The Liberty Flames (13-0) and Oregon Ducks (11-2) are preparing to meet in the VRBO Fiesta Bowl on Monday, January 1st from Glendale, Arizona.
The Flames are a 16-point underdog against Oregon as Liberty is hoping to improve to 4-1 all-time in bowl games. It will certainly be a massive undertaking for the unbeaten CUSA Champions.
According to ESPN’s FPI, Liberty’s best win came against the #82 ranked FPI team Jacksonville State while Oregon’s best win came against the #18 ranked FPI team Oregon State. The Ducks had three wins over Top 25 ranked teams at the time of the game as they knocked off Colorado, Utah, and Oregon State.
The rest of Liberty’s win came against #90 Bowling Green, #91 New Mexico State (twice), #117 Buffalo, #132 FIU, #118 Sam Houston, #107 Middle Tennessee, #87 Western Kentucky, #125 Louisiana Tech, #104 Old Dominion, #127 UMass, and #121 UTEP. Liberty’s average win came against a team ranked 108.4 in FPI.
In addition to the win over Oregon State, Oregon’s other wins came against FCS Portland State, #39 Texas Tech, #123 Hawaii, #75 Colorado, #105 Stanford, #50 Washington State, #25 Utah, #48 California, #21 USC, and #95 Arizona State. The Ducks’ average win came against a team ranked 59.9 in FPI.
Both of Oregon’s losses came against Washington who is ranked No. 2 in the CFP and #13 in FPI.
Here’s how several college football media outlets rank the Flames (and the Ducks) out of 133 FBS schools entering bowl season.
Rankings with asterisk indicate teams are ranked by data and formula, not by human polling.
- CFP Top 25 – 23 (8)
- AP Top 25 – 18 (8)
- Coaches Top 25 – 20 (8)
- ESPN* (Football Power Index) — 49 (4)
- CBS Top 131 — 20 (8)
- Massey Ratings* — 34 (9)
- Sagarin Ratings* (261 FBS/FCS teams ranked) — 47 (2)
- The Athletic 131 – 18 (8)