Liberty moving up to FBS as independent

[The Butcher]

Liberty will announce it is moving from FCS to FBS.

Liberty had recently tried unsuccessfully to gain membership to the Sun Belt, so it is expected the Flames will initially opt to be an FBS independent during the two-year reclassification process that will begin with the 2018 season and include three FBS home games. The program will be bowl-eligible starting with the 2019 season and will be required to play at least five home FBS opponents.

Liberty's football team is coached by Turner Gill. In November, former Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw, who resigned as part of his involvement in the Baylor sexual assault scandal, was named Liberty's AD.

The school has scheduled a 5 p.m. news conference Thursday to announce its plans.

Liberty is a private, nonprofit Christian university located in Lynchburg, Virginia.

[John K]

Why are programs like LIberty so dead set against playing at the FCS level? Is it just mainly sort of an ego thing. Like they just can't bear the thought of playing in a lower division, because they have delusions of grandeur? What is the allure of playing in a bottom feeder FBS conference like the Sun Belt, that doesn't really get any more media attention than upper tier FCS programs? The quality of play in the Sun Belt has to be pretty bad, considering that Idaho was one of the better teams in that conference, and they barely beat a 4-7 MSU team that finished near the bottom of the BSC. I just really don't get it. I know that playing at the FBS level brings in more revenue, but the expenses are also much greater, especially when considering the Title IX implications.