The drama surrounding the 2020 college football season continues to take its turns.
Just on Tuesday the Big 10 and PAC 12 announced they will not play football this fall. Reports then surfaced Tuesday night of the Big 12 wanting to forge ahead with a 2020 fall season, and the ACC and SEC are also on board with a fall season.
The AAC, Conference USA, and Sun Belt are also still moving forward as long as the aforementioned three Power Five conferences will play.
A Group of 5 update, after the end of a hectic day: AAC, Sun Belt & C-USA continue toward a 2020 fall football season, sources in those leagues tell @SINow.
AAC presidents met today. C-USA expected to meet tomorrow.
As long as the Power 5s are hanging, I believe they will too.
β Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) August 12, 2020
If you want Liberty to play this fall, this is good news. Liberty currently has 8 games remaining on the schedule, with 3 each scheduled against the ACC and Conference USA, so pay special attention to those leagues. If those conferences move forward with a fall season, Liberty will play.
“If you’re asking me if our kids want to play, you bet your bottom dollar,” Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze said in a press conference earlier this week. “We want to play. We want to coach. If you’re asking me if our kids and coaches want to play and coach, absolutely 100%.”
Coach Freeze also took to twitter Tuesday night expressing his vote of confidence in his team wanting to play in 2020.
Please add us as an Independent member. ππ»π https://t.co/HcOcNiz1AD
β Hugh Freeze (@CoachHughFreeze) August 11, 2020
Who Liberty would play, however, is another matter. In addition to the ACC and CUSA games scheduled, the Flames are still holding on to games against the Sun Belt’s Louisiana-Monroe and FCS member Western Carolina.
Fellow Independents Army and BYU are still planning on a season and have multiple openings on their schedule. Liberty has all but certainly been in conversations with them.
On Wednesday morning, the Big South canceled its fall season but is still allowing its members play up to four non-conference opponents. It would make sense for the Flames to look to add a second FCS member with the NCAA allowing two wins over FCS opponents to count towards bowl eligibility this season, and the Big South members are all within driving distance.
Several ACC teams have also lost their plus one non-conference opponents since announced last week, and we could see Liberty attempt to add another ACC opponent to work towards a full schedule.
Nebraska is also reportedly trying to put together a schedule outside of the Big Ten to play this season, and the Cornhuskers could even attempt to join the Big 12 for at least this season.
Liberty Athletic Director Ian McCaw also has ties with the Big 12 from his time at Baylor and we’ve heard Liberty and TCU were in discussions for a game several weeks ago.
Regardless, this is a wild time for college football. Things continue to change by the hour, and it may be hard to believe there will actually be a 2020 season until we see the Flames on the field lining up against whoever the opponent may be.
Although roughly half of the FBS teams have had their seasons postponed, Liberty will be there fighting to put together a schedule until everyone else pulls the plug.