[sigmo7]

GW is in the conference we are currently playing in. so yes, playing them does do something for me. wouldn't want to take a forfeit.

[LUalumfromnc]

If we do not get in now we are going to be waiting a lllllllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg time for an invite to a FBS conference!!!! Someone else will be ready then to get the invite and this will continuously happen!!!!

*A Liberty University commercial was on television when I was typing this!!!!*

[jlread]

I'm confused here. Some supposed "Mr. Know it all on another board said an invite has been offered to another school, not liberty". But then people have also said Liberty and the sunbelt have been ironing out the final details of the LFSN. Why on earth would either party get deeply involved with discussions about our TV network if they had no intentions of us joining?!?!? Seems like poor time management if that's truly the case.

[Blessed1]

Why are the public universities so against bringing in a Christian university? The Big12 has not one but two, Baylor and TCU, and Baylor has been a member since them along with Texas, A&M and Tech merged with the Big8 to create the Big12. Why is the Sun Belt so picky about this, the Big 12 was totally fine with Baylor being a Baptist university AND THEN ADDED ANOTHER.

I get where you're coming from, but this is what I gathered from Baylor and TCU being in the Big 12. First, Baylor. They have been the bratty little brother that has benefited from the big dogs of the state of Texas. They also have some of the best lawyers from their school and will sue you in a heartbeat if you try to separate from them and put them in a bad situation financially.

Now, TCU. They are only in the Big 12 because Texas wanted another Texas school to replace Texas A&M. They did however earned their way to the big boy table due to their recent success in football. Patterson has done a wonderful job thus far and their win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl is still considered a classic. Their inclusion was more of a "right place, right time" type of addition.

If Liberty gets added to the Sun Belt it would be due to a "right place, right time" situation. This may explain why we're still in the Big South. The Big South needed schools and we were there. It was a 'marriage by convenience' type of relationship. They didn't care about Falwell's political or religious views. Other conferences did care about them and that's why we probably stayed in the Big South so long even though it's clear that we've outgrown the conference.

[ATrain]

We may have the best facilities and be the top dog of CC/T&F and women's basketball in the Big South, but I wouldn't say we've "outgrown the conference," until we're dominating the majority of sports.

[Rooster Cogburn]

I love how after the positive LU tweets on Monday, everyone is like let's be skeptical and all. But now it's as if Karl Benson himself just tweeted that LU is the worst team ever and would never get an SBC invite and it's JMU all the way!!!!

Personally, I'm not going to take either side as anything just yet. I still think it's early. There is lots of research, negotiating, etc. going on likely with several schools. It's called due diligence. I think it's mid to late may before anything is officially voted and a real invite happens. SO CHILL! haha

[flamesfilmguy]

Baylor and TCU are Christian in name only universities. its not that hard to differentiate between us and them. They have the academic prowess that we do not possess yet. our ONLY hope is that JMU is stupid enough to turn down an SBC offer.
and for the love of all things sacred if one more person says we should go independent it will drive me to drinking. WE CAN NOT GO INDY BECAUSE ITS NOT ALLOWED. and don't think just because we have a law school and "really good" lawyers or whatever that it means we can just take on the LARGEST COLLEGE SPORTS CONGLOMERATE IN THE NATION the NCAA to get what we want. Face it guys we are pretty much screwed unless JMU's Faculty get what they want.

[VAGolf]

I still don't think JMU accepts. I'm by far, not the most accurate one when it comes to predicting these things. But I've been in the area long enough, and I know enough people involved with JMU, to know that they do not want anything to do with the Sun Belt.

Also, unless JMU really just hates us, I don't think they feel any urgency in becoming FBS. They're getting great attendance numbers and most fans enjoy playing teams like Richmond, Nova and Delaware. If they don't go FBS, they aren't stuck with Gardner Webb and Charleston Southern either. And I do think the MAC will expand eventually, probably by adding two schools. Most likely those schools will be Delaware and JMU. That would be a dream situation for JMU.

The Sun Belt is just as desperate to add JMU, as we are to become FBS.

[R i]

Academics and our Street cred are on the rise. Jr has done a great job piece mealing our school together. Its just a shame that we havent had a couple hundred years to iron all of this out. If not the Sun Belt, we will be in a major sport conference down the road. Sigmo brings up a good point, as does ATrain.

1) we dont dominate the BS. so our sports are still competitive and fun to watch.
2) The SunBelt feels like the ugly chick, lets chill at the bar with our BS friends, and be patient. Just know this Sigmo, ugly girls need loving too. We've all made mistakes.

[Humble_Opinion]

Baylor and TCU are Christian in name only universities. its not that hard to differentiate between us and them. They have the academic prowess that we do not possess yet. our ONLY hope is that JMU is stupid enough to turn down an SBC offer.
and for the love of all things sacred if one more person says we should go independent it will drive me to drinking. WE CAN NOT GO INDY BECAUSE ITS NOT ALLOWED. and don't think just because we have a law school and "really good" lawyers or whatever that it means we can just take on the LARGEST COLLEGE SPORTS CONGLOMERATE IN THE NATION the NCAA to get what we want. Face it guys we are pretty much screwed unless JMU's Faculty get what they want.

You're right about TCU... but I would disagree regarding Baylor. No doubt that Baylor has academic prowess that exceeds our own in every category, but they are not Christian in name only. I've never been to the school personally, but have done research and spoken with people who would know and they are still a Christian university. They just aren't quite as 'evangelical' about it...

[SuperJon]

There has never been a private school to make the jump from FCS to FBS.

[PAmedic]

Houston Baptist before DI was FBS?

not sure if that's correct or if it even counts.

[SuperJon]

All of the current private FBS schools went FBS when the initial split happened.

[TH Spangler]

You're right about TCU... but I would disagree regarding Baylor. No doubt that Baylor has academic prowess that exceeds our own in every category, but they are not Christian in name only. I've never been to the school personally, but have done research and spoken with people who would know and they are still a Christian university. They just aren't quite as 'evangelical' about it...

I agree Baylor is hanging pretty tough. I was happy to see us on their football schedule. They have scheduled their Catholic neighbor University of Incarnate Word for 2019. Would be nice to see schools like ND, BYU and Baylor work more closely with the up and coming private schools.

Brent Thibodeaux ‏@BrentThibodeaux 16h
Sources have told me the #SunBelt 12th school hopefuls are in this order. First #JMU followed by #MissouriState & #Liberty in a distant 3rd.

[JakeP50]

Why are the public universities so against bringing in a Christian university? The Big12 has not one but two, Baylor and TCU, and Baylor has been a member since them along with Texas, A&M and Tech merged with the Big8 to create the Big12. Why is the Sun Belt so picky about this, the Big 12 was totally fine with Baylor being a Baptist university AND THEN ADDED ANOTHER.

I get where you're coming from, but this is what I gathered from Baylor and TCU being in the Big 12. First, Baylor. They have been the bratty little brother that has benefited from the big dogs of the state of Texas. They also have some of the best lawyers from their school and will sue you in a heartbeat if you try to separate from them and put them in a bad situation financially.

Now, TCU. They are only in the Big 12 because Texas wanted another Texas school to replace Texas A&M. They did however earned their way to the big boy table due to their recent success in football. Patterson has done a wonderful job thus far and their win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl is still considered a classic. Their inclusion was more of a "right place, right time" type of addition.

If Liberty gets added to the Sun Belt it would be due to a "right place, right time" situation. This may explain why we're still in the Big South. The Big South needed schools and we were there. It was a 'marriage by convenience' type of relationship. They didn't care about Falwell's political or religious views. Other conferences did care about them and that's why we probably stayed in the Big South so long even though it's clear that we've outgrown the conference.

Ok that makes sense, I'm pretty far outside the Big12's natural region so the media doesn't cover their inner workings as much as they do with the ACC.

[CinciFlame]

JMU's president is really in a tough spot. On one side you have boosters that have paid to build a FBS stadium and are FBS all the way. You have a fan base that is 50/50 on whether moving to the SB is a good move. One the other side you have the faculty that appears to be overwhelming against a move to the SB. So who do you tick off?

[SumItUp]

Missouri State getting an invite before us would be more embarrassing than any of the WTF games in football.

Seriously.

I disagree, but I'm curious what makes it embarrassing?

[JakeP50]

It all depends on who the president respects more. I think the boosters will get over themselves if the Dukes keep up the relative success they've had in the CAA, he deals with the professors more directly and on a daily basis and they probably wont be to happy. They could issue their own ultimatum if they get desperate enough, he approves this move and they vote "no confidence". That would be a best case scenario for us, if their president likes his job.

[SuperJon]

Shows how far down we are in the national perception. The Sun Belt would rather beg a school to make the jump before asking someone who is begging to join them.

You guys realize the ramifications if we don't get in, right? We'll be stuck in the Big South for quite a while. JMU makes the jump and Coastal gets pulled in to take their place. We then go below the minimum schools for an auto bid in the Big South and have to raid the bottom of the barrel, again, because we know Kallander is an idiot. On top of that, our two biggest rivals (JMU and Coastal) have leaped way over us proving we are, in fact, the rich little kid down the street. Barber, Gill, Toman, and Richardson all leave within two years and we have nothing other than a crap ton of money to throw at a coach who will only use us for 2-3 years before going to a higher profile program.

This'll be loads of fun.

[SumItUp]

Shows how far down we are in the national perception. The Sun Belt would rather beg a school to make the jump before asking someone who is begging to join them.

The western members of the division want another western member. The conference landscape has been moving eastward and Missouri State is the best long term FCS school for the conference in this part of the country. They have good sports, facilities and a mediocre football team. The western members are looking out for their best interests. Their opportunity to add a western team is during the negotiation process, not after the fact of an eastern team being named. All along, JMU has been the frontrunner from the east. That has not changed. I'm not convinced that they want it yet. That's how I see it.

SJ, if I'm correct, you made the statement about 3 years ago on FF that we were 20 years away from a move to FBS. It may happen this year. If not, we are moving in the right direction. We are closer than we have ever been.

Enjoy the process!

[JakeP50]

Shows how far down we are in the national perception. The Sun Belt would rather beg a school to make the jump before asking someone who is begging to join them.

SJ, if I'm correct, you made the statement about 3 years ago on FF that we were 20 years away from a move to FBS. It may happen this year. If not, we are moving in the right direction. We are closer than we have ever been.

Enjoy the process!

What if the process involves all of our good coaches and our AD jumping ship to a higher profile program? Gill and Toman especially, I really like both of them and I don't want them to leave because the competition sucks.

[SuperJon]

We may be right there, or we may be 17 years away. At this point, barring significant changes in other leagues, it's Sun Belt or bust. I've always said I'd love to be wrong.

[TH Spangler]

We are doing everything we can .... America is caught up in a culture war right now. It's on the news every night and it's much larger than Liberty. Why do you think we hear the "no private schools to FBS" chant. Without a doubt our future potential at the FBS level exceeded JMU and Mo State. And many that want us passed over know it.

[CinciFlame]

I know the independent word is not liked around here, but if the NCAA allowed us to move to FBS as an Indy in football only I think I would much rather go that route than keeping playing the Big South schools. If we were FBS I think we would be surprised who we may get to come to Liberty. It would be an FBS game and would count towards being bowl eligible. I'm not saying the big boys, but I would think we could get home and home with MAC and SB schools.

[VAGolf]

I know the independent word is not liked around here, but if the NCAA allowed us to move to FBS as an Indy in football only I think I would much rather go that route than keeping playing the Big South schools. If we were FBS I think we would be surprised who we may get to come to Liberty. It would be an FBS game and would count towards being bowl eligible. I'm not saying the big boys, but I would think we could get home and home with MAC and SB schools.

No.