficial to the school than winning over Coastal. I also think fans in general would rather see us beat JMU rather than beat Coastal. Just a thought and part of why I want the JMU game back on our schedule.

Winning against JMU = boost to school public opinion, boost in our national ranking, boost in confidence.

Winning against Coastal = one step closer to winning the Big South.

The Coastal rivalry matters because of the Big South AQ. The Coastal rivalry matters because they and Stony Brook are the only teams that can hang with us in football.

Winning conference games is always more important that non-conference games. Especially when an auto bid to the playoffs is involved. Beating Coastal is more important.

Agreed, Redd. And although the Coastal rivalry was "manufactured" (thus the Beat Coastal t-shirts), I think VMI and Radford are bigger rivals because they are in-state. Yes, I know Radford doesn't have a football team, but they do have a basketball team.

Cider Jim wrote:Agreed, Redd. And although the Coastal rivalry was "manufactured" (thus the Beat Coastal t-shirts), I think VMI and Radford are bigger rivals because they are in-state. Yes, I know Radford doesn't have a football team, but they do have a basketball team.

Agree with CJ. I could care less about Coastal. Beat "whoever we're playing every week".

Although the Radford rivalry means more to me because half of my high school went to Radford for college. Plus, I live right between LU and Radford.

Ive always seen Radford and VMI as our biggest rivals...mostly because they are in state schools. Coastal kinda became a rival because they beat us three straight years (and the Big South title has come down to Coastal or Liberty in some form or fashion the last 7 years) and the AD made a push for them to become a rival, but really if you took a survey of alums the last Id say 10 years theyd say either VMI or Radford

I can remember a push for a JMU rivalry when I was a freshman and sophomore. This was the pre-FCS days, when we were still playing at City Stadium. But JMU was a decent in-state program, and we got some TV attention with one game against them. If the series had continued, I think the rivalry would have grown, but JMU was growing as a football program MUCH faster than LU was at that time, so they didn't need us.

I would say VMI. I tend to mix it up with their fans in at least 4 sports we play them in. Coastal was manufactured.

I'll say we don't have a true rival.

Coastal? Not really for the reasons already mentioned (distance primarily). It's the closest thing we have though.

JMU? It could be, but we won't be playing them much anymore. Plus it's non-conference and we don't play them in all other sports.

Radford? Seriously? I don't think so.

VMI? Again look at the recent football scores.

This all goes back to our conference alignment. We don't have any true peers where we're at (no offense to our Big South brethren). If CCU was in VA or NC it could be a true rival. If we were in the CAA we would have some true rivalries, rather that be with JMU or ODU or W&M, etc.

There's nothing that says we have to have a true rival, so don't force it.

Remembering the convo that J.B. got up and spoke about beat Coastal...

It was more about the Sasser Cup, not football. Coastal would be what stands between Liberty and winning the most championships. I dont think athletics was trying to force a "rivalry".

Rivalry is a little more than that in my opinion, as manson pointed out above.

How can we have a rivalry against someone we can't beat? Sorry folks, JMU isn't a rivalry.

I'd say right now it's Coastal because it has been manufactured as such. I think my favorite games as a student were against VMI though. . .especially when they would bring the cadets in to Vines.

Why does beating someone have to be a pre-requisite to having a rivalry with them? That should be more fuel to the fire if you ask me. JMU is just up the road, it's growing very rapidly, and we play them close every year. The past three times Coastal has come to Lynchburg, we've destroyed them. The only reason any students care about Coastal is because we have Beat Coastal shirts. You want to see this campus go crazy over a football game? Beat JMU. Those fans hate us, our fans hate them...it's a great rivalry.

cjsweat wrote:Why does beating someone have to be a pre-requisite to having a rivalry with them? That should be more fuel to the fire if you ask me. JMU is just up the road, it's growing very rapidly, and we play them close every year. The past three times Coastal has come to Lynchburg, we've destroyed them. The only reason any students care about Coastal is because we have Beat Coastal shirts. You want to see this campus go crazy over a football game? Beat JMU. Those fans hate us, our fans hate them...it's a great rivalry.

I rivalry would imply both sides. Ask JMU if they think they have a rivalry with Lib and they will laugh you back to our message board.

From the class of 09 wrote:

cjsweat wrote:Why does beating someone have to be a pre-requisite to having a rivalry with them? That should be more fuel to the fire if you ask me. JMU is just up the road, it's growing very rapidly, and we play them close every year. The past three times Coastal has come to Lynchburg, we've destroyed them. The only reason any students care about Coastal is because we have Beat Coastal shirts. You want to see this campus go crazy over a football game? Beat JMU. Those fans hate us, our fans hate them...it's a great rivalry.

I rivalry would imply both sides. Ask JMU if they think they have a rivalry with Lib and they will laugh you back to our message board.

I'm not talking about the die-hard football fans that get on these message boards. I'm talking about the normal students who just attend the games. I have asked them what they think of Liberty and they outright hate us. Same thing with Liberty fans. Rivalries aren't based on what the diehard fans think, it's based on what the other 95% of the fan base thinks.

We have a rivalry with JMU like Tulane has a rivalry with LSU. They are in state but does LSU care at all about Tulane? NO! Tulane doesn't win. For it to be a rivalry the teams have to be fairly close to .500 against each other. We aren't.

When is JMU on our schedule again? Oh right I can't find their name on there. It's not a rivalry if we don't play them.

When is JMU on our schedule again? Oh right I can't find their name on there. It's not a rivalry if we don't play them.

2013 is what was said on TV during the game

I went to Longwood for undergrad, there was a pretty good 460 rivalry for a couple of years. Both teams would always win at home. I think McKay crushed the series, which I don't blame him from a Liberty perspective. I was sad to see it go though.

O this is a football board? Sorry, just had to lament for a second. Although I don't think we have a true "rival" in football, yet, I think getting into the playoffs against some in-state teams would certainly create some bad blood. Which is a good thing.

RVAparks wrote:

When is JMU on our schedule again? Oh right I can't find their name on there. It's not a rivalry if we don't play them.

2013 is what was said on TV during the game

I doubt the game's played. If so, great.

So we play them one more time and their coach is on record as to saying he doesn't want to schedule us ever again. So again I ask, how is it a rivalry if we don't play them?

I doubt the game's played. If so, great.

So we play them one more time and their coach is on record as to saying he doesn't want to schedule us ever again. So again I ask, how is it a rivalry if we don't play them?

Do you have a crystal ball that can foresee the scheduling and conference landscape through 2020? Does it also predict playoff matchups?

RVAparks wrote:

I doubt the game's played. If so, great.

So we play them one more time and their coach is on record as to saying he doesn't want to schedule us ever again. So again I ask, how is it a rivalry if we don't play them?

Do you have a crystal ball that can foresee the scheduling and conference landscape through 2020? Does it also predict playoff matchups?

JMU being a rival is a mythical concept until they are on our schedule year in, year out and we actually beat them once a decade.

All it takes is a spark man. The FCS landscape in Virginia isn't but so big. If we start going to the playoffs and knock off a few teams on their turf then in-state rivalries are going to start. Even Norfolk State is a probability, we could run into them in the playoffs and then again in the regular season.

What if we happen to bump into Richmond in the playoffs in the next couple of years? And then play them in the regular season in 2013-14? You don't think something can develop? There are only but so many asteroids circling around the VA-FCS picture and eventually we are going to collide with someone and it's going to be nasty.

Also... money talks. Definitively saying we can't develop a rivalry just isn't a fair notion, especially with the playoffs and the extreme uncertainty in the college football landscape right now.