Liberty saw its five game winning streak come to an end on Saturday afternoon, losing to Rutgers, 44-34, but the Flames are still being projected into a bowl game by several analysts.
ESPN, CBS Sports, the Sporting News, 247Sports, and Banner Society currently have the Flames projected to make a bowl game.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach projects Liberty into the Cure Bowl on December 21st in Orlando, Florida which will air on CBS Sports Network at 2:30 p.m. Schlabach has the Flames picked to face Arkansas State from the Sun Belt.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has the Flames pegged into the Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl which will be played on December 21st in Boca Raton, Florida at 3:30 on ABC. Bonagura has Liberty slotted against Miami (Ohio) of the MAC.
CBS’ Jerry Palm projects Liberty into the Belk Bowl against Virginia Tech on December 31st in Charlotte, North Carolina. The game will be played at Bank Of America Stadium in Charlotte at 12 noon on ESPN. This is the same projection USA Today had for the Flames last week.
247 Sports also has the Flames in the Belk Bowl, but matched up against Wake Forest.
The Sporting News has Liberty in the Birmingham Bowl facing Boston College on January 2nd at 3 p.m. airing 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.
Banner Society projects the Flames into the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl in Frisco, Texas against Middle Tennessee State from the AAC which will take place on Friday, December 20 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
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 4 FBS wins, as one win against an FCS team is able to count. The Flames have four games remaining, all against FBS opponents, needing two wins 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.
