Liberty dropped a close one on the road to BYU Saturday night, falling by just a touchdown. It leaves the Flames one win shy of bowl eligibility with two games remaining on the schedule. Liberty continues to be projected into various bowl games by several analysts.
ESPN, CBS Sports, the Sporting News, Action Network, and 247Sports currently have the Flames projected to make a bowl game.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura both project Liberty into the Cure Bowl on December 21st in Orlando, Florida which will air on CBS Sports Network at 2:30 p.m. Both have the Flames facing Arkansas State from the Sun Belt. This is the third consecutive week Schlabach has projected this matchup for the Flames.
CBS’ Jerry Palm projects Liberty into the Birmingham Bowl against Tulane on January 2nd in Birmingham, Alabama. The game is played at Legion Field at 3 p.m. and airs on ESPN. The Jared Birmingham Bowl is played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama and pits teams from the SEC and American Athletic Conference. Should either of these conferences not fulfill their bowl commitments, the Birmingham Bowl can take a team from Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, or an at-large team.
The Sporting News has Liberty in the Birmingham Bowl facing Boston College on January 2nd at 3 p.m. airing on ESPN. This is the second consecutive week for this projection from the Sporting News.
The Action Network also projects Liberty in the Cure Bowl on December 21st in Orlando, Florida which will air on CBS Sports Network on 2:30 p.m. This projection also has the Flames facing Arkansas State from the Sun Belt.
247 Sports has the Flames in the Birmingham Bowl against Tulane.
Liberty is in its first season as a full-fledged FBS member and eligible to make a bowl game provided it reaches bowl eligibility of 6 FBS wins. The Flames currently have 5 FBS wins, as only one win against an FCS team is able to count. The Flames have thwo games remaining, both against FBS opponents, needing one win to become bowl eligible.
This year, Liberty is in its 2nd season of a 2-year agreement with the Cure Bowl. It is a secondary bowl agreement which will give the Flames the opportunity to replace a team from the American Athletic Conference or the Sun Belt Conference should either league fail to field enough deserving teams.
Beginning with the 2020 season, Liberty has reached a bowl agreement with ESPN which could put the Flames in one of at least six bowl games – Boca Raton Bowl, Camellia Bowl, Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl, Myrtle Beach Bowl, or the New Mexico Bowl.
