The Liberty Flames have opened the year at 5-2 as the team prepares for Middle Tennessee on Saturday afternoon. The Flames remain just one win away from bowl eligibility.
Several outlets have updated their bowl projections and we have assembled those projections for where Liberty is currently being slotted.
- Brad Crawford (247Sports): Hawaii Bowl vs San Jose State (5-3)
- Athlon Sports: New Orleans Bowl vs Louisiana (7-1)
- Brett McMurphy (Action Network): Bahamas Bowl vs Northern Illinois (4-4)
- Mark Schlabach (ESPN): Not projected to make a bowl game
- Kyle Bonagura (ESPN): Bahamas Bowl vs Miami Ohio (4-4)
- Jerry Palm (CBS Sports): Myrtle Beach Bowl vs Tulane (7-2)
- Oliver Hodgkinson (College Football Network): Bahamas Bowl vs Northern Illinois (4-4)
- USA Today: Hawaii Bowl vs San Jose State (5-3)
- College Football News: Hawaii Bowl vs Colorado State (6-3)
The Flames finished the 2023 campaign with a 13-1 record that included a CUSA championship and appearance in the Fiesta Bowl. It marked a fifth straight appearance in a bowl game. Liberty has now won eight or more games for the 15th season in program history, including five straight years.
As for bowl tie-ins, first off, the Conference USA champion will be in the mix for a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff. If the CUSA champ is the highest ranked Group of Five champion it will receive an automatic berth into the 12-team CFP. For the rest of the bowls, CUSA doesn’t have a true pecking order of bowl picks. Instead, the bowls are picked based off a number of factors including geography and best possible matchups.
Here are the bowls where Conference USA has a primary selection:
Bahamas Bowl
Nassau, Bahamas vs MAC
New Orleans Bowl
New Orleans, Louisiana vs Sun Belt
Frisco Bowl
Frisco, Texas vs G5 TBD
Hawaii Bowl
Honolulu, Hawaii vs Mountain West
If CUSA has additional bowl eligible teams, there are also a number of bowls where CUSA teams can be selected as a secondary team:
68 Ventures Bowl vs MAC or Sun Belt
Birmingham Bowl vs AAC or SEC
Boca Raton Bowl vs G5
Camellia Bowl vs MAC or Sun Belt
Cure Bowl vs G5
Fenway Bowl vs AAC or AAC
Gasparilla Bowl vs ACC, AAC, SEC
Armed Forces Bowl vs AAC
Myrtle Beach Bowl vs AAC, MAC or Sun Belt
New Mexico Bowl vs Mountain West