Anything and everything about Liberty Flames football. Your comments on games, recruiting and the direction of the program as we move into new era.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke, Class of 20Something

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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#527164
TH Spangler wrote:I think I read somewhere the MAC and AAC has never "invited and transitioned" a FCS team into their conference ?
I think that is correct. Which is the reason I'm holding out hope for this move
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By Kricket
Registration Days Posts
#527172
One of the things that I haven't seen mentioned is that being independent is almost a better brand than being in the Sun Belt.

This didn't occur to me until I told a few friends about Liberty going to the FBS, and their response was, 'so they're going the Notre Dame and BYU route? '

They know LU isn't to that level yet and so do I, but it's better to be associated with other independents than the Sun Belt.
User avatar
By TH Spangler
Registration Days Posts
#527184
Kricket wrote:One of the things that I haven't seen mentioned is that being independent is almost a better brand than being in the Sun Belt.

This didn't occur to me until I told a few friends about going to the FBS, and their response was, 'so they're going the Notre Dame and BYU route? '

They know LU isn't to that level yet and so do I, but it's better to be associated with other independents than the Sun Belt.
It's funny how things work out. 5 years from now we might be talking about how lucky we were when the sunbelt passed.
By ballah09
Registration Days Posts
#527185
Agreed after hearing from a lot of my friends a few with no Liberty connections. They were already linking Liberty with BYU and ND with how the 3 major religions are now in FBS and all are Indy. Not with academics or athletics to clear that up. BYU really got me excited because that's one fan base that wants to play Liberty because of the similar policies and the hate they get from people. Reading their board they want to start a rivalry with us which really got me pumped and I hope that happens.
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#527187
TH Spangler wrote:
Kricket wrote:One of the things that I haven't seen mentioned is that being independent is almost a better brand than being in the Sun Belt.

This didn't occur to me until I told a few friends about going to the FBS, and their response was, 'so they're going the Notre Dame and BYU route? '

They know LU isn't to that level yet and so do I, but it's better to be associated with other independents than the Sun Belt.
It's funny how things work out. 5 years from now we might be talking about how lucky we were when the sunbelt passed.
Some of us were saying that when it happened
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#527188
ballah09 wrote:Agreed after hearing from a lot of my friends a few with no Liberty connections. They were already linking Liberty with BYU and ND with how the 3 major religions are now in FBS and all are Indy. Not with academics or athletics to clear that up. BYU really got me excited because that's one fan base that wants to play Liberty because of the similar policies and the hate they get from people. Reading their board they want to start a rivalry with us which really got me pumped and I hope that happens.
That's a game I would go to. Just to see all the protesters!! :twisted:
User avatar
By VarsityLu
Posts
#527192
alabama24 wrote:I do contend that more people care about the "Kraft Salad Bowl" (which is considerably better than the toilet bowl), but again, you miss my point. It isn't about the stupid bowl game. I believe OVER half of the bowl games should be eliminated. The point is that week in & week out we will be playing teams that do matter, more than the once a year that we do now.
Visibility is the answer. Honestly, unless your son or brother plays at an FCS school, there is no difference between FCS and D3 or D2. To prove my point, try Googling "college football scores" on any Saturday in the fall. No FCS, D2, or D3 scores come up on any page. To 99.9% of the world, college football is FBS. Anything else is not really football.

This indy FBS move will put the LU logo on the ESPN ticker at the bottom of the screen every Saturday. It will put the LU logo on the Google search results for "college football scores" every Saturday. Despite 40 years of being on the field, for all intents and purposes, Liberty's football program started two days ago.

Which brings me to a question I need answered: why is Liberty's old athletic logo still being used by Google? If you search for basketball scores, the old logo is the box score. Can't the SID manage to get that changed so LU branding can be consistent?
User avatar
By Liberty22
Registration Days Posts
#527193
ballah09 wrote:Agreed after hearing from a lot of my friends a few with no Liberty connections. They were already linking Liberty with BYU and ND with how the 3 major religions are now in FBS and all are Indy. Not with academics or athletics to clear that up. BYU really got me excited because that's one fan base that wants to play Liberty because of the similar policies and the hate they get from people. Reading their board they want to start a rivalry with us which really got me pumped and I hope that happens.
So what BYU message boards are you talking about? I just looked through 5 different BYU boards and can't find a single mention of us.

Also, this weeks shows us how great our own boards are. Looking around at other schools boards this week, some are just plain horrible!
User avatar
By Liberty22
Registration Days Posts
#527194
VarsityLu wrote:
alabama24 wrote:I do contend that more people care about the "Kraft Salad Bowl" (which is considerably better than the toilet bowl), but again, you miss my point. It isn't about the stupid bowl game. I believe OVER half of the bowl games should be eliminated. The point is that week in & week out we will be playing teams that do matter, more than the once a year that we do now.
Visibility is the answer. Honestly, unless your son or brother plays at an FCS school, there is no difference between FCS and D3 or D2. To prove my point, try Googling "college football scores" on any Saturday in the fall. No FCS, D2, or D3 scores come up on any page. To 99.9% of the world, college football is FBS. Anything else is not really football.

This indy FBS move will put the LU logo on the ESPN ticker at the bottom of the screen every Saturday. It will put the LU logo on the Google search results for "college football scores" every Saturday. Despite 40 years of being on the field, for all intents and purposes, Liberty's football program started two days ago.

Which brings me to a question I need answered: why is Liberty's old athletic logo still being used by Google? If you search for basketball scores, the old logo is the box score. Can't the SID manage to get that changed so LU branding can be consistent?
I can't tell you how many times i hear FBS fans talking and they think FCS is division 2. At least we will separate ourselves from that. I know most P5 fans still look down on G5 but at least it's a step closer! AND if NCAA Football ever comes back to the video game world we wont have to create a team cause we will be on the game!
By jlread
Registration Days Posts
#527205
Wow this is amazing news !! My day just got a little more awesome! I will have to admit 4-5 years ago when I joined this board was for the primary purpose of following our transition into FBS. I had been so busy with work and family the past few months that I stoped following it as closely. So when a buddy of mine told me the news today I was flabbergasted. Needless to say he rubbed it in my face that he found out before me. Super excited !!
User avatar
By LUnpretty11
Registration Days Posts
#527295
Purple Haize wrote:Before everyone gets distracted again and SLY has to come back and send us to bed without supper...

What are your expectations for LU now that they are FBS? When will you expect Bowl Games? ESPN (not ESPN3) coverage? P5 coming to Lynchburg and how often? Conference affiliation?
Everyone seems to be getting distracted by abstract. Let's see some concrete speculations!!
Good job, PH.

Expectations for LU: 7-4 or 8-3 in 2017 (FBS shouldn't change this), 5-7 or 6-6 in 2018, 6-6 or 7-5 in 2019. At or above .500 every year. Is that unrealistic? I'm not sure. I don't think so, and it shouldn't be. "If it's Christian it ought to be better", well if it's Liberty then it should be better too. Liberty shouldn't have a mindset of UMass or NM State, which I don't think it does. Liberty has and always will want to be the best of the best in everything, so alumni and fans should EXPECT nothing worse than .500 (that would be under-performing after 2020 IMO).

I expect Liberty to be "bowl eligible" in 2019 - LU may not get an invite, but be in the position to get invited to a bowl. I expect Liberty to make a bowl game in 2020.

ESPN is drawn to big crowds and excitement. It is all about showing up to put on a show. JMU did a great job of this for college gameday. Liberty is notorious for showing up and showing out. I expect Liberty to be on ESPN or ESPN2 by 2019. Will it be a Tues, Wed or Thur night game? Maybe, but I expect us to be there.

I don't see a P5 coming to Lynchburg until 2020 at the earliest, realistically not until 2021+.

I like the idea of Liberty being Independent for the foreseeable future. I think other posters have hit the nail on the head by stating the Sun Belt would water down Liberty's brand. Not associating with the Sun Belt, MAC or CUSA (I think CUSA is definitely better than the other 2) gives Liberty the upper hand on ceiling. The ability to schedule and win high notoriety games early will play a pivotal role in this. Liberty can't afford to slump down into the Sun Belt to be competitive and that would be very disappointing.

I speculate Liberty will have a H/H contract with BYU in place for the start of 2020. I speculate ODU and Liberty will have a H/H set up for the long term. I speculate Liberty will host Army at Williams Stadium by 2020 (or during 2020 season). I speculate Liberty football will never host VT or UVA, and if they do, not until 2030.

I expect Liberty to be a perennial 8-4 or 9-3 kind of school after 2022. Liberty made this move to be good, not to just make it, so I expect our school to succeed.
User avatar
By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#527296
The Sun Belt message board also has about 19 pages of meltdown comments on LU joining the FBS. :frustrated

http://csnbbs.com/thread-809349.html
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#527297
Thanks for the thumbs up. I'm sure our resident Head Master will be pleased I wasn't distracting 8)

A couple of points : The LU quote 'If its Christian it ought to be better' needs to be retired. It's really easy to point out where they fail so many times. I'm not saying I disagree with the sentiment just that it's an albatross on the LU reputation at this point

LU wasn't a very successful FCS team they certainly were never The Best. Although they tied for the best several times in the Big South.

Disagree about conference affiliation. I think the Sun Belt would be a bad move. They really are not aligned athletically with what LU wants to do. But getting into CUSA would be a great opportunity. Conference affiliation also won't affect who LU plays non Conference

I wasn't for the move to FBS Independent. But what's done is done. In for a pint, in for a pound. It would be great to have long term deals with Army, BYU and ODU. People will come out in droves to see them at LU. Heck, I even talked with a friend about going out to Provo. Also, I'd kinda like to see West Point.

The bottom line is, after the initial high of being FBS wears off, will the fan base still be happy with the same level of 'success' LU had at FCS?
User avatar
By VAGolf
Registration Days Posts
#527298
Purple Haize wrote:Before everyone gets distracted again and SLY has to come back and send us to bed without supper...

What are your expectations for LU now that they are FBS? When will you expect Bowl Games? ESPN (not ESPN3) coverage? P5 coming to Lynchburg and how often? Conference affiliation?
Everyone seems to be getting distracted by abstract. Let's see some concrete speculations!!
It all depends...who will our coach be at that point?

It's going to be very rough out the gate. FBS is a completely different animal than FCS. Besides the fact that we'll be one of the least talented teams our first few years, there's also no Gardner Webb's or Presby's on the schedule. The coaching at FBS is twice as good as FCS, and every coach is 6-8 bad weeks away from being fired. On top of that, private schools really, really struggle at the FBS level. Even Notre Dame hasn't been able to recruit the quality of athletes they used to sign. I expect things to be very difficult for the first couple of years, probably a few 3 to 4 win seasons. After we get settled, we could maybe be a 6-7 win team consistently. However, those wins will include a lot of Ball States and South Alabama's.

As for TV coverage, I've said this before but this is the biggest positive of being an independent. The Big South was so restrictive in what LFSN could do, that we've barely been able to utilize having our own network. Now that we're independent, LFSN is going to have an enormous amount of flexibility and I fully expect we will see large growth on that front.
User avatar
By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#527299
LUminary wrote:I'd much rather play Charlotte and Georgia State, and definitely Army and Marshall...
YES!!! :clapping And Herd fans love to travel to away games.
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#527300
VAGolf wrote:
Purple Haize wrote:Before everyone gets distracted again and SLY has to come back and send us to bed without supper...

What are your expectations for LU now that they are FBS? When will you expect Bowl Games? ESPN (not ESPN3) coverage? P5 coming to Lynchburg and how often? Conference affiliation?
Everyone seems to be getting distracted by abstract. Let's see some concrete speculations!!
It all depends...who will our coach be at that point?

It's going to be very rough out the gate. FBS is a completely different animal than FCS. Besides the fact that we'll be one of the least talented teams our first few years, there's also no Gardner Webb's or Presby's on the schedule. The coaching at FBS is twice as good as FCS, and every coach is 6-8 bad weeks away from being fired. On top of that, private schools really, really struggle at the FBS level. Even Notre Dame hasn't been able to recruit the quality of athletes they used to sign. I expect things to be very difficult for the first couple of years, probably a few 3 to 4 win seasons. After we get settled, we could maybe be a 6-7 win team consistently. However, those wins will include a lot of Ball States and South Alabama's.

As for TV coverage, I've said this before but this is the biggest positive of being an independent. The Big South was so restrictive in what LFSN could do, that we've barely been able to utilize having our own network. Now that we're independent, LFSN is going to have an enormous amount of flexibility and I fully expect we will see large growth on that front.
That's why Art Briles is the obvious move.

I'd like to know more about LFSN and how it will work. Are they 'for profit' now? Who will pick up the product?
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#527301
Cider Jim wrote:
LUminary wrote:I'd much rather play Charlotte and Georgia State, and definitely Army and Marshall...
YES!!! :clapping And Herd fans love to travel to away games.
Who knows. Could be Conference mates
User avatar
By LUnpretty11
Registration Days Posts
#527303
Purple Haize wrote:Thanks for the thumbs up. I'm sure our resident Head Master will be pleased I wasn't distracting 8)

A couple of points : The LU quote 'If its Christian it ought to be better' needs to be retired. It's really easy to point out where they fail so many times. I'm not saying I disagree with the sentiment just that it's an albatross on the LU reputation at this point

LU wasn't a very successful FCS team they certainly were never The Best. Although they tied for the best several times in the Big South.

Disagree about conference affiliation. I think the Sun Belt would be a bad move. They really are not aligned athletically with what LU wants to do. But getting into CUSA would be a great opportunity. Conference affiliation also won't affect who LU plays non Conference

I wasn't for the move to FBS Independent. But what's done is done. In for a pint, in for a pound. It would be great to have long term deals with Army, BYU and ODU. People will come out in droves to see them at LU. Heck, I even talked with a friend about going out to Provo. Also, I'd kinda like to see West Point.

The bottom line is, after the initial high of being FBS wears off, will the fan base still be happy with the same level of 'success' LU had at FCS?
Christian it should be better point: I agree with you, but it doesn't mean Liberty shouldn't have that attitude. It should and should never strive for anything differently.

Liberty was a 7-4/8-3 kind of school in the FCS. I can live with that in FBS, even if we are beating lower level FBS teams. The key piece to this is beating those schools.

I agree on CUSA, I did not mean to down the league, but even still it has a sense of irrelevance and Liberty should be as relevant as possible. If that ceiling is CUSA, then great. Geographically, CUSA would make a lot of sense.

Who wouldn't want to see Army at Liberty? That would be the biggest crowd at a Liberty game, ever. Hands down. The environment would be beyond electric. Liberty's commitment to the military proves this fact.

I think Liberty fans will be happy - to an extent - with 7-5 seasons. 10 years from now? No, the vision should be better than that. Now, if Liberty is a 3-5 win team for the first 4 years, then there will be chaos and rightfully so. You don't make this jump and settle for sorry.
User avatar
By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#527305
Liberty pays lip service to the motto.
Think Bowl Game= FCS Playoff. Will LU fans be ok with the R and L Carrier Bowl once every couple of years?
User avatar
By LUnpretty11
Registration Days Posts
#527309
Purple Haize wrote:Liberty pays lip service to the motto.
Think Bowl Game= FCS Playoff. Will LU fans be ok with the R and L Carrier Bowl once every couple of years?
Yeah, we were ecstatic about 1 playoff appearance.
User avatar
By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#527319
Purple Haize wrote:Could be Conference mates
Moving from FCS to FBS might not be as difficult as some of you are imagining. When Marshall went from the FCS Southern Conference to the FBS Mid-American Conference (1997), they went 25-2 their first 3 years and won 5 straight bowl games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_ ... mpionships
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