(07-27-2021 06:27 PM)cruzan_flame13 Wrote:  Read between the lines; there's no hope in this conference. I hope we do not consider this option ever with it involving football.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ConferenceUSA...0540604419

I think CUSA has a lot of potential. They messed up when adding upstart programs instead of established programs/fan bases. I think Liberty would fit well with the majority of programs and could boost the conference.

(07-27-2021 06:57 PM)Ewglenn Wrote:  

(07-27-2021 06:27 PM)cruzan_flame13 Wrote:  Read between the lines; there's no hope in this conference. I hope we do not consider this option ever with it involving football.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ConferenceUSA...0540604419

I think CUSA has a lot of potential. They messed up when adding upstart programs instead of established programs/fan bases. I think Liberty would fit well with the majority of programs and could boost the conference.

I don't think it's a good idea you join a conference where the notable programs hate being members of and would leave in a heart beat. The fans of those schools hate the conference and the commissioner has made the conference decline even more. So no, this is not a good fit unless we do not go elsewhere and can get an invite for only Olympic sports. Just my opinion on where that conference is headed.

(07-27-2021 07:03 PM)cruzan_flame13 Wrote:  

(07-27-2021 06:57 PM)Ewglenn Wrote:  

(07-27-2021 06:27 PM)cruzan_flame13 Wrote:  Read between the lines; there's no hope in this conference. I hope we do not consider this option ever with it involving football.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ConferenceUSA...0540604419

I think CUSA has a lot of potential. They messed up when adding upstart programs instead of established programs/fan bases. I think Liberty would fit well with the majority of programs and could boost the conference.

I don't think it's a good idea you join a conference where the notable programs hate being members of and would leave in a heart beat. The fans of those schools hate the conference and the commissioner has made the conference decline even more. So no, this is not a good fit unless we do not go elsewhere and can get an invite for only Olympic sports. Just my opinion on where that conference is headed.

I think C-USA has more potential than the Sun Belt and MAC but are very bad at reaching their potential. They are always shooting themselves in the foot and they feel like a collection of individuals rather than a cohesive group.

They invited upstarts which takes time to develop. Charlotte could be like a Houston but they are so far off that it will likely take a generation at least to build. Old Dominion could be like an ECU. But App State and Georgia Southern came into FBS and crushed it from the start, even if their long-term prospects aren't as good.

Their poor leadership feels out of touch with what's best for the conference and they seem like everyone expects someone else to carry the load. Though I can't penalize the members for wanting out because everyone should do what's best for their own schools.

I am very wary of joining Conference USA. Maybe for other sports, but not for football. Right now, I think football does best as Independent but that is only if Ian can make our schedules a bit harder in the future. If we want to be a P5 equivalent, we have to go from two P5's to three P5's and so on, and start scheduling AAC and WAC teams as well as BYU/Army/Notre Dame Independents. We have to avoid playing 4 games against UConn, UMass, New Mexico State, and an FCS team every year. Limit it to two of those, not all four. To me, Ian McCaw is the key factor in scheduling on whether we can grow as an Independent. Of course, if the AAC or higher called, we'd listen.

There's not a school in C-USA that wouldn't jump to the AAC in an eyeblink if there was an invitation. We look down on the Belt, even if their football is currently more successful. The conference desperately needs a new commish. Judy is an empty suit. We laughed at the press release she put out. We haven't had a really good one since Mike Slive jumped to the SEC.

You'll never get an "except football" invite. Not gonna happen. Football would be the reason to invite you.

For what it's worth.

I have no expectations that this scenario will happen. Thought it is fun to think about.

Big 12 goes for military schools and Liberty (Note: LU has over 30,000 military students https://www.liberty.edu/aboutliberty/ind...PID=6925).
Although the military academies have a bit over 4,000 students each, they bring viewership and interesting match-ups.

New Big 12

North Division
Army, Navy, Air Force, Iowa State, West Virginia, Liberty.

South Division
Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech.

(08-18-2021 11:46 AM)WesternSkillet Wrote:  I have no expectations that this scenario will happen. Thought it is fun to think about.

Big 12 goes for military schools and Liberty (Note: LU has over 30,000 military students https://www.liberty.edu/aboutliberty/ind...PID=6925).
Although the military academies have a bit over 4,000 students each, they bring viewership and interesting match-ups.

New Big 12

North Division
Army, Navy, Air Force, Iowa State, West Virginia, Liberty.

South Division
Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech.

Not bad but I think the military schools would be football-only, right? I think it would be hard for Air Force to give up the Mountain West schools but the Big 12 is obviously a step up. The military schools have shied away from chasing Power/BCS conferences in the past due to increased wear and tear on the servicemen (and women for women's sports) due to bigger, stronger, tougher competition.

(08-18-2021 07:02 PM)GE and MTS Wrote:  

(08-18-2021 11:46 AM)WesternSkillet Wrote:  I have no expectations that this scenario will happen. Thought it is fun to think about.

Big 12 goes for military schools and Liberty (Note: LU has over 30,000 military students https://www.liberty.edu/aboutliberty/ind...PID=6925).
Although the military academies have a bit over 4,000 students each, they bring viewership and interesting match-ups.

New Big 12

North Division
Army, Navy, Air Force, Iowa State, West Virginia, Liberty.

South Division
Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech.

Not bad but I think the military schools would be football-only, right? I think it would be hard for Air Force to give up the Mountain West schools but the Big 12 is obviously a step up. The military schools have shied away from chasing Power/BCS conferences in the past due to increased wear and tear on the servicemen (and women for women's sports) due to bigger, stronger, tougher competition.

Football only could work in this hypothetical situation. The military schools could park their other sports in a geographical friendly conferences.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

It seems Central Florida, Houston, and Cincinnati are front runners to the Big 12 and may all get invited. If so, would the remaining American be a conference we'd be interested in joining?

West:
SMU
Memphis
Tulane
Tulsa
Navy (football-only)

East:
South Florida
East Carolina
Temple

Non-football:
Wichita State

I don't expect them to pursue us but would you give up independence and the ASUN for this? Personally, I'd give up the ASUN but independence would be hard. The AAC clearly won't be a P6 anymore with UH, UC, and UCF leaving so I think independence is the best we could do to improve our stature. Memphis looks the the top dog who is left behind and they would be fun to play. South Florida and East Carolina would good schools to play often, and Temple isn't so bad now that they've shown a pulse lately. SMU would be decent too. Obviously Navy would be awesome. But the remaining half doesn't do much for me and I don't expect the other schools that would be invited with us to move the needle all that much (as I'm sure we wouldn't move the needle for them).

I think the American should add two full members and maybe one non-football to get a good balance. Get the two full members so that they can host a conference championship game for football and then wait for the dust to settle and people are comfortable with the new members. Then reevaluate to see if more football members would benefit the conference. I have no idea who those two should be.

(09-04-2021 08:47 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  It seems Central Florida, Houston, and Cincinnati are front runners to the Big 12 and may all get invited. If so, would the remaining American be a conference we'd be interested in joining?

West:
SMU
Memphis
Tulane
Tulsa
Navy (football-only)

East:
South Florida
East Carolina
Temple

Non-football:
Wichita State

I don't expect them to pursue us but would you give up independence and the ASUN for this? Personally, I'd give up the ASUN but independence would be hard. The AAC clearly won't be a P6 anymore with UH, UC, and UCF leaving so I think independence is the best we could do to improve our stature. Memphis looks the the top dog who is left behind and they would be fun to play. South Florida and East Carolina would good schools to play often, and Temple isn't so bad now that they've shown a pulse lately. SMU would be decent too. Obviously Navy would be awesome. But the remaining half doesn't do much for me and I don't expect the other schools that would be invited with us to move the needle all that much (as I'm sure we wouldn't move the needle for them).

I think the American should add two full members and maybe one non-football to get a good balance. Get the two full members so that they can host a conference championship game for football and then wait for the dust to settle and people are comfortable with the new members. Then reevaluate to see if more football members would benefit the conference. I have no idea who those two should be.

Great conversation thoughts. I'll add my 2 cents.

On the AAC...
I wonder how many they want for all sports? Is Navy still interested? That could open up another spot. So there are 8 football members under this setup. If they add four, that is the best chance I see LU getting some looks. If I was in the AAC, I would take a serious look at Georgia State, UAB, and Appalachian State.

What LU offers...
Basically the strongest card for LU is money. LU could soften the blow from those leaving simply by offering the conference a large athletic budget school. A very large enrollment and endowment shows LU as a large growing and developing university. Facilities are in great shape. The university continues to spend money academically and for althetics. Is that enough? Not sure.

LU in the AAC...
Personally, I'm leaning towards giving up independence for the AAC. Granted that depends on who joins as well. The athletics are overall better. The schools are more well known.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

(09-04-2021 12:23 PM)WesternSkillet Wrote:  

(09-04-2021 08:47 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  It seems Central Florida, Houston, and Cincinnati are front runners to the Big 12 and may all get invited. If so, would the remaining American be a conference we'd be interested in joining?

West:
SMU
Memphis
Tulane
Tulsa
Navy (football-only)

East:
South Florida
East Carolina
Temple

Non-football:
Wichita State

I don't expect them to pursue us but would you give up independence and the ASUN for this? Personally, I'd give up the ASUN but independence would be hard. The AAC clearly won't be a P6 anymore with UH, UC, and UCF leaving so I think independence is the best we could do to improve our stature. Memphis looks the the top dog who is left behind and they would be fun to play. South Florida and East Carolina would good schools to play often, and Temple isn't so bad now that they've shown a pulse lately. SMU would be decent too. Obviously Navy would be awesome. But the remaining half doesn't do much for me and I don't expect the other schools that would be invited with us to move the needle all that much (as I'm sure we wouldn't move the needle for them).

I think the American should add two full members and maybe one non-football to get a good balance. Get the two full members so that they can host a conference championship game for football and then wait for the dust to settle and people are comfortable with the new members. Then reevaluate to see if more football members would benefit the conference. I have no idea who those two should be.

Great conversation thoughts. I'll add my 2 cents.

On the AAC...
I wonder how many they want for all sports? Is Navy still interested? That could open up another spot. So there are 8 football members under this setup. If they add four, that is the best chance I see LU getting some looks. If I was in the AAC, I would take a serious look at Georgia State, UAB, and Appalachian State.

What LU offers...
Basically the strongest card for LU is money. LU could soften the blow from those leaving simply by offering the conference a large athletic budget school. A very large enrollment and endowment shows LU as a large growing and developing university. Facilities are in great shape. The university continues to spend money academically and for althetics. Is that enough? Not sure.

LU in the AAC...
Personally, I'm leaning towards giving up independence for the AAC. Granted that depends on who joins as well. The athletics are overall better. The schools are more well known.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

I think Liberty has a good shot at the AAC, if they add 4.

Question. What has your attendance been and can you expand your stadium?

(09-05-2021 04:03 PM)SMUfan Wrote:  

(09-04-2021 12:23 PM)WesternSkillet Wrote:  

(09-04-2021 08:47 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  It seems Central Florida, Houston, and Cincinnati are front runners to the Big 12 and may all get invited. If so, would the remaining American be a conference we'd be interested in joining?

West:
SMU
Memphis
Tulane
Tulsa
Navy (football-only)

East:
South Florida
East Carolina
Temple

Non-football:
Wichita State

I don't expect them to pursue us but would you give up independence and the ASUN for this? Personally, I'd give up the ASUN but independence would be hard. The AAC clearly won't be a P6 anymore with UH, UC, and UCF leaving so I think independence is the best we could do to improve our stature. Memphis looks the the top dog who is left behind and they would be fun to play. South Florida and East Carolina would good schools to play often, and Temple isn't so bad now that they've shown a pulse lately. SMU would be decent too. Obviously Navy would be awesome. But the remaining half doesn't do much for me and I don't expect the other schools that would be invited with us to move the needle all that much (as I'm sure we wouldn't move the needle for them).

I think the American should add two full members and maybe one non-football to get a good balance. Get the two full members so that they can host a conference championship game for football and then wait for the dust to settle and people are comfortable with the new members. Then reevaluate to see if more football members would benefit the conference. I have no idea who those two should be.

Great conversation thoughts. I'll add my 2 cents.

On the AAC...
I wonder how many they want for all sports? Is Navy still interested? That could open up another spot. So there are 8 football members under this setup. If they add four, that is the best chance I see LU getting some looks. If I was in the AAC, I would take a serious look at Georgia State, UAB, and Appalachian State.

What LU offers...
Basically the strongest card for LU is money. LU could soften the blow from those leaving simply by offering the conference a large athletic budget school. A very large enrollment and endowment shows LU as a large growing and developing university. Facilities are in great shape. The university continues to spend money academically and for althetics. Is that enough? Not sure.

LU in the AAC...
Personally, I'm leaning towards giving up independence for the AAC. Granted that depends on who joins as well. The athletics are overall better. The schools are more well known.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

I think Liberty has a good shot at the AAC, if they add 4.

Question. What has your attendance been and can you expand your stadium?

I think Liberty's 2019 attendance was over 18,000. I don't know 2020 but obviously that's a unique situation.

Our current capacity is 30,000 and can expand to approximately 60,000. That's not in the plans for the near future since we aren't close to the current capacity. We may have changed the plans since Ian McCaw took over and his focus has been on revenue. He likes the higher value seats that the club seating provides.

(09-05-2021 05:13 PM)GE and MTS Wrote:  

(09-05-2021 04:03 PM)SMUfan Wrote:  

(09-04-2021 12:23 PM)WesternSkillet Wrote:  

(09-04-2021 08:47 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  It seems Central Florida, Houston, and Cincinnati are front runners to the Big 12 and may all get invited. If so, would the remaining American be a conference we'd be interested in joining?

West:
SMU
Memphis
Tulane
Tulsa
Navy (football-only)

East:
South Florida
East Carolina
Temple

Non-football:
Wichita State

I don't expect them to pursue us but would you give up independence and the ASUN for this? Personally, I'd give up the ASUN but independence would be hard. The AAC clearly won't be a P6 anymore with UH, UC, and UCF leaving so I think independence is the best we could do to improve our stature. Memphis looks the the top dog who is left behind and they would be fun to play. South Florida and East Carolina would good schools to play often, and Temple isn't so bad now that they've shown a pulse lately. SMU would be decent too. Obviously Navy would be awesome. But the remaining half doesn't do much for me and I don't expect the other schools that would be invited with us to move the needle all that much (as I'm sure we wouldn't move the needle for them).

I think the American should add two full members and maybe one non-football to get a good balance. Get the two full members so that they can host a conference championship game for football and then wait for the dust to settle and people are comfortable with the new members. Then reevaluate to see if more football members would benefit the conference. I have no idea who those two should be.

Great conversation thoughts. I'll add my 2 cents.

On the AAC...
I wonder how many they want for all sports? Is Navy still interested? That could open up another spot. So there are 8 football members under this setup. If they add four, that is the best chance I see LU getting some looks. If I was in the AAC, I would take a serious look at Georgia State, UAB, and Appalachian State.

What LU offers...
Basically the strongest card for LU is money. LU could soften the blow from those leaving simply by offering the conference a large athletic budget school. A very large enrollment and endowment shows LU as a large growing and developing university. Facilities are in great shape. The university continues to spend money academically and for althetics. Is that enough? Not sure.

LU in the AAC...
Personally, I'm leaning towards giving up independence for the AAC. Granted that depends on who joins as well. The athletics are overall better. The schools are more well known.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

I think Liberty has a good shot at the AAC, if they add 4.

Question. What has your attendance been and can you expand your stadium?

I think Liberty's 2019 attendance was over 18,000. I don't know 2020 but obviously that's a unique situation.

Our current capacity is 30,000 and can expand to approximately 60,000. That's not in the plans for the near future since we aren't close to the current capacity. We may have changed the plans since Ian McCaw took over and his focus has been on revenue. He likes the higher value seats that the club seating provides.

Just to correct this a bit, current capacity is 25k not 30k. The old plans were in place for a 60k or larger stadium. Ian is on the record for saying smaller is the future. Below are the current fully expanded stadium plans. My guess is the upper home deck would add another 2k. The berm being completed would probably add 8k. The end zone near the FOC would probably add 5k. I think between 35k-40k is the end goal unless demand blows up. 2019 attendance average was 17,047.

New

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/128845239327487329/

Old (fully expanded would have added another deck to the student side)

https://www.liberty.edu/news/2009/12/16/...n-project/

(09-05-2021 10:53 PM)Ewglenn Wrote:  

(09-05-2021 05:13 PM)GE and MTS Wrote:  

(09-05-2021 04:03 PM)SMUfan Wrote:  

(09-04-2021 12:23 PM)WesternSkillet Wrote:  

(09-04-2021 08:47 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  It seems Central Florida, Houston, and Cincinnati are front runners to the Big 12 and may all get invited. If so, would the remaining American be a conference we'd be interested in joining?

West:
SMU
Memphis
Tulane
Tulsa
Navy (football-only)

East:
South Florida
East Carolina
Temple

Non-football:
Wichita State

I don't expect them to pursue us but would you give up independence and the ASUN for this? Personally, I'd give up the ASUN but independence would be hard. The AAC clearly won't be a P6 anymore with UH, UC, and UCF leaving so I think independence is the best we could do to improve our stature. Memphis looks the the top dog who is left behind and they would be fun to play. South Florida and East Carolina would good schools to play often, and Temple isn't so bad now that they've shown a pulse lately. SMU would be decent too. Obviously Navy would be awesome. But the remaining half doesn't do much for me and I don't expect the other schools that would be invited with us to move the needle all that much (as I'm sure we wouldn't move the needle for them).

I think the American should add two full members and maybe one non-football to get a good balance. Get the two full members so that they can host a conference championship game for football and then wait for the dust to settle and people are comfortable with the new members. Then reevaluate to see if more football members would benefit the conference. I have no idea who those two should be.

Great conversation thoughts. I'll add my 2 cents.

On the AAC...
I wonder how many they want for all sports? Is Navy still interested? That could open up another spot. So there are 8 football members under this setup. If they add four, that is the best chance I see LU getting some looks. If I was in the AAC, I would take a serious look at Georgia State, UAB, and Appalachian State.

What LU offers...
Basically the strongest card for LU is money. LU could soften the blow from those leaving simply by offering the conference a large athletic budget school. A very large enrollment and endowment shows LU as a large growing and developing university. Facilities are in great shape. The university continues to spend money academically and for althetics. Is that enough? Not sure.

LU in the AAC...
Personally, I'm leaning towards giving up independence for the AAC. Granted that depends on who joins as well. The athletics are overall better. The schools are more well known.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

I think Liberty has a good shot at the AAC, if they add 4.

Question. What has your attendance been and can you expand your stadium?

I think Liberty's 2019 attendance was over 18,000. I don't know 2020 but obviously that's a unique situation.

Our current capacity is 30,000 and can expand to approximately 60,000. That's not in the plans for the near future since we aren't close to the current capacity. We may have changed the plans since Ian McCaw took over and his focus has been on revenue. He likes the higher value seats that the club seating provides.

Just to correct this a bit, current capacity is 25k not 30k. The old plans were in place for a 60k or larger stadium. Ian is on the record for saying smaller is the future. Below are the current fully expanded stadium plans. My guess is the upper home deck would add another 2k. The berm being completed would probably add 8k. The end zone near the FOC would probably add 5k. I think between 35k-40k is the end goal unless demand blows up. 2019 attendance average was 17,047.

New

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/128845239327487329/

Old (fully expanded would have added another deck to the student side)

https://www.liberty.edu/news/2009/12/16/...n-project/

Thanks, I was going off memory and on mobile which is much harder for me to navigate than a computer to find all this info.

Okay, so to go over some metrics to see how well Liberty would fit in the "new" American, I took a look at the 2019 football attendance and the 2019-2020 men's basketball attendance, both the most recent on the NCAA file.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_r...e/2019.pdf
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketba...Attend.pdf

Here's how Liberty stacks:

East Carolina: 33,134 / 3,931
Memphis: 38,816 / 16,312
Navy: 31,970 / N/A
SMU: 23,633 / 4,395
South Florida: 31,823 / 3,754
Temple: 29,460 / 6,425
Tulane: 20,271 / 1,743
Tulsa: 18,741 / 4,043
Wichita State: N/A / 10,315

Average: 28,481 football / 6,365 basketball
Liberty: 18,272 / 4,476

LU would have the worst football attendance. An increase of over 10,000 would be needed to just meet the average. That looks impossible within the next couple of years. On the other hand, basketball may be approximately 2,000 less than the average, LU would have been fourth in the AAC as Memphis and Wichita State are outliers that really move the average up.

If we want to be an AAC (or whatever conference), we can't count on the new conference to pull us up and reach our potential. We should be at least hitting the averages before we are invited, not expecting the new conference members to boost our attendance when we start playing them.

Thanks for digging up those numbers. I'm guessing LU is a few years away but LU is definitely trending up steadily.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

(09-05-2021 04:03 PM)SMUfan Wrote:  

(09-04-2021 12:23 PM)WesternSkillet Wrote:  

(09-04-2021 08:47 AM)GE and MTS Wrote:  It seems Central Florida, Houston, and Cincinnati are front runners to the Big 12 and may all get invited. If so, would the remaining American be a conference we'd be interested in joining?

West:
SMU
Memphis
Tulane
Tulsa
Navy (football-only)

East:
South Florida
East Carolina
Temple

Non-football:
Wichita State

I don't expect them to pursue us but would you give up independence and the ASUN for this? Personally, I'd give up the ASUN but independence would be hard. The AAC clearly won't be a P6 anymore with UH, UC, and UCF leaving so I think independence is the best we could do to improve our stature. Memphis looks the the top dog who is left behind and they would be fun to play. South Florida and East Carolina would good schools to play often, and Temple isn't so bad now that they've shown a pulse lately. SMU would be decent too. Obviously Navy would be awesome. But the remaining half doesn't do much for me and I don't expect the other schools that would be invited with us to move the needle all that much (as I'm sure we wouldn't move the needle for them).

I think the American should add two full members and maybe one non-football to get a good balance. Get the two full members so that they can host a conference championship game for football and then wait for the dust to settle and people are comfortable with the new members. Then reevaluate to see if more football members would benefit the conference. I have no idea who those two should be.

Great conversation thoughts. I'll add my 2 cents.

On the AAC...
I wonder how many they want for all sports? Is Navy still interested? That could open up another spot. So there are 8 football members under this setup. If they add four, that is the best chance I see LU getting some looks. If I was in the AAC, I would take a serious look at Georgia State, UAB, and Appalachian State.

What LU offers...
Basically the strongest card for LU is money. LU could soften the blow from those leaving simply by offering the conference a large athletic budget school. A very large enrollment and endowment shows LU as a large growing and developing university. Facilities are in great shape. The university continues to spend money academically and for althetics. Is that enough? Not sure.

LU in the AAC...
Personally, I'm leaning towards giving up independence for the AAC. Granted that depends on who joins as well. The athletics are overall better. The schools are more well known.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

I think Liberty has a good shot at the AAC, if they add 4.

Question. What has your attendance been and can you expand your stadium?

As an outsider, what is your perception of LU as a candidate for a potential add into the AAC?
It seems like a majority of AAC fans do not want LU.

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

It would be interesting if we can get a deal to be an associate member with all of our Olympic sports could get an invitation in the AAC. I think though that we'll have to promote football and our athletic spending in order to get some interest if that's even possible with what's going on for now.

Liberty is my 2nd favorite team. From a Marshall perspective I would love to share a conference with Liberty. From the viewpoint of a Liberty fan I say no way. I truly think Liberty can become the eastern version of BYU, and to be honest, even bigger as there are way more Christians in this country compared to Mormons.

The ONLY appeal to joining a conference is the opportunity for the Access Bowl. If they do go ahead and expand the CFP to include the 6 highest ranked conference champions then I think Liberty should go ahead and join a conference if possible. The auto bid to playoffs is worth it.

(09-08-2021 11:29 PM)herdfan129 Wrote:  Liberty is my 2nd favorite team. From a Marshall perspective I would love to share a conference with Liberty. From the viewpoint of a Liberty fan I say no way. I truly think Liberty can become the eastern version of BYU, and to be honest, even bigger as there are com way more Christians in this countrypared to Mormons.

The ONLY appeal to joining a conference is the opportunity for the Access Bowl. If they do go ahead and expand the CFP to include the 6 highest ranked conference champions then I think Liberty should go ahead and join a conference if possible. The auto bid to playoffs is worth it.

Pretty sure Mormons are christian.