Realignment roller-coaster
Liberty’s entire flirtation with the FBS since they announced its intentions of moving to the highest level of football, has been a constant roller-coaster ride. But this past week has been the most rocky. It all started Monday:
One source cites the Liberty & Sun Belt deal “has come to details, most of those details have to do with TV rights.” Cont’d…
— Flames Nation (@Flames_Nation) April 7, 2014
Cont’d…Another independent source confirms this & states there are a lot of discussions surrounding how LFSN would operate in the SBC. — Flames Nation (@Flames_Nation) April 7, 2014
Then on Monday night, Sun Sentinel journalist Dieter Kurtenbach tweeted that Liberty was headed to the Sun Belt, a tweet he has since deleted. From that point on, all rumblings from the Sun Belt have been negative in where Liberty now stands.
Sources have told me the #SunBelt 12th school hopefuls are in this order. First #JMU followed by #MissouriState & #Liberty in a distant 3rd. — Brent Thibodeaux (@BrentThibodeaux) April 9, 2014
There are even reports that Missouri State and James Madison have received invitations to the Sun Belt. According to most people “in the know”, both JMU and Missouri State are at the top of the list of Sun Belt expansion candidates. Liberty’s fate seems to rest in JMU’s hands. If the Dukes decline the Sun Belt’s overtures, the Flames should be next in line to join the Sun Belt. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, and it’s likely we won’t hear any official word until the Sun Belt’s meetings in May. Buckle up.
So after all the “smoke” from this week has cleared, we’re right back to where we all thought we were: hoping JMU doesn’t want the Sun Belt.
— Flames Nation (@Flames_Nation) April 10, 2014
Parker Bean takes no-hitter into 9th
Freshman pitcher Parker Bean carried a no-hitter into the 9th inning this past Sunday against VMI. He finished the game with 16 strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings of shutout baseball. Not a bad outing.
Speaking of the Flames and their pitching success, Liberty is currently riding a 6 game shutout streak in conference play. They put this streak on the line this weekend with a 3 game series with the Lancers in Farmville. The Flames are currently at #18 in RPI according to WarrenNolan. It will be tough for Liberty to move any higher than that considering 12 of their final 18 games come against teams with an RPI of 200+, and just 3 games with teams with an RPI better than 100.
Football spring game
Liberty’s spring game is this Saturday at 2pm, is free, and open to the public. Following the spring game, the Flames will have 2 additional practices (Tuesday and Thursday next week) before concluding their practice for the spring. Kickoff of the 2014 season is August 30th at North Carolina.
Recruiting picks up
Coach Turner Gill and his staff have been hitting the recruiting trails hard recently. Be sure to check our football prospects page frequently as we try to keep you updated on who the Flames are looking at, offered, and any commitments that are received.
FlameFans thread of the week
With the Spring game on Saturday, this week’s FlameFans thread of the week is 2014 Spring practice.
