[olldflame]

Wofford >>>>>> SBU or CCU
GSU >> SBU or CCU
Chatty > SBU or CCU
Furman > SBU or CCU
and everyone else in that conference > everyone else in our conference.

The SoCon would be a step up in football. And it wouldn't even be close.

I agree, and would add that Elon is at least on a par with either of those teams as well. Even so, I personally am not sure that any FCS conference other than the CAA would be a good move for us on the way to FBS.

[Sly Fox]

TTL - The aforementioned teams provide a tougher path to the playoffs with not much in the way of upside for us. A game with Wofford wouldn't help our home attendance or overall mission of the school anymore than Chuck South. There was a time when the SoCon would have been an awesome move for us. That time has passed. Our goals are much higher.

[flamesfilmguy]

Wofford >>>>>> SBU or CCU
GaSoU >> SBU or CCU
Chatty > SBU or CCU
Furman > SBU or CCU
and everyone else in that conference > everyone else in our conference.

The SoCon would be a step up in football. And it wouldn't even be close.

FIFY GSU=Georgia State

[anberlinrawk]

I don't see a benefit to joining the SoCon without Appy. Yeah, basketabll might improve with Davidson and CoC on the schedule, but it would almost be a lateral football move with Stony Brook and Coastal progressively improving.

Sly, I was opposing this statement. I don't think the SoCon helps us that much long term, either, but it's certainly not lateral. The SoCon is a 2/3/4 bid league. The Big South is not. We'd have tougher competition and an easier path to the playoffs than in the CAA, everyone's dream-land. So if everyone wants the CAA, then they should want the SoCon, since it's an easier path in an almost equally respected league.

[jcmanson]

So if everyone wants the CAA, then they should want the SoCon, since it's an easier path in an almost equally respected league.

Disagreed. I want the CAA because its the best conference in the FCS/mid-major level. And the rivalries we could develop. CAA is SO much better than the SOCON. For numerous reasons.

Not saying we don't want the SOCON because it is definitely better than where we're at currently, but I'm not sure if we should say yes if they asked us to join.

[bravo269er]

If the school is really looking at FBS in the next 5 to 10 years then why would you want to move to the CAA? You won't develop any long standing rivals, because we'd up quickly move up after joining. I know thats alot of hypotheticals but its clear were looking to jump to FBS. We need to stay in the BSC, get that playoff bid and go from there.

[ATrain]

If the school is really looking at FBS in the next 5 to 10 years then why would you want to move to the CAA? You won't develop any long standing rivals, because we'd up quickly move up after joining. I know thats alot of hypotheticals but its clear were looking to jump to FBS. We need to stay in the BSC, get that playoff bid and go from there.

Well if we're going to jump to FBS, there are plenty of potential partners in the CAA that we can do that with. The rumors are swirling about the intentions of ODU, JMU, Georgia State and Delaware of jumping up to the next level as well. Plus the CAA is an obvious improvement from basketball.

[bravo269er]

So do you think the CAA as a whole will make a jump or 2, or 3 schools? Sort of like a package deal? I just think its better to do the move solo. Alot of teams and conferences want nothing to do with us anyways so why not do it alone? I know there is a bit of the renegade mindset, but nobody has helped us thus far. I just want the FBS whether its the MAC or C-USA.

[Sly Fox]

New rules passed by the NCAA executive committee that are likely to be pushed through would make a league stepping up together practically impossible. So a more likely scenario would involve either a group stepping up to form a new league that would require 5(?) years of probation or the more likely scenario of a current league inviting a group up together as a new division. Frankly the latter is our best shot in the short-term. With a group including Delaware, JMU, LU, ODU, Appalachian State, Charlotte, Georgia Southern or even South Alabama/Georgia State there would be no difficulty in meeting NCAA guidelines. Frankly it would take a perfect storm of things to come together in order for it to become a reality. But it could happen rather quickly under the right circumstances.

[jcmanson]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/7519 ... the-answer

There is ample room for another FBS-level athletic conference, specifically in the southeastern portion of the United States.

In the south, college football is king, and in the southeast, it practically defines a person’s life. For any new conference to have a chance at survival, it has to be housed in the southeast.

Naming this new theoretical conference is for another time, but for the purposes served here, it will be referred to as the "Eastern Mountain Conference" since each school included resides within a state that houses part of the Appalachian Mountains.

Below is a list of schools that seemingly provide the best opportunity for collective success, were these schools to choose to group together and move to the FBS level of college football as a single intercollegiate athletic conference.

The Eastern Mountain Conference

NORTHERN DIVISION

Youngstown State(3-8)
James Madison(6-5)
Old Dominion (8-3)
Liberty (8-3)
Eastern Kentucky (6-5)
Appalachian State (10-3)


SOUTHERN DIVISION

The Citadel (3-8)
Georgia Southern (10-5)
Georgia State (6-5)
UT-Chattanooga (6-5)
Jacksonville State (9-3)
Tennessee State (3-8)

[Cider Jim]

Three VIRGINIA schools in a NORTHERN division???

[Chris Lang]

First off, it's a Bleacher Report story, which means it has no news value.

Second off, Eastern Kentucky, The Citadel, Tennessee State and Chattanooga have shown no interest and are frankly incapable of even thinking of such a move.

So, no.

[Sly Fox]

EKU & Tennessee State made me nearly send milk out my nose when I read it this morning. Outside of those ridiculous suggestions, there really wasn't much earth-shattering in the editorial. Current NCAA bylaws prohibit such a move. But those same bylaws put the NCAA on shaky Anti-Trust grounds that would likely result in league stepping up as it pleases to FBS. Any new league would require a 5-year waiting period for automatic bids in sports other than football and that would likely be the primary hindrance.

[jimflamesfan]

The problem with joining the Southern Conference is that the Southern Conference requires its members to play football in their conference. Didn't Eastern Tennessee State used to be in the Southern and then get kicked out when it stopped it's football program?

So moving from the Big South to the Southern could actually hurt Liberty because a later move to 1A football could possibly put the rest of our sports without conference affiliation.

It seems like the Big South would likely be willing to keep LU in the rest of the sports if the flames would make a football only move to the MAC, for example.

[LUminary]

The problem with joining the Southern Conference is that the Southern Conference requires its members to play football in their conference. Didn't Eastern Tennessee State used to be in the Southern and then get kicked out when it stopped it's football program?

Yes, East Tennessee State was banished by the SoCon. Davidson, however, is in the SoCon but plays football in the Pioneer League. There has been talk about ETSU reviving football and, if App State finds an FBS conference home, the possibility of rejoining the SoCon to fill that vacancy.

[jimflamesfan]

But wasn't the specific reason ETSU was banished due to discontinuing football?

I don't know how Davidson worked the deal with playing football in another league...but I could forsee a disaster scenario where LU moves to the southern...then tries to move football to the mac or a new conference, and then the Southern decides to banish LU all together.

I think if we would join the Southern there would have to be somekind of provision that we wouldn't be banished for moving our football to 1A at some point in the future.

[LUminary]

ETSU was given the boot because of dropping football. I don't remember all the particulars, but I think the SoCon had added ETSU because of football and when they suddenly dropped the program, because of cuts in state funding for athletics, it ticked off the SoCon folks. In Davidson's case, they had already been part of the SoCon and accepted as a non-football member. One of the odd things about the SoCon dropping ETSU was that ETSU was, and still would be, one of the league's best -- if not the best -- men's basketball programs. That never made sense to me.

If ETSU ever revives its football program, it will need to get out of that overgrown tin can called the Mini Dome that it played in. It's basically a quonset hut on steroids that provides a homecourt advantage for basketball because of its cavernous qualities, but it has awful sightlines for football.

[Sly Fox]

If memory serves me correct it had a great deal to do with how ETSU drew the hard line with VMI about football and then bailed on the sport themselves. Any VMI board members have the details.

[PAmedic]

all a moot point because I just refuse to believe the SoCon is our destination of choice. Not even a 2nd or 3rd choice.

MAC/CUSA maybe or the CAA at the very least if we decide we can't move up for a while.

[Sly Fox]

Our destination of choice is just about anywhere that has an FBS designation.

[jcmanson]

Carr’s Liberty consultation isn’t being done with a specific goal in mind -- i.e., a quick move from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision once the NCAA moratorium on moving between subdivisions ends in August 2011.

With conference affiliations in a state of flux right now, though, Liberty wants to be in the best position possible when the next shift happens.

“For us to get better -- and we’re not good enough at anything yet -- we need an outside set of eyes to say, you know what, we need to do X, Y and Z,” Barber said. “That’s what he’s going to do.”

http://www2.newsadvance.com/sports/2010 ... ar-539544/

Kinda random bump, but has this group finished their study? I'm sure we've gotten some kind of report from them. It's been a year since this news first broke.

[bradyfan]

What if Liberty just joined as an independent for now and then just waited for a conference to invite them? I mean it's pretty much an open door as long as you meet the requirements (which LU does). If we're serious about moving up, doesn't this seem like a smart move while all of this realignment is happening?

[SuperJon]

Except you're not allowed to move up without a conference invite.

[LUminary]

You can't go as an Independent. For any FCS program to move to the FBS it must be done as part of a conference.

[jcmanson]

If we could go up as an Indy we would have been FBS long ago.