A Sea Of Red

R i wrote:We can blaze our own path. BYU, Notre Dame, Boise State, have all provided good examples. The great thing is , LU is not them, and they are not LU. We have a chance to write our own history. Given what LU has done in its short history , academically , politically, and socially, I have no doubt in my mind this University can make major moves athletically in my life time. I want to be alive when we beat Notre Dame in South Bend.

I hear you, just wanted to bring a different angle to the discussion. I've always seen that as an advantage FCS schools had over non power 5 schools. I'd love to see them in the Sunbelt or CUSA.

lawrenceq wrote:

R i wrote:We can blaze our own path. BYU, Notre Dame, Boise State, have all provided good examples. The great thing is , LU is not them, and they are not LU. We have a chance to write our own history. Given what LU has done in its short history , academically , politically, and socially, I have no doubt in my mind this University can make major moves athletically in my life time. I want to be alive when we beat Notre Dame in South Bend.

I hear you, just wanted to bring a different angle to the discussion. I've always seen that as an advantage FCS schools had over non power 5 schools. I'd love to see them in the Sunbelt or CUSA.

CUSA would be better

LUnpretty11 wrote:NG33!

??

Kolzilla41 wrote:

LUnpretty11 wrote:NG33!

??

NG33 is a legend. The word legend was coined thanks to NG33. Liberty to FBS was something he and I dreamed about almost 10 years ago and were never sure if it would ever happen.

LUnpretty11 wrote:

Kolzilla41 wrote:

LUnpretty11 wrote:NG33!

??

NG33 is a legend. The word legend was coined thanks to NG33. Liberty to FBS was something he and I dreamed about almost 10 years ago and were never sure if it would ever happen.

You are new to 'The Dream'. Ha. Happy you are happy

'The Dream' has been there for about 45 years. However, it has not been a reality until the last decade.

Lots of talk and comments nationally today about us needing a conference/not making it as an independent but I disagree. I think our best bet is to go all in as an independent. Pump $ into LFSN and our GameDay experience. It will take a few years or a decade but our ceiling is higher that route than as a member of a G5 conference at this point. As long as our other sports have a home I am not for football joining a conference unless it is a power 5 which I don't believe will happen in my lifetime if ever.

I don't think Army in Lynchburg is a pipe dream. The Knights' 2017 road schedule includes Ohio State, Tulane, Rice, Air Force and North Texas. In '18, it's Duke, Oklahoma, Buffalo, San Jose State and Eastern Michigan. In '19, Michigan, North Texas, Western Kentucky, Temple, Hawaii. Army has played roadies against FCS schools in recent years. I'm sure they'd love to replace trips to San Jose and Hawaii with something closer.

Liberty will probably have to agree to a lot of 2 for 1s. That's how Coastal got Kansas to come. Heck, low-level P5s desperate for any road wins (Rutgers and the like) would probably love to schedule a roadie at Liberty, especially if LU adds a financial incentive.

ALAFlamesFan wrote:Lots of talk and comments nationally today about us needing a conference/not making it as an independent but I disagree. I think our best bet is to go all in as an independent. Pump $ into LFSN and our GameDay experience. It will take a few years or a decade but our ceiling is higher that route than as a member of a G5 conference at this point. As long as our other sports have a home I am not for football joining a conference unless it is a power 5 which I don't believe will happen in my lifetime if ever.

Without being a distraction can you be more specific as to what you mean by going 'all in as an Independent '

Chris Lang wrote:I don't think Army in Lynchburg is a pipe dream. The Knights' 2017 road schedule includes Ohio State, Tulane, Rice, Air Force and North Texas. In '18, it's Duke, Oklahoma, Buffalo, San Jose State and Eastern Michigan. In '19, Michigan, North Texas, Western Kentucky, Temple, Hawaii. Army has played roadies against FCS schools in recent years. I'm sure they'd love to replace trips to San Jose and Hawaii with something closer.

Liberty will probably have to agree to a lot of 2 for 1s. That's how Coastal got Kansas to come. Heck, low-level P5s desperate for any road wins (Rutgers and the like) would probably love to schedule a roadie at Liberty, especially if LU adds a financial incentive.

Scary how we think a like on this

The best part is , we did not even have to us an Executive Order by Mr. Trump. Jr still has that ace up his sleeve if things arent panning out in 2020.

R i wrote:The best part is , we did not even have to us an Executive Order by Mr. Trump. Jr still has that ace up his sleeve if things arent panning out in 2020.

It was a joke, that Jerry Jr didnt have to use his relationship with Trump to pull this off.

Chris Lang wrote:I don't think Army in Lynchburg is a pipe dream. The Knights' 2017 road schedule includes Ohio State, Tulane, Rice, Air Force and North Texas. In '18, it's Duke, Oklahoma, Buffalo, San Jose State and Eastern Michigan. In '19, Michigan, North Texas, Western Kentucky, Temple, Hawaii. Army has played roadies against FCS schools in recent years. I'm sure they'd love to replace trips to San Jose and Hawaii with something closer.

Liberty will probably have to agree to a lot of 2 for 1s. That's how Coastal got Kansas to come. Heck, low-level P5s desperate for any road wins (Rutgers and the like) would probably love to schedule a roadie at Liberty, especially if LU adds a financial incentive.

I don't disagree, in fact, I feel like this validates my post. I didn't bring up Yale because Yale is one of (granted FCS) the most historic football programs in America. I'm obviously not talking top level success, but they are an icon even with their FCS status.

I have no knowledge of our scheduling aspirations outside of speculation, which is why I labeled Army a "pipe dream".

I would think Army and BYU would both become viable scheduling partners, home and away, over the next few years for LU. BYU is playing roadies against the likes of Toledo, East Carolina and UMass (twice). It's hard to fill a 12-game schedule when you're an independent not named Notre Dame. Army has two opponents it plays on a yearly basis (Navy, Air Force). BYU has two (Utah, Utah State). Trips to Notre Dame will certainly not be out of the question, though ND has less scheduling flexibility since forming that ACC alliance to go along with yearly games against Navy, USC and Stanford. Don't think you'll see ND coming to Lynchburg, probably ever. Though I could see them playing Liberty at a neutral site like FedEx if they want to recruit DC. A lot of possibilities out there.

Chris Lang wrote:I don't think Army in Lynchburg is a pipe dream. The Knights' 2017 road schedule includes Ohio State, Tulane, Rice, Air Force and North Texas. In '18, it's Duke, Oklahoma, Buffalo, San Jose State and Eastern Michigan. In '19, Michigan, North Texas, Western Kentucky, Temple, Hawaii. Army has played roadies against FCS schools in recent years. I'm sure they'd love to replace trips to San Jose and Hawaii with something closer.

Liberty will probably have to agree to a lot of 2 for 1s. That's how Coastal got Kansas to come. Heck, low-level P5s desperate for any road wins (Rutgers and the like) would probably love to schedule a roadie at Liberty, especially if LU adds a financial incentive.

The financial incentives piece is what will help liberty have an advantage other independents haven't had.

I'm not expecting top 25 programs coming in but I think liberty won't be shy about throwing money around the get schools into Williams stadium.

Unless the money dries up which it will at some point unless they beef up their booster base. Which I know jerry hates.

Chris Lang wrote:I would think Army and BYU would both become viable scheduling partners, home and away, over the next few years for LU. BYU is playing roadies against the likes of Toledo, East Carolina and UMass (twice). It's hard to fill a 12-game schedule when you're an independent not named Notre Dame. Army has two opponents it plays on a yearly basis (Navy, Air Force). BYU has two (Utah, Utah State). Trips to Notre Dame will certainly not be out of the question, though ND has less scheduling flexibility since forming that ACC alliance to go along with yearly games against Navy, USC and Stanford. Don't think you'll see ND coming to Lynchburg, probably ever. Though I could see them playing Liberty at a neutral site like FedEx if they want to recruit DC. A lot of possibilities out there.

Liberty fans showing up in mass numbers for an away game has been both its strength, but an unknown. Do you use Liberty filling a neutral site stadium or bowl game?

thepostman wrote:

Chris Lang wrote:I don't think Army in Lynchburg is a pipe dream. The Knights' 2017 road schedule includes Ohio State, Tulane, Rice, Air Force and North Texas. In '18, it's Duke, Oklahoma, Buffalo, San Jose State and Eastern Michigan. In '19, Michigan, North Texas, Western Kentucky, Temple, Hawaii. Army has played roadies against FCS schools in recent years. I'm sure they'd love to replace trips to San Jose and Hawaii with something closer.

Liberty will probably have to agree to a lot of 2 for 1s. That's how Coastal got Kansas to come. Heck, low-level P5s desperate for any road wins (Rutgers and the like) would probably love to schedule a roadie at Liberty, especially if LU adds a financial incentive.

The financial incentives piece is what will help liberty have an advantage other independents haven't had.

I'm not expecting top 25 programs coming in but I think liberty won't be shy about throwing money around the get schools into Williams stadium.

Unless the money dries up which it will at some point unless they beef up their booster base. Which I know jerry hates.

Good point Postie. I wonder how much Liberty's $ and LFSN will entice FBS schools to come to Williams Stadium that normally would balk at such an invitation. It will be exciting to see how this all unfolds in the next couple years!

As posted before and poo poo'd by certain board members here is who I think LU will see lots of over the next few years
Army
Navy
UMASS
Temple
ODU
A Florida Alphabet School
A Sun Belt School not named ASU

BYU I could see as a 2-1 I'm just not seeing the upside for them coming to Lynchburg. Although BYU Lite in in Buena Vista.
LU will most likely be playing more road games than home games for the next couple of years

Purple Haize wrote:

ALAFlamesFan wrote:Lots of talk and comments nationally today about us needing a conference/not making it as an independent but I disagree. I think our best bet is to go all in as an independent. Pump $ into LFSN and our GameDay experience. It will take a few years or a decade but our ceiling is higher that route than as a member of a G5 conference at this point. As long as our other sports have a home I am not for football joining a conference unless it is a power 5 which I don't believe will happen in my lifetime if ever.

Without being a distraction can you be more specific as to what you mean by going 'all in as an Independent '

I mean "Embrace it"! Make it a strength rather than a weakness. Schedule in places we want to recruit. Spend $ on our TV network and promoting to our demographic. Build on our already good GameDay experience and promote that to lower G5 programs that would love to play in front of that kind of crowd.

Purple Haize wrote:As posted before and poo poo'd by certain board members here is who I think LU will see lots of over the next few years
Army
Navy
UMASS
Temple
ODU
A Florida Alphabet School
A Sun Belt School not named ASU

BYU I could see as a 2-1 I'm just not seeing the upside for them coming to Lynchburg. Although BYU Lite in in Buena Vista.
LU will most likely be playing more road games than home games for the next couple of years

I agree with most of this. I do agree we will see a few sun belt schools, CUSA, etc. I don't subscribe to the idea ASU wont schedule us. They did two years ago. I guarantee we get them for a home and home in the 2020's. I think we will see some Charlotte as well.

ALAFlamesFan wrote:

Purple Haize wrote:

ALAFlamesFan wrote:
I mean "Embrace it"! Make it a strength rather than a weakness. Schedule in places we want to recruit. Spend $ on our TV network and promoting to our demographic. Build on our already good GameDay experience and promote that to lower G5 programs that would love to play in front of that kind of crowd.

This is what Notre Dame did. A lot of fans hated them because they were able to schedule whomever they wanted. They were envious while hiding behind a "they need to join a conference" blabber. It was pure jealousy. I KNOW we are NOT Notre Dame. But I like trying to emulate what they were able to do and hopefully some day we begin to see some success they had.

Liberty22 wrote:

Purple Haize wrote:As posted before and poo poo'd by certain board members here is who I think LU will see lots of over the next few years
Army
Navy
UMASS
Temple
ODU
A Florida Alphabet School
A Sun Belt School not named ASU

BYU I could see as a 2-1 I'm just not seeing the upside for them coming to Lynchburg. Although BYU Lite in in Buena Vista.
LU will most likely be playing more road games than home games for the next couple of years

I agree with most of this. I do agree we will see a few sun belt schools, CUSA, etc. I don't subscribe to the idea ASU wont schedule us. They did two years ago. I guarantee we get them for a home and home in the 2020's. I think we will see some Charlotte as well.

Charlotte is a good call as well
ASU has some institutional reasons they won't schedule LU. I'm not sure those have been resolved or not.
Also, I wonder how scheduling during the meat of everyone's conference season will be.

Purple Haize wrote:As posted before and poo poo'd by certain board members here is who I think LU will see lots of over the next few years
Army
Navy
UMASS
Temple
ODU
A Florida Alphabet School
A Sun Belt School not named ASU

BYU I could see as a 2-1 I'm just not seeing the upside for them coming to Lynchburg. Although BYU Lite in in Buena Vista.
LU will most likely be playing more road games than home games for the next couple of years

Agree with most of this. Navy might be tough. They have a full AAC schedule and built in games non-con with Air Force, Army and Notre Dame. They essentially have one opening a year. ODU is a definite. They play so many far-flung conference games that I'm sure they'd love to stay closer to home for their non-cons.

I think we'll be seeing BYU a lot. There is a huge mormon population in the southern part of VA. The only mormon college on the east coast is in VA so it gives them incentives plus the $$$ too. We'll be seeing ODU on a regular basis and I think we'll keep the rivalry with Coastal. ASU, I'm assuming you mean App State. They supposedly refused to play Liberty before and they played in 2014. They'll play again.