[cruzan_flame13]

Here's an interesting question:

IF we are 8-1 with the only loss to Syracuse going into the BYU game will we be ranked or receiving votes in any of the polls?

I would say we could receive 1-3 votes in the coaching poll.

[JK37]

Andy Stanley says it best: “Expectations just set one up for disappointment.”

So many of you are delusional. To get to 8 wins, we would have to win every favored and toss-up game. When has a Liberty football team EVER done that?! I don’t care if HCHF is the second-coming of Bear Bryant; you’re not going to rebuild that kind of inferior culture in Year 1. I just don’t believe it.

[TH Spangler]

I haven't seen anyone else make their game by game predictions. It's easy to throw out "we should have 2-3 more wins this year than last year" but schedules are much different. That's amplified even more by the fact that we're not in a conference and 7 of our 12 games are against teams we didn't play last year.

IM with you Jon of your predictions. I was just thinking about what Jonathan wrote. Basiclly he's warning us to not do excatly what he's done the past couple of season.

Jonathan Carone wrote:
My argument is you set yourself up for disappointment if you to expect those maybes to definitely happen, and that disappointment leads to unfair criticism of a team that actually did really well.

[tyndal23]

+1

[Jonathan Carone]

My argument is you set yourself up for disappointment if you been to expect those maybes to definitely happen, and that disappointment leads to unfair criticism of a team that actually did really well.

Was this your take on Gill's teams as well

With a bunch of returning starters, more depth, another year of recruting at the FBS level, with a top P5 coach running the show, why would we not expect at least 2 more wins this season?

My expectation last year was 3-4 wins. Getting six wins greatly exceeded that.

[Jonathan Carone]

I haven't seen anyone else make their game by game predictions. It's easy to throw out "we should have 2-3 more wins this year than last year" but schedules are much different. That's amplified even more by the fact that we're not in a conference and 7 of our 12 games are against teams we didn't play last year.

IM with you Jon of your predictions. I was just thinking about what Jonathan wrote. Basiclly he's warning us to not do excatly what he's done the past couple of season.

Jonathan Carone wrote:
My argument is you set yourself up for disappointment if you to expect those maybes to definitely happen, and that disappointment leads to unfair criticism of a team that actually did really well.

My issues were with the leadership of the team and the preparations/game planning. It wasn't because I was expecting xx number of wins. You can read through all my posts for 3-4 years and see over and over where I said I was making judgments on how we were playing and not strictly wins and losses.

[Jonathan Carone]

Another piece people seem to be underestimating is the amount of time we're spending on the road in a row. We play 5 of 6 games away from home. That's going to be really hard on the team, even if we may be good enough to beat those teams. It begins to wear on you and travel causes things that are hard to explain.

[TH Spangler]

Another piece people seem to be underestimating is the amount of time we're spending on the road in a row. We play 5 of 6 games away from home. That's going to be really hard on the team, even if we may be good enough to beat those teams. It begins to wear on you and travel causes things that are hard to explain.

No excuses! Must apply the same pressure on freeze we did gill

[FlamesHighontheTide]

Another piece people seem to be underestimating is the amount of time we're spending on the road in a row. We play 5 of 6 games away from home. That's going to be really hard on the team, even if we may be good enough to beat those teams. It begins to wear on you and travel causes things that are hard to explain.

+1 this is a great point Jonathan and I always appreciate your well thought out responses. I know my wife wishes that I would think through things better, haha.

2 things:

1. With our 5 of 6 games away from home being a factor because it is. My reasoning for still expecting 8 wins comes directly from Hugh Freeze's track record in the SEC and gameday prep whether on the road or at home. I believe this will pay off well for our guys as well as Coach Dom's understanding of muscle recovery too. I admit that I am putting alot of stock in the coaching reputation of Freeze, but I believe it goes with the territory.

2. Curious on your thoughts to this question, "How has your expectations in the Win&Loss column changed for 2019 since Freeze was hired?"

[Jonathan Carone]

Curious on your thoughts to this question, "How has your expectations in the Win&Loss column changed for 2019 since Freeze was hired?"

Expectations haven’t changed a ton. Maybe raised the ceiling by one win more now?

Here’s where my head has been at given this coming season:

1) Teams will take us more seriously given we won six games last year.

2) We are seriously lacking depth in a lot of positions.

3) That road stretch is going to be really hard.

Those three things were going to be true regardless of coaching staff.

I think this staff is significantly better than the previous one, but I don’t think they’re miracle workers. They can't create depth where there isn’t depth.

I’ll be disappointed if we win less than six games this year.

I’ll be ecstatic if we win more than seven.

I think both those things are possible, although not extremely likely.

[tyndal23]

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-foo ... am/liberty

Vegas recap of 2018 vs spread

[tyndal23]

LU could be favored in 7 games 5 of 6 home games ( 2 are fcs ) and 2 road games UMASS and NMSU.
Underdogs - Syracuse, Louisiana, BYU, UVA, Rutgers

[Ewglenn]

Maybes and possiblies are different than expectations though. There are so many things that could happen this year. My argument is you set yourself up for disappointment if you been to expect those maybes to definitely happen, and that disappointment leads to unfair criticism of a team that actually did really well.

7-5 would be fine with me but I do expect this team to win 8 games. I feel a lot would have to go wrong not to win that number. Essentially I’m saying we should go 6-4 against lower level FBS teams. Lower level FBS get beat all the time by upper level FCS. I don’t think, outside of UVA, BYU and Cuse, that we are really an underdog. I think the toss up games are Rutgers, ULL and Buffalo. I expect to go 2-1 in those games mainly due to HCHF. I expect to beat NMSU x2, UNM and UMASS. That including the 2 FCS games puts us at 8-4. The toss up games could easily go 1-2 but if I were a betting man I’d say 8-4 over 7-5. Maybe a better expectation is 7.5 lol.

[TH Spangler]

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-foo ... am/liberty

Vegas recap of 2018 vs spread

Unrelated, on that link I see the Syracuse game start time listed as 12:00 noon. Do they know something we don't.

[ballcoach15]

I would guess that the TV folks haven't set a start time yet.

[tyndal23]

Pretty detailed article from SB Nation. A couple of lines questioning why LU decided to go FBS with no conference and playing in a Cure Bowl type game every year vs FCS playoff deep runs- which is what I have been alluding to in my rants about leadership not flat out stating goal of being P5 equivalent level program from the outset and scheduling towards it - we are going to get pigeon holed with perception of not quite G5 level program. Good article overall.

https://www.sbnation.com/college-footba ... ule-roster

[lawrenceq]

Pretty detailed article from SB Nation. A couple of lines questioning why LU decided to go FBS with no conference and playing in a Cure Bowl type game every year vs FCS playoff deep runs- which is what I have been alluding to in my rants about leadership not flat out stating goal of being P5 equivalent level program from the outset and scheduling towards it - we are going to get pigeon holed with perception of not quite G5 level program. Good article overall.

https://www.sbnation.com/college-footba ... ule-roster

I was just about to post this article. I was searching to see if it was posted.

[BJWilliams]

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-foo ... am/liberty

Vegas recap of 2018 vs spread

Unrelated, on that link I see the Syracuse game start time listed as 12:00 noon. Do they know something we don't.

ACC Network game perhaps?

[BJWilliams]

Looking at the schedule matrix for August 29, here are the games on the schedule in addition to ours:

Duke vs. Alabama (Chick Fil A Kickoff in Atlanta)
Florida State vs. Boise State (in Jacksonville)
North Carolina vs. South Carolina (Belk College Kickoff in Charlotte)
East Carolina vs. NC State
UVa vs. Pitt
Virginia Tech vs. Boston College


I'd lay a hefty bet Duke-Alabama is going to be in primetime on ESPN or ABC. UNC-SC probably will be ESPN2. ECU-NC State is a good candidate for noon on ESPN. The other two probably will be ACCN games as well. If Tech was at home they probably get on ESPN or 2 even though they don't have the Q-rating they once did

[Purple Haize]

Looking at the schedule matrix for August 29, here are the games on the schedule in addition to ours:

Duke vs. Alabama (Chick Fil A Kickoff in Atlanta)
Florida State vs. Boise State (in Jacksonville)
North Carolina vs. South Carolina (Belk College Kickoff in Charlotte)
East Carolina vs. NC State
UVa vs. Pitt
Virginia Tech vs. Boston College


I'd lay a hefty bet Duke-Alabama is going to be in primetime on ESPN or ABC. UNC-SC probably will be ESPN2. ECU-NC State is a good candidate for noon on ESPN. The other two probably will be ACCN games as well. If Tech was at home they probably get on ESPN or 2 even though they don't have the Q-rating they once did

Sort of a crappy opening weekend

[ballcoach15]

Purple, I agree on crappy opening weekend. We might get Game Day after all.

[JK37]

PH - were you being sarcastic? Every single one of those games is better than Syracuse @ LU.

[Purple Haize]

PH - were you being sarcastic? Every single one of those games is better than Syracuse @ LU.

Alabama is going to kill Duke.
FSU and Boise will be some ugly football. Neither team is what they once were. I can even see Boise with the upset
UNC v South Carolina. If it’s an afternoon game it will be great for a nap
UVA and Pitt. First team to 10 wins
Tech and BC. Does Tech have enough players to field a team? Who is playing QB? Bob from accounting? And BC isn’t exactly a hot ticket.

So LU v Syracuse is pretty much equal to any of them here in Central Virginia. Has a nice story line too. Now if anyone thinks that it’s going to draw Gameday, they need to check their meth recipe. It’s not important Nationally at all so no reason for them to be here

[tyndal23]

Those are just ACC openers - not all the big games - Auburn/Oregon , Miami/Florida also getting it on.

[BJWilliams]

I should have made it clear I was only listing the ACC games.