[BJWilliams]

The football section has been rather quiet the last few weeks so I thought Id start this up to liven the discussion a bit.

09/01 - 6:30 PM @ Wake Forest L
09/08 - 7:00 PM Norfolk State W
09/15 - 3:30 PM @ Montana L
09/22 - 7:00 PM Lehigh W
09/29 - ........... BYE
10/06 - 3:30 PM Gardner-Webb* W
10/13 - 1:30 PM @ Presbyterian W
10/20 - 3:30 PM Concord W
10/27 - 3:00 PM @ Coastal Carolina W
11/03 - 3:30 PM Charleston Southern W
11/10 - 3:30 PM Stony Brook W
11/17 - 1:30 PM @ VMI* W

Stony Brook is really a toss up for me. The Seawolves are good, the thing is that Liberty hasnt lost a home conference football game since 2006. Coastal, though I have it as a win, would not surprise me if we dropped that one as we only have I think 1 win down on the beach in the history of the CCU-LU series. I'll call em both wins for sake of discussion but those are probably gonna be games where we are underdogs going in.

[jcmanson]

It's hard to predict when we know so little about our own team. Who's our QB? Who's our RB? Who's our WRs?

[SuperJon]

9-2 in the first year of a new system and we don't know who half the starters are?

Yep. Had to be Coach Beejay with that prediction.

I bet he screamed, "We can win this game!" before predicting all the wins.

[Sly Fox]

I appreciate his optimism. And frankly since we know so little about who we are or what we are going to be, there is no reason to totally dismiss BJ's rosy forecast.

I've seen new coaches have an immediate bump at schools and others require a year or two of tough transition time. Who knows where we will fall?

Frankly I believe every game on the schedule is within reach if we fall into the former category and not the latter. I would suggest Wake is probably a long shot but both Montana & Stony Brook would both be realistic opportunities for success. Lehigh is losing a ton of talent just like we did so they are a huge question mark as well.

A 9-2 prediction is certainly optimistic but necessarily unfounded. I'd suggest we might lose BJ's two plus another one of two. But our defense is too salty for us to drop any more than than that this season.

[jcmanson]

9-2 in the first year of a new system and we don't know who half the starters are?

Yep. Had to be Coach Beejay with that prediction.

I bet he screamed, "We can win this game!" before predicting all the wins.

Not surprising. I actually thought he'd have us pegged at 10-1.

I don't know if I can accurately predict game by game yet, but I think 7-4 is much more realistic.

[BJWilliams]

I have been doing my annual research into Big South teams and to be fair, it was a pretty tough decision especially with the CCU and SBU games, which if you noticed, though I picked those as wins, Im hedging a lot more than I would in years previous. I predicted 9-2 (and that will remain my on record prediction) but to be fair, 7-4 is certainly possible, although again, it probably would mean dropping a home game in conference which we havent done since the last time we had a first year head coach.

[jcmanson]

Should-be wins:
Concord
Norfolk St
Charleston Southern
Gardner-Webb
@VMI

Toss-ups:
Lehigh
@ Presby
@ Coastal

Underdog:
@ Wake
@ Montana
Stony Brook

[SuperJon]

I don't know if I can accurately predict game by game yet, but I think 7-4 is much more realistic.

That's where I'm at right now. Maybe 8-3. I think we'll drop a conference game somewhere. It's hard enough to go through the league undefeated with an experienced team, much less one with so many questions.

Our defense will be extremely good and will keep us in games. I just don't know how our offense will be able to keep up.

To me, we are a more talented version of the 06 team in Rocco's first year. That year's team went 6-5 and lost four games by a touchdown or less. I think we'll have some close games but we will come out on top more than that year because we have a winning mentality now as opposed to in that year.

[ballah09]

I think Liberty Should win against Montana after what they went through, losing their QB and other starters. They are young and very inexperienced.

Defense is very talented and is going to be very good. Offense Is a ?. Talent is there to win the BS and go far. Depends on how the QB does. If well i could see 9-2, 8-3. if not 6-5.

[prototype]

We should be 11-0... I'm not sure who can beat us right now. Doesn't matter who starts, it only matters that our player will be better than that of the other team. We haven't won all our games in the past because of coaching, not talent. I'm thinking they make an exception this year and extend a BCS invitation and we play Alabama in National Championship Game. They might not want to give us that big of game - our SOS won't be very good - so maybe it's more realistic to aim for maybe the orange or sugar bowl this year.

[BJWilliams]

Should-be wins:
Concord
Norfolk St
Charleston Southern
Gardner-Webb
@VMI

Toss-ups:
Lehigh
@ Presby
@ Coastal

Underdog:
@ Wake
@ Montana
Stony Brook

This is a pretty fair assessment manson. Presby beat us there in 08, then we had a battle there in 2010. We only have one win in Myrtle Beach ever (and that one was a shootout of the highest order). Wake and Montana you can pretty much put down as losses in ink, Stony Brook as I said above is the one Im most unsure of. If the game here is like the last two meetings in Williams Stadium, we will blow them out, but the gap certainly has closed when it comes to home games if last year was any indication, so I really dont think youll see something as one sided as we have had the last couple years

[Rooster Cogburn]

09/01 - 6:30 PM @ Wake Forest L
09/08 - 7:00 PM Norfolk State W
09/15 - 3:30 PM @ Montana W
09/22 - 7:00 PM Lehigh W
09/29 - ........... BYE
10/06 - 3:30 PM Gardner-Webb* W
10/13 - 1:30 PM @ Presbyterian W
10/20 - 3:30 PM Concord W
10/27 - 3:00 PM @ Coastal Carolina W
11/03 - 3:30 PM Charleston Southern W
11/10 - 3:30 PM Stony Brook W
11/17 - 1:30 PM @ VMI* W

Believe it!

[jcmanson]

09/01 - 6:30 PM @ Wake Forest L
09/08 - 7:00 PM Norfolk State W
09/15 - 3:30 PM @ Montana W
09/22 - 7:00 PM Lehigh W
09/29 - ........... BYE
10/06 - 3:30 PM Gardner-Webb* W
10/13 - 1:30 PM @ Presbyterian W
10/20 - 3:30 PM Concord W
10/27 - 3:00 PM @ Coastal Carolina W
11/03 - 3:30 PM Charleston Southern W
11/10 - 3:30 PM Stony Brook W
11/17 - 1:30 PM @ VMI* W

Believe it!

HOMER!!!

[Sly Fox]

I love homers!

The only reason why I think the game in Missoula will be tough to win is because of the travel and atmosphere. The Grizz are a mess right now.

[Rooster Cogburn]

09/01 - 6:30 PM @ Wake Forest L
09/08 - 7:00 PM Norfolk State W
09/15 - 3:30 PM @ Montana W
09/22 - 7:00 PM Lehigh W
09/29 - ........... BYE
10/06 - 3:30 PM Gardner-Webb* W
10/13 - 1:30 PM @ Presbyterian W
10/20 - 3:30 PM Concord W
10/27 - 3:00 PM @ Coastal Carolina W
11/03 - 3:30 PM Charleston Southern W
11/10 - 3:30 PM Stony Brook W
11/17 - 1:30 PM @ VMI* W

Believe it!

HOMER!!!

OF ALL HOMERS!!!!!!

[jcmanson]

got that right

[Rooster Cogburn]

I was a LU Flames homer when LU Flames homer wasn't cool!

[SuperJon]

You're such a knucklehead.

[Rooster Cogburn]

You're such a knucklehead.

HAHA, Nice. where you have Member of the year on your profile, I want Chief Homer or #1 Homer. Haha.

[phoenix]

I figure we drop Wake, Montana, and either Coastal or Stony Brook. Not sure we're going to blow out Presby this year, but I'm thinking we win that one. Only way we lose to VMI is if we're looking ahead to the playoffs and rest our starters. The rest of the Big South is winnable; if we're talking about a move to 1A, we'd BETTER win the conference this season.

[ProudPapa73]

If only we do...
9 - 2 and conference champions

09/01 - 6:30 PM @ Wake Forest L
09/08 - 7:00 PM Norfolk State W
09/15 - 3:30 PM @ Montana W
09/22 - 7:00 PM Lehigh L let down loss...
09/29 - ........... BYE then we run the table!
10/06 - 3:30 PM Gardner-Webb* W
10/13 - 1:30 PM @ Presbyterian W
10/20 - 3:30 PM Concord W
10/27 - 3:00 PM @ Coastal Carolina W
11/03 - 3:30 PM Charleston Southern W
11/10 - 3:30 PM Stony Brook W
11/17 - 1:30 PM @ VMI* W

Go Flames!!!

[LUconn]

Loss to Coastal BYD? It's tough to know what we're going to be this year, but early thoughts would have to be that we'll beat a team coached by some dude who got the job because he can buy the team their post game ice cream cups. Maybe he's actually just a smart guy that translates into coaching brilliance (ie Mike Leach), but I have my doubts.

Or as BJ would say, Do you have some kind of inside scoop on Coastal's new coach? If so give us your source. If not I'd be VERY careful throwing around those kinds of predictions BYD. Very very careful.

[Chippy]

Losses probably to Montana, Wake and SB. SB has the leading rusher in the Big Ten transferring from Iowa and a pretty decent receiver transferring from Maryland. They have the POY returning and the 2 top QB's coming back. They will be a formidable challenge no matter where the game is played.

[BJWilliams]

FBS transfers are a boom or bust commodity, especially at the skill positions. for guys like Bo Levi Mitchell who ended up winning the Payton Award or Joe Flacco who went on to win a national championship you have guys that end up really not living up to the hype that they came in with being from a I-A/FBS school.

[jbock13]

I would say 8-3 isn't a bad guess. A loss to Wake Forest and Montana, plus our annual Big South "how the @#$% did we lose that game" game.