- February 17th, 2017, 7:09 pm
#527137
We have a mandate to get three FBS home games on our schedule. Right now, our schedule looks a great deal like this:
2018
Sep 01 - Open
Sep 08 - @ Wake Forest
Sep 15 - Open
Sep 22 - Open
Sep 29 - Open
Oct 06 - Open
Oct 13 - Open
Oct 20 - Open
Oct 27 - Open
Nov 03 - Open
Nov 10 - Open
Nov 17 - Open
Nov 24 - Open
I suspect that we will likely have a few of the late season dates filled with our formerly scheduled Big South opponents. That's how Coastal worked it and we will likely follow a similar path. The challenge is snaring three FBS home games and doing it in a way that we can achieve five FBS home in 2019. In other words, once you land your three home games in 2018 you probably are working 2-for-1 deals or home-and-homes to help get things rolling.
First, let's start with the other independents:
Army - They seems like a great fit for signing a deal. They tend to travel to some squirrelly places out west to fill out their schedule. We make a bunch of sense for signing a longterm deal. I'd love to see us sign a 4-year deal with equal dates between Lynchburg & West Point. It is not crazy talk although we are not bargaining from a position of strength right now. They have three open dates in Novermber 2018 and another on December 1st. In 2019, they have four open dates including three between November & December.
BYU - They always struggle to fill October & November dates. If for no other reason, we make sense. Then you factor in the shared religious discrimination we receive and you can see some potential mutual understanding. They have a 2018 open date on October 24th and on other date either on 9/22 or 10/13. In 2019 and beyond, they have a bunch of open slots.
NM State - After being left high & dry by the Sun Belt, the Aggies are flat out desperate to fill their own schedules. They have only four games scheduled all season in 2018. In 2019, they only have two on their entire schedule. Suffice it to say that we will be playing them every year for the foreseeable future as long as they can survive in FBS.
Notre Dame - I think we can all agree that the Irish are not likely to visit Lynchburg anytime soon. And until we get a stadium seriously upgraded, we don't the ability to host them. But that doesn't mean that we couldn't possibly have a "home" game. I'll get to that later.
UMass - The Minutemen have an opening on 11/24/18 and a possible slot on October 13th that UMass fans believe has already been filled. In 2019, they have seven slots to fill. So I think we can safely assume that it is just a matter of determining how soon our longterm contract with UMass begins.
I am not sure of the language, but I assume the normal rules about what classifies as a home game are in play for us next year and beyond. That means that if we were to arrange a neautral site game in DC or another major city against a school like NOtre Dame, it would techincally be a home game for us. I can see this happening to help us with next year's slots.
2018
Sep 01 - Open
Sep 08 - @ Wake Forest
Sep 15 - Open
Sep 22 - Open
Sep 29 - Open
Oct 06 - Open
Oct 13 - Open
Oct 20 - Open
Oct 27 - Open
Nov 03 - Open
Nov 10 - Open
Nov 17 - Open
Nov 24 - Open
I suspect that we will likely have a few of the late season dates filled with our formerly scheduled Big South opponents. That's how Coastal worked it and we will likely follow a similar path. The challenge is snaring three FBS home games and doing it in a way that we can achieve five FBS home in 2019. In other words, once you land your three home games in 2018 you probably are working 2-for-1 deals or home-and-homes to help get things rolling.
First, let's start with the other independents:
- Army
BYU
New Mexico State
Notre Dame
UMass
Army - They seems like a great fit for signing a deal. They tend to travel to some squirrelly places out west to fill out their schedule. We make a bunch of sense for signing a longterm deal. I'd love to see us sign a 4-year deal with equal dates between Lynchburg & West Point. It is not crazy talk although we are not bargaining from a position of strength right now. They have three open dates in Novermber 2018 and another on December 1st. In 2019, they have four open dates including three between November & December.
BYU - They always struggle to fill October & November dates. If for no other reason, we make sense. Then you factor in the shared religious discrimination we receive and you can see some potential mutual understanding. They have a 2018 open date on October 24th and on other date either on 9/22 or 10/13. In 2019 and beyond, they have a bunch of open slots.
NM State - After being left high & dry by the Sun Belt, the Aggies are flat out desperate to fill their own schedules. They have only four games scheduled all season in 2018. In 2019, they only have two on their entire schedule. Suffice it to say that we will be playing them every year for the foreseeable future as long as they can survive in FBS.
Notre Dame - I think we can all agree that the Irish are not likely to visit Lynchburg anytime soon. And until we get a stadium seriously upgraded, we don't the ability to host them. But that doesn't mean that we couldn't possibly have a "home" game. I'll get to that later.
UMass - The Minutemen have an opening on 11/24/18 and a possible slot on October 13th that UMass fans believe has already been filled. In 2019, they have seven slots to fill. So I think we can safely assume that it is just a matter of determining how soon our longterm contract with UMass begins.
I am not sure of the language, but I assume the normal rules about what classifies as a home game are in play for us next year and beyond. That means that if we were to arrange a neautral site game in DC or another major city against a school like NOtre Dame, it would techincally be a home game for us. I can see this happening to help us with next year's slots.
- By ECC29
- By Baybird