Liberty has announced its revised 2020 football schedule, adding a home game against North Alabama and a late season trip to Coastal Carolina to go along with the 8 games already scheduled.
“Excited to be able to announce a revised 2020 football schedule this afternoon,” Liberty Athletic Director Ian McCaw said. “It’s been a tremendous amount of work, I want to give Mickey Guridy a great deal of credit. He literally has worked on this every day over the last several months. We are really pleased with our 10-game schedule and we are excited to prepare for the 2020 season.”
The Flames will open the season on Sept. 19 at Western Kentucky, as Coach Hugh Freeze announced on Monday. Following the home opener on Sept. 26 against Florida International, Liberty will play host to Big South member North Alabama on Oct. 3, replacing the date left vacant by Bowling Green and the MAC’s decision to postpone fall sports.
Another new addition to the schedule, Liberty will travel to Conway, South Carolina to face Coastal Carolina on Dec.5 to conclude the regular season. This will be the 15th meeting between the former Big South rivals, but the first since Nov. 2016. The Chanticleers have since moved to the FBS and the Sun Belt while the Flames joined the FBS ranks as an Independent. The series is tied at 7 games a piece.
“We’re really excited to renew that rivalry,” McCaw said about the game with Coastal Carolina. “That’s one that will have a high level of fan appeal, certainly a great way for us to cap off the 2020 regular season.”
The two programs had previously announced a home-and-home game series in 2023 and 2024. The addition of the 2020 game has additional game(s) that come along with it, but McCaw didn’t provide any further details on the number of games or possible dates.
Liberty is also keeping its second game against an FCS opponent against Western Carolina on Nov. 14. The Catamounts are members of the SoCon who announced the cancellation of fall sports but have allowed its members to play up to four non-conference games this fall.
The rest of Liberty’s revised 2020 schedule remains as originally scheduled. The Flames will host Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 3, for the third straight home game for the Flames before hitting the road to face Syracuse on Oct. 17. The one-game road trip concludes as Liberty returns home to face Southern Miss on Oct. 24, the third Conference USA member the Flames are scheduled to face this season.
Following an open date on Halloween, Liberty hits the road for two of three against ACC opponents, first traveling to Blacksburg to face Virginia Tech on Nov. 7 and Raleigh to take on NC State on Nov. 21. The home finale against Western Carolina is sandwiched between the two November road trips.
The Flames will have a week off following the trip to North Carolina to face the Wolfpack before concluding the regular season on Dec. 5 at Coastal Carolina.
“We have some attractive opponents,” said McCaw. “We have some challenging games. We also have a schedule we feel puts us in position to be able to compete for a bowl berth and that’s something we want to do each year.”
With a 10-game schedule, the Flames will have to win 5 games, which can include as many as two wins against FCS teams this season, to become bowl eligible.
Liberty is expected to announce updated information for ticketing for the five home games and anticipated capacity restrictions at Williams Stadium within the next week.
McCaw did state there were discussions with all of the FBS Independents, but with Liberty being able to maintain a core of 8 games, the Flames never got into serious discussions about adding additional games with any of them.
