[Ill flame]

I haven't seen people calling for Hugh freeze to be fired but that might be one of the dumbest opinions I've ever heard and I used to be roommates with a socialist.



As a reminder to anyone that needs one, we were ranked #111 in the country for returning production heading into this season. Obviously it doesn't mean everything but there is a very strong correlation between returning production and progression/ regression from the previous season. We were supposed to regress from our 8-5 season last year and are sitting at 8 wins with 2 more games to go. We should be praising hugh freeze for getting us to where a 1 point loss to P5s during a "rebuilding" year is disappointing.

[AATL]

Immediate FBS success has resulted in exorbitant expectations. It's easy to forget that this program is only in it's fourth year of FBS eligibility.

[ballcoach15]

Everyone needs to read an article written by Javon Scruggs, on LU moving to FBS.

It's posted on Liberty football website. (November 18)

[Cider Jim]

Everyone needs to read an article written by Javon Scruggs, on LU moving to FBS.

It's posted on Liberty football website. (November 18)

https://www.liberty.edu/flames/news/jav ... js2kXnvRUI

[TH Spangler]

With recent success we are no longer under anyones radar. Before we could sneak up on many teams. Now its reversed. We are a bigtime opponent in many games. Makes it harder. Have to adjust, prepare for everyone's A game.

[flamesfilmguy]

3-this program/fan base is not where we (or at least me…I won’t throw everyone in with me on this) thought. We played an instate power 5 school with a huge local fan base and couldn’t sell out our stadium. We are years and years away from selling 25ish thousand tickets to Louisiana Tech and Kennesaw State.

This. All day long. This. This is why I was elected Potentate so I’m glad someone else is seeing this as well
The LU fan base is nowhere near ready for P5 or the laughable P5 Equivalent. There were tons of Tech fans there. If you took out the students (kudos to those who showed up) I would not be surprised if it was 50/50 Tech LU fans. There were also a TON of BYU fans there for their game. LU fans need to get their act in gear. While some of it has to do with the Flames Club and Tickets the fact that VT did not sell out should be a wake up call. Now imagine if this team was 4-6 going into today. Imagine what the stands would look like. LU needs to work on building its butts in seats and eyes on screens.

I'm just here shaking my head, on one end of the fan spectrum we have the Kool-aide drinkers that think we are good enough/ prepared as a program and fan base to bypass G5 altogether. to PH's point above, we aren't. plain and simple. even further on the spectrum we have those on social who expect to beat the ACC and SEC and BYU regularly and are now calling for a firing of one of the best head coaches in the country. Thats so egrigous that I, one of the people against the hire and gladly ate plenty of crow for it, am sitting here defending a loss to VT on this message board of the team that lost 3 games in a row to monnmouth, Kennesaw State and St. Francis just 5 years ago. The same message board that saw their team BEAT VT literally a year prior and celebrated it like they won the superbowl... like most things in life moderation is key. especially with expectations. Are we going to be able to schedule the teams everyone wants to see in the burg more than once a year when we enter CUSA? probably not. but as we saw this weekend the fans didn't show up as much as we thought they would. I'm guessing the game being so close to thanksgiving break probably had a lot to do with that but I digress. We are WAY ahead of original expecations. I would argue at least a DECADE ahead of where many thought we would be once we got into FBS. We now have something more to play for than just beating P5's for clout. We can now play for a conference championship, and a bowl that isn't in orlando every year. Personally, that makes me pretty happy.

[BlueBlood]

There are complaints every week about attendance. And every week I think:

-Folks realize that most students aren't from VA, right? Which means most parents aren't from Virginia. And most Alumni aren't from Virginia. Public universities with lots of in-state students and parents and alumni have a clear advantage in getting those folks to a game. I got to two games this year (from Tampa) which I consider pretty good - but If I lived in VA, I would have season tickets.
-Football-loving locals almost certainly had a favorite FBS team before LU became FBS. And a lot of locals will never be LU fans. LU has "strings attached". Do I somewhat root for USF (my local G5 team) - sure. Would I if they were a private Methodist or Catholic school - I'm not quite sure.
- My kids considered LU being FBS when they chose to go there. They grew up in a college football loving family and wanted a school that had that culture/environment. LU was a win-win - Christian and FBS football. A lot of their friends considered FBS football as well when choosing LU. But that's only the last 4 years' worth of students. I'm not sure what % of students in prior years (who are alumni now) came from football-rabid backgrounds. Obviously, there are zero % of older classes who came to LU partially because it had FBS football. As each new class graduates and becomes alumni and new ones take their place in the student section, I would think that the football culture (and attendance) will grow.
- Thanksgiving break is a real thing - having two games over the break hurts attendance tremendously. It hits all schools (see LSU and TAMU this weekend), but for the reasons listed in the first two sections above, it hits a national private university more.

I'm convinced LU will get there. But it will take time, and there are unique obstacles to overcome.

[Dalegarz1]

It was obvious that our O-line was over matched and could not protect our QB. I remember the same thing happening a year ago and I had the same question. Where is our screen game? I'm not referring to wide receiver screens, but traditional screens to a back. It's an effective way to slow down the pass rush, not to mention gain some yards. QB draws from an empty set is another way-JB scored our first touchdown on one and from my vantage point was untouched. We never ran it again.

[ballcoach15]

There are several factors that go into attendance numbers. Many were mentioned in a post above by BlueBlood.. In my opinion, parking or the lack of it, is a major factor with attendance. I am very familiar with campus, including main roads, side roads and back roads, along with every parking lot. Unless I get to campus 3 or 4 hours before kickoff, sometimes I have trouble finding a good parking spot. I can imagine how difficult it is for someone not familiar with campus to find a parking space. All these color coded lots are reserved, which creates more confusion for visitors or the casual fan.
Hopefully the new parking garage north of stadium will help, but that will probably not be General Parking. Sometimes I think parking would be better if they opened up every parking space on campus to "first come, first served".

If we didn't sell out with VT in town, we probably never will have a sell out, unless Alabama or Clemson comes to Lynchburg.

[JK37]

If your concern is parking, but you’re too cheap to buy a parking pass, you ARE the problem. And, you can shut up.

A fan base full of people like you - too cheap to invest in the program, expecting free parking and free or near-free tickets - will never be #FBSReady.

[Liberty22]

Parking is a breeze. Getting in and out is also pretty fast all things considered. As far as attendance, I saw some saying it was close to 50/50 Saturday. That ain’t true. I was there and there was a sea of blue with red sprinkles throughout. Were there more away fans than usual? Yes. But it was probably more like 65/35.

My biggest complaint was the way many of our fans reacted to my cheering. I was yelling Defense, let’s go, LU etc throughout the game, yelling on third down. I can’t tell you the amount of glares and looks I got from our “fans”. I don’t know if they’re expecting us to act like we’re watching a chess match but it’s a football game for crying out loud.

[ballcoach15]

If your concern is parking, but you’re too cheap to buy a parking pass, you ARE the problem. And, you can shut up.

A fan base full of people like you - too cheap to invest in the program, expecting free parking and free or near-free tickets - will never be #FBSReady.

If truth were to be known, I have probably invested more $$$$ to LU athletics, than you have.

4 season tickets, 2 extra tickets for most home games, 2 parking passes, Flames Club membership, Flame Kids Club membership, and a donation on Giving Day.

You can shut up.

[ballcoach15]

If your concern is parking, but you’re too cheap to buy a parking pass, you ARE the problem. And, you can shut up.

A fan base full of people like you - too cheap to invest in the program, expecting free parking and free or near-free tickets - will never be #FBSReady.

If truth were to be known, I have probably invested more $$$$ to LU athletics, than you have, this school year.

4 season tickets, 2 extra tickets for most home games, 2 parking passes, Flames Club membership, Flame Kids Club membership, and a donation on Giving Day.

You can shut up.

[rmiller1959]

I told myself a long time ago that I was too invested in my favorite teams' outcomes on the weekend, and it wasn't healthy to let my mood for the entire week be affected because one of my teams lost. Had it been my alma mater, or one of my pro teams, I would probably have already moved on.

That said, I don't know why this loss to Virginia Tech is so difficult to leave behind. My mind tells me that we are overperforming with an 8-3 record given our QB carousel, injuries, lack of depth, et al. I fully expected us to lose every one of our games against Power 5 teams and finish 8-4, so if we beat New Mexico State, we are ahead of my projection.

Still, losing to Virginia Tech stings. I was in the stands for the BYU game and hollering at my TV from my seat at home watching the Arkansas game, and after those victories, I dared to dream big for our Flames. 11-1, a higher-tier bowl game (against Notre Dame just to make the vision complete!) and a Top 15 slot seemed within reach. After the UConn loss, I tempered my expectations considerably but still thought beating Virginia Tech would be a nice consolation prize. They've never been more vulnerable in recent years than now, and we handled the Old Dominion team that beat them at the beginning of the year. I expected our team to be a little embarrassed after that UConn debacle and ready to administer a beatdown on an in-state rival that still had a lot of fans in our backyard. It would have been a victory that gave us bragging rights for years to come.

We sat with a couple of Tech fans during the game, and they were generally well-behaved and even thanked us for the hospitality after the game. Still, they were thoroughly enjoying the fact they beat us, and between their taunting and what I read on a message board I stumbled across, this wasn't just a win to break a long losing streak. The fans were quite exultant about the fact it was us, the fraudulent, Bible-thumping online diploma mill in Lynchburg, that they beat. Even Lynchburgers who hate Liberty were piling on.

Maybe that's why it stings - I am not from Virginia, so I don't have any deep-seated animosity toward Virginia Tech or Virginia but boy, they sure hold us in contempt. Yeah, maybe we've earned some of it, but there are thousands of good people that work, attend, and graduate from here and are making a positive difference in the world, and I feel quite protective of them.

Maybe it would feel differently if we had been blown out, but we had a lead well into the 4th quarter and the opportunity to close it out, and we weren't able to do it. Bad playcalling, turnovers, a tiring defense -- it could have been any of those things or all of them. Truth be told, we haven't played our best football since the 1st half of the Arkansas game.

I'm expecting we'll beat New Mexico State, and we'll go to one of those ESPN-affiliated bowl games and play some other fair-to-middling G5 opponent, and maybe we'll win that one and finish 10-3. It will have been a good year. Still, this one stings, and we have to live with it for a long time. Once we're in C-USA, it's G5 teams and the occasional FCS squad coming to Williams Stadium, and program-elevating wins like the ones we had this year will be a thing of the past unless the CFP expands, and even then we're not guaranteed to be the G5 team of choice if we win a league championship.

Anyway, I just wanted to get that off my chest, and it's on to New Mexico State. Since this is Thanksgiving week, I wish you and yours a blessed and bountiful Thanksgiving. I appreciate all of you!

[JK37]

If your concern is parking, but you’re too cheap to buy a parking pass, you ARE the problem. And, you can shut up.

A fan base full of people like you - too cheap to invest in the program, expecting free parking and free or near-free tickets - will never be #FBSReady.

If truth were to be known, I have probably invested more $$$$ to LU athletics, than you have, this school year.

4 season tickets, 2 extra tickets for most home games, 2 parking passes, Flames Club membership, Flame Kids Club membership, and a donation on Giving Day.

You can shut up.

As my man @BJWilliams always says, “QFT”!

YES.! THIS IS AWESOME!!!

Then why are you complaining about parking?!

[ballcoach15]

I give my parking passes away to those who are not familiar with the parking on campus. They're lucky to find the campus.

[Cider Jim]

I give my parking passes away to those who are not familiar with the parking on campus. They're lucky to find the campus.

I'm sure they appreciate it!

[LUOrange]

Of the college football games I've been to, only Wake has better parking that Liberty.

Our local/regional fan base issues have to do with our youth in FBS, being the big employer in town, our being Christian conservative, and our rough history in the community (some of which some of you won't let go of as well). It'll get better over time as we continue to win and get better as a University and ministry as a whole. And to beat my dead-horse again, not playing any P5's for 5 years and playing on Wednesday and Tuesday nights won't exactly improve our local and regional fanbase get over those preconceived notions easily.

[Purple Haize]

If your concern is parking, but you’re too cheap to buy a parking pass, you ARE the problem. And, you can shut up.

A fan base full of people like you - too cheap to invest in the program, expecting free parking and free or near-free tickets - will never be #FBSReady.

Parking for FB at LU is easy. Much better than at Tech UVA Morgantown and certainly Ole Miss How is that remotely a complaint? I have a parking pass and it took me a hot minute the first time to find the lot but it certainly wasn’t a deterrent. There could be better signage sure but free parking etc is easy to find and relatively close to the stadium.

[Purple Haize]

If truth were to be known, I have probably invested more $$$$ to LU athletics, than you have, this school year.

4 season tickets, 2 extra tickets for most home games, 2 parking passes, Flames Club membership, Flame Kids Club membership, and a donation on Giving Day.

You can shut up.

As my man @BJWilliams always says, “QFT”!

YES.! THIS IS AWESOME!!!

Then why are you complaining about parking?!

He gets enjoyment from complaining

[Just John]

There are several factors that go into attendance numbers. Many were mentioned in a post above by BlueBlood.. In my opinion, parking or the lack of it, is a major factor with attendance. I am very familiar with campus, including main roads, side roads and back roads, along with every parking lot. Unless I get to campus 3 or 4 hours before kickoff, sometimes I have trouble finding a good parking spot. I can imagine how difficult it is for someone not familiar with campus to find a parking space. All these color coded lots are reserved, which creates more confusion for visitors or the casual fan.
Hopefully the new parking garage north of stadium will help, but that will probably not be General Parking. Sometimes I think parking would be better if they opened up every parking space on campus to "first come, first served".

If we didn't sell out with VT in town, we probably never will have a sell out, unless Alabama or Clemson comes to Lynchburg.

I went to the first time LU played at Tech. I parked 1 1/2 miles away minimum. I would assume it is no better than that for teams they didn't expect to blow out. I've been to the LA Coliseum for USC games where you either walk a longgggg way or pay a lot of coin to park. I think blaming parking at LU is a very weak excuse.

[JK37]

As my man @BJWilliams always says, “QFT”!

YES.! THIS IS AWESOME!!!

Then why are you complaining about parking?!

He gets enjoyment from complaining

Some people aren’t happy unless they’re unhappy.

[Cider Jim]

My best advice about parking is that if it takes you nearly an hour to get off campus after a game, you are going out the WRONG exit.

I park in the pink lot near the ice rink and come in by Macado's , but that exit takes forever to get out of after a game. Instead, I learned, if I turn left in front of the Indoor Practice Facility, I can jump on 460 and be off campus in just a few minutes!

[stokesjokes]

If you use the east campus parking garage or lot just past it, you can hop on the access road and get out to wards rd by the airport in a minute. It’s also a quick shuttle ride to the stadium and back. You only end up walking across the bridge in front of the main gate. The east parking deck is also perfect for basketball, the tunnel puts you right in front of the arena.

These are also free lots. We’ve got the best game day parking that I’ve experienced.

[ballcoach15]

My very first trip to an athletic event at LU resulted in a parking ticket. I appealed it and won, thus saving $50.00