Liberty and James Madison have agreed to a four-game home and home football series beginning in 2025, the two schools announced Friday. These four games are added to previously announced games scheduled for 2033 and 2034, bringing the total series to six games over the next decade.
The Flames will host the Dukes at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia on September 20, 2025 and, the following year, will travel to Harrisonburg, Virginia to face JMU on its home field on September 5, 2026.
The updates announced today also include games in 2031 and 2032, scheduled for September 6, 2031 in Harrisonburg and September 11, 2032 in Lynchburg. Liberty and JMU already had a previously announced home and home series set for September 17, 2033 in Lynchburg and September 16, 2034 in Harrisonburg, bringing the total games currently scheduled between these two programs to six over the next decade.
This announcement gives Liberty 3 announced non-conference games in both the 2025 and 2026 seasons. The Flames are currently scheduled to play at Old Dominion on Sept. 27 and host UMass on Nov. 1, 2025 and play host to Ball State on Sept. 26 and play at UMass on Nov. 7, 2026. UMass, who just recently announced a pending move to the MAC, will see significant changes to their upcoming football schedules and that could include the games against the Flames.
Liberty and JMU have become not only two of the best football programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia in recent seasons but are also at or near the top of the Group of Five at the FBS level.
The Flames made the move to the FBS, becoming full members of college football’s highest level after waiting a full two year transition, prior to the 2019 season. Since that time, Liberty has advanced to a bowl game in each of the previous five seasons.
The Dukes have made the transition to the FBS, joining the Sun Belt Conference for the 2022 season, finishing that year at 8-3 in its first year as a transitioning FBS team. This past fall, JMU finished 11-2 overall, advancing to a bowl game for the first time in program history as there weren’t enough bowl eligible teams in 2023 to fill all the bowl slots, allowing the Dukes and Jacksonville State Gamecocks to advance to a bowl game despite their transitioning status. JMU fell to Air Force, 31-21, in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Liberty had a 13-1 season in 2023, completing its first year in Conference USA with an unblemished 8-0 record. At 13-0 and ranked No. 23 in the final College Football Playoff ranking, the Flames were the highest ranked Group of Five team and received a bid to the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl where the Flames fell to No. 8 Oregon, 45-6.
The Flames and Dukes, located about 100 miles apart, have met 17 previous times on the gridiron, with JMU leading the series, 11-6. Liberty won the previous meeting, Nov. 29, 2014, 26-21, in an FCS Playoff game in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
