[BJWilliams]

You do make sense JFF, the problem comes in getting teams to come to Lynchburg, even in a 2-for-1 agreement. Jeff Barber wants home games, that much can be agreed on. The problem comes from the thought that, and this is merely me speculating here, because he wants home games, he would probably balk at anything less than a home and home and because many of your top flight FCS schools (North Dakota State, Sam Houston State, Southern Illinois, Towson, etc.) don't see a lot of value in schlepping all the way to Lynchburg for a game, they move on.

[coastalalum]

I hope you aren't trying to sell one of those "nobody will play us" type of arguments.

Why does it have to be NDSU, SHSU, SIU?? I realize that those are some of the current big boys in FCS. But without trying real hard, I could name 25 non Big South FCS teams located in Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Kentucky. Just recently you guys landed Lehigh and Robert Morris. Two quality FCS opponents that aren't light years away from Lynchburg. I can say with certainty that I'd rather see my team line up with any of those teams over watching a 70 point blowout win over some hapless D2.

[Purple Haize]

I hope you aren't trying to sell one of those "nobody will play us" type of arguments.

Why does it have to be NDSU, SHSU, SIU?? I realize that those are some of the current big boys in FCS. But without trying real hard, I could name 25 non Big South FCS teams located in Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Kentucky. Just recently you guys landed Lehigh and Robert Morris. Two quality FCS opponents that aren't light years away from Lynchburg. I can say with certainty that I'd rather see my team line up with any of those teams over watching a 70 point blowout win over some hapless D2.

Take JMU off that list and soon to be Richmond off that list. They don't want to play us and will do yoga contortions trying to get out of remaining contractual obligations if they did. Appy St wouldn't play us anymore and now that they are FBS forget about it. Bill and Mary? Maybe.

[BJWilliams]

This is me speculating about or AD's thought process but he wants to get butts in seats, especially if they want to justify the second deck on the student side, which I believe is the second phase of expansion at Williams Stadium. In order to do that, he would want to get some "name opponents" on the schedule. Lehigh I guess would be one. App State or Georgia Southern prior to their FBS move would fit in that category. Now I do agree with Purple on William and Mary...would love to play them again (especially after how the last meeting ended) Point is, he wants home games and if it means getting a D2 team to pound by 70 because Furman doesnt want to come to Lynchburg, then that is what ends up happening.

[LUconn]

Why cant we get them to come here?

[Sly Fox]

I'm with -army56mike- on getting games in Florida & Texas. With the clear exception of Sam, all the schools he listed are very winnable games year in and year out. The more we can get ourselves in the talent-rich and LU Online-friendly zones the better. To most folks here in Texas, they have never heard of ODU much less Coastal Carolina. That's why I have been such a proponent of the Sun Belt for us. We need to get in a league near our growth areas. And the Rust Belt is not a big growth zone for Liberty as an institution.

[flameslinger]

I'm with -army56mike- on getting games in Florida & Texas. With the clear exception of Sam, all the schools he listed are very winnable games year in and year out. The more we can get ourselves in the talent-rich and LU Online-friendly zones the better. To most folks here in Texas, they have never heard of ODU much less Coastal Carolina. That's why I have been such a proponent of the Sun Belt for us. We need to get in a league near our growth areas. And the Rust Belt is not a big growth zone for Liberty as an institution.

+1 It just makes sense for all of the reasons listed (recruiting and LU student/alumni market). In my mind, 1 FBS game, maybe 1 DII game, and then focus on some decent FCS competition. When is the last time we played an OVC team? EKU and TN Tech are not too far.
As far as conference talk, let's realize that the genie is out of the bottle on moving FCS conferences due to our FBS ready campaign. The CAA was never going to offer us anyway, and honestly, the SoCon is getting worse while the Big South is potentially getting better (they're taking VMI...Monmouth is already better than them, and Kennesaw State could not possibly be any worse than VMI). I'm okay with us being stuck where we are for now. I think the Big South will toughen up a bit. We just need to focus on getting a strong FCS out of conference schedule that forces us to learn how to win tough games and gives us a shot at an at large bid.

[BJWilliams]

Why cant we get them to come here?

This has always been the rub with getting decent teams on our schedule. The airport is not as much an issue (as noted the last time I mentioned it), I really think that teams, especially with the expanded playoffs, are very careful who they add. A win over Liberty does not really ADD much to a team's SoS but a loss to Liberty can SUBRACT a ton and so teams, especially the first and second tier teams, tend to be more careful scheduling games, especially away games.

[Chris Lang]

Many high-level FCS teams are not willing to go straight home-and-home with Liberty. Liberty does not feel its at a point where it needs to go 2-for-1 road-home to get out of conference games. Therein lies the disconnect.

[Sly Fox]

Which is why the Montana game was such a nice fit ... as long as the Griz don't buy their way out of the return.

Frankly I expect to see more Florida & Texas games in the not too distant future. Considering all of the connections, a home-away-home with HBU once their stadium issue is resolved makes a ton of sense with their FCS membership.

[SuperJon]

Liberty does not feel its at a point where it needs to go 2-for-1 road-home to get out of conference games. Therein lies the disconnect.

This is the arrogance from our administration that is holding us back from a lot of things.

[LUconn]

How does coastal do it?

[BJWilliams]

That sounds about right actually. If Liberty opened up a bit more to those 2-for-1 arrangements we may see more appearances from the McNeese States, Central Arkansases (not sure if that is grammatically correct), Southern Illinoises, Eastern Kentuckys (they are having a down year I will admit), New Hampshires, Lehighs and a lot more teams that could at least be marketed and get more butts in the seats even if it means waiting an extra year or so. My guess (coastalalum can better elaborate), is they have a "anyone, anywhere, anytime" mentality, even if it means they only get one home game out of the deal. that gets them in front of prospective recruits in their major recruiting grounds, so even if they DO lose, they show kids they are targeting that they will still get opportunities to match up with the best of the best on a week to week basis

[SuperJon]

How does coastal do it?

They've made the playoffs.

[LUconn]

How could anybody view LUs position of worth as higher than it is when it is literally tested by reality? If you believe your worth a 1 and 1, and the only offers you can get is 2 for 1, you are obviously incorrect. Its not an opinion. Its what is happening.

[BJWilliams]

I dont think its as simple as that SJ. While yes it plays a part, EKU has been to the playoffs and they dont exactly have an embarrassment of riches as far as the non-conference goes. JMU plays in a much tougher conference, has been to the playoffs, will go out of their way to not play us (as someone described...I forget who) after 2014 and they (despite their own FBS aspirations) have not played a murderer's row in the non-conference. Flexibility is a key component when formulating a schedule

[flamehunter]

How could anybody view LUs position of worth as higher than it is when it is literally tested by reality? If you believe your worth a 1 and 1, and the only offers you can get is 2 for 1, you are obviously incorrect. Its not an opinion. Its what is happening.

Now don't go and throw common sense into the argument. It seems some have adopted the mantra of the Democratic party and their mainstream media wing: "Keep saying something until everyone believes it is true, even if it isn't".

[SuperJon]

I dont think its as simple as that SJ. While yes it plays a part, EKU has been to the playoffs and they dont exactly have an embarrassment of riches as far as the non-conference goes. JMU plays in a much tougher conference, has been to the playoffs, will go out of their way to not play us (as someone described...I forget who) after 2014 and they (despite their own FBS aspirations) have not played a murderer's row in the non-conference. Flexibility is a key component when formulating a schedule

Get your head out of the schedules and look at reality.

JMU plays in the CAA and has 7-8 conference games in possibly the hardest conference in the country. That leaves them 3-4 non-conference games. They're not going to schedule the hardest teams in the world there.

Coastal holds more clout than us on an FCS radar because they've been to the playoffs three times and we haven't. Losing to Coastal is not a bad loss. Losing to Liberty is.

[BJWilliams]

Though I mentioned the top tier teams in many of my comments to this regard, after some thought, I think our targets for series ought to be teams like Furman, The Citadel, Lehigh, Fordham, Delaware, William and Mary, Illinois State, Tennessee-Martin, UTC, Samford, Nicholls State, SFA, etc. Some of those would be I guess "middle of the road teams" but they would not only be winnable for us, but they ought to have enough cachet, especially in concert with maybe 1 or 2 "big name" games (in addition to our FBS game/games every so often) that it wont have to be all or nothing in the Big South.

What would you guys think of a schedule that looked like this:

@ UNC
vs. Delaware
@ Central Arkansas
vs. Furman
@ Missouri State
BYE
vs. Eastern Kentucky
@ Fordham
@ Coastal
vs. Charleston Southern
@Presbyterian
vs. Gardner-Webb
vs. Monmouth

[alabama24]

That's why I have been such a proponent of the Sun Belt for us. We need to get in a league near our growth areas. And the Rust Belt is not a big growth zone for Liberty as an institution.

+1

[-army56mike-]

BJ, that would be an ideal schedule. How about.....

20?? . . . . . . . . . . . 20?? . . . . . . . . . . 20?? . . . . . . . . . . 20??
@ UNC . . . . . . . . . @ Va. Tech . . . . .@ Georgia . . . . . . . @ Florida
vs. N.C. A&T . . . . . vs. Lehigh . . . . . vs. Houston Bap . . . vs. Incarnate Word
vs. Jacksonville St. . vs. Beth-Cook . . . vs. FAMU . . . . . . . .vs. Sac St.
@ Houston Baptist . .@ Incar Word . . . .@ N.C. A&T . . . . . . @ Lehigh
vs. Char So . . . . . . .vs. Coastal . . . . . vs. Char So . . . . . . .vs. Coastal
@ Coastal . . . . . . . .@ Char So . . . . . .@ Coastal . . . . . . . .@ Char So
@ GWU . . . . . . . . . @ Pres . . . . . . . . @ GWU . . . . . . . . . .@ Pres
vs. Presb . . . . . . . . vs. GWU . . . . . . . vs. Pres . . . . . . . . . vs. GWU
@ Monmouth . . . . . @ Kenn St. . . . . . . @ Monmouth . . . . . .@ Kenn St.
vs. Kenn St. . . . . . . vs. Monmouth . . . .vs. Kenn St. . . . . . . .vs. Monmouth
@ FAMU . . . . . . . . . @ Sac St. . . . . . . .@ Cal Poly . . . . . . . .@ Beth-Cook
vs. Cal Poly . . . . . . .vs. Norfolk St. . . . .@ Jacksonville St. . . .@ Norfolk St.

The hard part is getting teams from across the country to return to Lynchburg.
But a schedule like this is definitely NATIONAL, hits prime RECRUITING area, is WINNABLE, and gives you one national chance in the FBS spotlight.

[Purple Haize]

Yeah. Flying to California and getting a return would be tough if not entirely impractical

[SuperJon]

You guys act like we can just pick teams to play like this is dodgeball.

[Purple Haize]

You guys act like we can just pick teams to play like this is dodgeball.

Its kinda true. Its just that we are the last ones picked

[jbock13]

I just don't understand why Virginia Tech won't play us at home. They must be scared we 'll beat them!