(10-15-2017 10:09 AM)Ewglenn Wrote:  

(10-15-2017 09:13 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(10-09-2017 09:54 PM)LibertyOrangeman Wrote:  

(10-08-2017 01:00 PM)Ewglenn Wrote:  

(10-08-2017 11:22 AM)LibertyOrangeman Wrote:  I thought I read on A Sea of Red that Liberty bought out the JMU game. Could be wrong though. I don't think it's wise for LU to play JMU in the near future while we're 1-A and they're 1-AA. JMU is better than many G5 schools and probably/maybe obviously us than us now, and we can't risk to losing to a 1-AA school in our first few years. Beating them probably can helps us with bowl eligibility due to their pedigree and number of scholarships, but losing to them would be catastrophic. We should wait to play them until we're at the stage where we should beat them. My guess is that ADIM thinks this as well.

There is no difference between beating them and beating Savannah State for bowl eligibility. LU can schedule one FCS team per year and it counts towards the 6 needed. Scheduling two would require 7 to become bowl eligible. The FCS game should be a tune up game. Give me someone like Delaware State instead.

I thought that 1-AA teams had to have X-number of scholarships in order to count towards bowl eligibility. Anyway, my point is still valid the risk weighs much more than the reward of playing JMU Ii the near future. Hopefully they'll join us in 1-A sooner than later or we'll host them again soon when we should steamroll them.

I'm pretty sure this is true. Don't think it has to be the full 63, but there is a number that must be met thus the reason you don't see Pioneer and others playing FBS games.

This is probably true. I haven't seen many FCS teams that are not scholarship schools. I know the northeast that's more popular. My point is LU needs to schedule a cupcake for the FCS game. No reason to pay for a potential loss, unless it's bama.

Looked it up, for a FBS team to get a game to qualify against a FCS opponent, the FCS team must give out 90% of their allotted 63 schollies over a rolling two year period. In other words, the FCS team needs to average almost 57 scholarships for the FBS team to be able to count their game against the FCS team for bowl eligibility.

Ivy 8 teams not allowed to give athletic schollies
Pioneer 11 teams not allowed to give athletic schollies
NEC 7 teams not allowed more than 40 schollies

That's 19 teams you can cross off your list that LU can play for bowl consideration.

Then there's the MEAC and SWAC which allow 63 schollies but many of their teams stay well below being able to be a qualifier for FBS teams. Quick research leads me to believe that NC Central, Hampton, Bethune-Cookman, Howard, Morgan State, Florida A&M, Delaware State, Savannah State, Grambling State, Southern, Alabama A&M, Alabama State, and Jackson State would work for Liberty but many are too far away for consideration.

Most likely, you'd stick with the regional teams to cut down on their travel costs in coming to Lynchburg. To make it a cupcake winnable game you'd want to stay away from the FCS top 25. This leaves only a handful of bus riding FCS teams to make deals with and most are probably in the conference you just left. Though there are a few others who would be a good get for LU but the one standing above the others is VMI. They'd bring a few fans, which is good. They are close, so there's negligent travel costs. They have respectful fans who would be welcomed at Liberty. Finally, they are as close to being winnable as you can get for a FBS team.