[adam42381]

[adam42381]

I have nothing to add. Just thought this was awesome.

[alabama24]

It was. Awesome.

[alabama24]

why the heck would you want to have two of the "big 3" college sports in the spring?

Let's see... what could the "big 3" mean...

There is Football in the Fall. NFL draft and gloating in the spring. Reading about pre-season football polls at a baseball game in the summer. Hmm. What is #3?

[BJWilliams]

very funny...you have football, baseball and basketball...why on earth would you want college football in the same season as the draft many of those guys are pursuing (among other reasons)

[Purple Haize]

very funny...you have football, baseball and basketball...why on earth would you want college football in the same season as the draft many of those guys are pursuing (among other reasons)

There are some, but by no means 'many'

[Equinox]

http://conferenceexpansion.com/

[LUconn]

Not really sure why all that non sport related stuff was thrown in there. I actually do but I'm just trying to say it was unnecessary. My favorite part was this quote

Nonetheless, there are plenty of people at Liberty that are good and do not agree with these extreme points of view.

Gosh I hope he deems me good.

[rmiller1959]

Gosh I hope he deems me good.

Good one!

[TH Spangler]

Sun Belt commissioner expresses faith in 'Power-5'

In the past year, the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC have joined forces to push the NCAA for changes in rules that would increase financial benefits for student athletes to account for the ''full cost of attendance'' beyond just tuition.

Benson said the Sun Belt supports such measures - at least to a point.

''Will there be greater additional costs? More than likely,'' Benson said. ''And yes, there will be challenges, but Sun Belt universities have invested too much not to be part of major college football in the future.''

Benson said all 10 FBS conferences ''can co-exist and will co-exist.''

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sun-belt-c ... ncaaf.html

[JakeP50]

I'm terrified to open this can of worms again but I think it has to happen. The P5 conferences have been granted autonomy if it will change anything on the field/court I really don't know. But if I remember correctly one of the suggestions was if a G5 or even FCS school could implement those policies if they were willing and able to do so. I think LU could probably afford those policies, what that means as far as a new conference home goes I don't know, but overall I think this is a good thing.

[thepostman]

I don't believe this helps or hurts us to be honest. Of course I don't think we have a chance of moving up in the next 5 to 10 years. Things will need to dramatically change in our favor for it to happen.

[Purple Haize]

I don't believe this helps or hurts us to be honest. Of course I don't think we have a chance of moving up in the next 5 to 10 years. Things will need to dramatically change in our favor for it to happen.

Disagree. I think once you take the Big 5 out you are going to need that 2nd tier, which is where we fit in nicely at that point. This will basically be the old 1-AA on steroids

[thepostman]

Aka. Nothing changes.

[flamehunter]

Aka. Nothing changes.

Except if we don't get in at that level we will be stuck in the third tier.

[bluejacket]

I am still confident that we will move up.

[jbock13]

It's so much more fun to just dream crap up.

(not replying to any one specific post)

[JakeP50]

It's so much more fun to just dream crap up.

(not replying to any one specific post)

Like LU joining the Big12 in 2016?

[alabama24]

Article in USA Today about realignment: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... /14299979/

[TH Spangler]

Article in USA Today about realignment: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... /14299979/

Follow up http://www.underdogdynasty.com/sun-belt ... -fbs-level

[BCXtreme]

Nothing new there. I do find the source's comments somewhat entertaining though. Raise the conference profile? No FCS move up does that. Not JMU, App State, or GA Southern. I think the quality of play and geographic advantages of the Sun Belt are strong, but it's still the G5 conference everyone wants to leave. Until a school from C-USA or MWC moves to the belt, there won't be any additions "adding to the profile", at least in the way they apparently hope.

That was my thought as well. I can't help but think that the unnamed Sun Belt source is a little biased on this topic. We had multiple well-connected people around here confident that the East division supports adding Liberty. You're right, even North Dakota State would not raise an FBS conference's profile, because all FBS schools (even the worst) are automatically considered higher-profile than all FCS schools (even the best) … which is why Liberty wants in the FBS in the first place.

Honestly, I really do think Liberty's biggest hurdle is its institutional profile. A lot of people either a) have not taken notice of Liberty's growth and think they're still a 5,000-student Bible college; b) know Liberty has grown, but think of it just as a giant version of Bob Jones or Oral Roberts; and/or c) think Liberty and everyone there is just an embodiment of Jerry Falwell Sr.'s early controversial beliefs. In some cases, there are misconceptions at work, and in other cases Liberty has failed to completely distance itself from the "tiny religious school" stereotypes. In either case, I think the FBS move is within reach, but Liberty needs to take the opportunity to prove definitively that it is ready institutionally—not just financially or athletically—to join the big boys. And I'm not entirely sure Liberty is 100% ready to take that final plunge.

[bluejacket]

I realize that this is a couple of weeks old and likely has been seen by a few people, but it fits here. UNA to Big South?
http://www.news-press.com/story/sports/ ... /15714075/

[Sly Fox]

UNA covets the OVC which appears to have no interest in them. So if they step up, the Big South is the obvious avenue. Does this precarious situation sound familiar to anyone?

[ATrain]

UNA covets the OVC which appears to have no interest in them. So if they step up, the Big South is the obvious avenue. Does this precarious situation sound familiar to anyone?

Birmingham-Southern, Stony Brook, Kennesaw State, Monmouth???

Or Liberty to Sunbelt?

[flameshaw]

I am almost ready to change my mind about moving to FBS. I am not sure we can attract the type of athlete you must have to play FBS football without compromising the practices and beliefs of the University. Besides, we should be dominating our league before moving up and we are under-performing on the football field. We still don't have a signature win or made the playoffs yet.
In basketball, we are terrible and don't see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel. We are quite competitive in baseball and the olympic sports. We have progressed very little in the last 10-15 years. Just a bit of a rant this morning. Wanted to get it off my chest. FWIW