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Rich: Once again talking with ESPN sideline reporter Samantha Ponder. A lot of ACC action
this weekend! Tonight, of course, in Chapel Hill for the Canes and the Tar Heels and then
College Game Day down in Clemson on Saturday, and Samantha, of course, also ties to Liberty
University and your Flames have a big one - Coastal Carolina coming to town. I know
it's a big rivalry, but Coastal also ranked in the the top 5. You know, this game always
seems to decide who's gonna win the Big South. You get an opportunity to keep a close eye
on your Flames? Sam: Yeah. I have a lot of people that let
me know how things are going. Jeff and Donna Barber, the athletic director, keep me posted.
I've stayed close friends with them. And then Turner Gill - it's been so cool for me to
see him. I got close with Danny Rocco when he was there, but then, when Turner came in,
I was already gone, but actually, my first year out of college, out of Liberty, I was
working for Fox Sports and I covered a ton of Kansas games, so I met met Turner there
and got to know more about him and spend more time around him so I was really excited for
both him and for Liberty. I thought it was just a perfect, perfect match for those two
together. But in terms of the Coastal game, that was always a fun one. I remember, probably
some of my best college memories were, even before I started doing some of the sideline
stuff while I was in school, just going to games like that. And I think for people that
haven't experienced the game day environment at Liberty and maybe are just used to your
Virginia or Virginia Tech ... people underestimate what what it can be like and how exciting
it can be at those games. so I'm always rooting for the Flames.
Rich: You know it's funny: you talk about the excitement and the anticipation and the
atmosphere there. You know they're promoting "rocking the red" for this Saturday - want
to get everybody dressed in red and, you know there will be a good turn out. I mean a huge
rivalry! It's going to be a lot of fun as you just attested to. I mean they do a great
job over there. Sam: They're doing a great job. Every time
I come back, I'm just so impressed! Last time I came back, my husband and I came for Tim
Tebow was speaking at Convocation and we were doing some stuff with that and we came back
in the spring and I was telling Jerry and Becki Falwell that I didn't even recognize
some parts of that - I mean that campus is growing and improving so much! There's
so many more students and they're doing so much in the athletic department to really
make it a big-time school. It has that big-time feel when you're on campus and you're around
the athletics department. They're not scaling back because they're either in the Big South
or they're an FCS school, I mean they're really making a run and a push and putting the financial
resources and hiring the right people. I think it's just really impressive the way they go
about trying to build that athletic program. Rich: Well, I know from folks that I've talked
to over there, as well, that having people like yourself who have a lot of success after
leaving Liberty, staying in touch and coming back and supporting the university means an
awful lot to them. I know what you do for them is appreciated, and we certainly appreciate
you taking a a couple minutes for us here on the SportsLine. And we'd love to stay in
touch and catch up with you and just continue to talk some college football and we'll certainly
be watching this tonight and this weekend. Thanks, Samantha.
Sam: All right, sounds good. Thanks guys!