Liberty plans upgrade to FBS: http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm? ... ewsID=9058 . Still the issue of finding a conference home.

Creating quite the traffic jam in the lower FBS conference.

You've got the Sun Belt with a pool of schools for 0 to 2 spots: NMSU, Appalachian St., Georgia Southern, Liberty. Also have Idaho and NMSU for FB only as options.

For the MAC, for #14 (if they chose it) you've got Delaware, JMU, App St. and GA Southern.

Just about a lock that if all these schools want to upgrade, some will be left without a conference and won't be able to upgrade. Gotta assume ODU realizes this and will take the CUSA invite.

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Link to reminder from Liberty site of today's 1 pm ET FBS presser at http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm? ... ewsID=9064

So they want to upgrade - wonderful !

Does any conference WANT THEM ???

have they done anything to distinguish themselves at teh FCS level ? I don't think so...

Also Jacksonville St. wants to move up, Lamar by 2016 too.

If the BSC loses CCU and SBU to the CAA, Kennesaw St. is a lock to join. That puts them back at 6. Then they'd either have to go west and get UNA(Had Birmingham-Southern in conf before so it's not out of the question) or go for a top D-II school, Valdosta St.

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I forgot all about UNA. They may need to have their D-1 application all ready to go to submit in June. Yeah, they wanted OVC, but Big South could be a perfect stepping stone.

Article out of Charleston(previously posted in another thread)discussing possible future Big South realignment at http://www.postandcourier.com/article/2 ... 229&slId=2

Newsday article(previously posted in another thread)reporting that Stony Brook to CAA in FB announcement is expected next week.Link at http://www.newsday.com/sports/college/s ... -1.3881711

Article out of Richmond(previously posted in another thread)reporting today's announcement that Big South FB member Stony Brook will be moving to the CAA along with Albany.Link at http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012 ... ar-2115317

The CAA announcement all but assures that they will be be taking non-football schools from the SoCon and then the SoCon will come after the Big South for its top football programs--Liberty and Coastal Carolina. Perhaps the Big West can get some of the current and emerging non-scholarship programs in the South--Davidson, Campbell, Mercer, Kennesaw St, Jacksonville, and Stetson to join them to keep Big South football alive.

Article out of Nelson County with comments from Big South Commish regarding Stony Brook and league realignment at http://www2.nelsoncountytimes.com/sport ... ar-2115725

fighting muskie -

You may be correct about the Big South being depleted, and then trying to urge some of the non-scholly Pioneer league schools to go full FCS.

Kennesaw State plans to start up FB by 2014. Not sure if their plan is non-scholarship or going FBS and petitioning to become a FB affiliate with the Big South or other.

D-2 North Alabama has made no secret of their desire to upgrade to D-1 FCS, but they were re-buffed in effort to be invited to join the OVC.
I think it's likely they will get an invitation from SoCon or Big South as those conferences get raided and re-stock as part of this realignment.

There's an article on the csn board today about W.Georgia wanting to move up to D-I. They had a plan 5 years ago to move up when they hit 15K enrollment.

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Article out of Hampton Roads(previously posted in another thread)discussing Stony Brook from the Big South and other CAA realignment issues at http://dailypress.com/sports/colleges/d ... 814.column

So if Liberty leaves for the CAA or SBC and SoCon starts to backfill after losing App St and GA So to the SBC what is the likelyhood that the SoCon simply annexs all of the Big South's fb schools?

Samford
Chattanogga
Western Carolina
Gardner-Webb
Elon
VMI

Furman
Wofford
Presbyterian
Coastal Carolina
Charelston South
The Citadel

I know that Davidson and UN-Greensboro don't fit into the SC/nonSC divisions but its doable and it would pretty much make them the only fb power in the Carolinas area (outside of the HBUCs).

SWAC = HBUC Gulf
MEAC = HBUC Atlantic
Southland = Texas/Louisana
SoCon/Big South = Carolinas (could dominate the market)
MVFC = Great Lakes/Rust Belt/North
OVC = Tenn/Kentucky
Big Sky = West/Moutain/Pacific
Patriot = Non-Scholarship
CAA/Patriot/NEC/Ivy = all mixed no true ownership of footprint

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Article out of Charleston(previously posted in another thread)discussing possibility that SoCon may try to add Big South schools "like" VMI at http://www.postandcourier.com/article/2 ... source=RSS