Bowl prospects for Liberty this season are much more of a question mark than just about any other team in the country. The Flames don’t have any conference bowl tie-ins, but instead must rely on a secondary bowl agreement with the Cure Bowl.
Each and every week Liberty’s bowl picture becomes clearer as we can more accurately judge if the American Athletic Conference and the Sun Belt will be able to fill their respective bowl slots while also getting an idea on how many bowl slots will be available across the country, if any.
Liberty has a secondary bowl agreement with the Cure Bowl this year. It’s the only bowl agreement the Flames have currently and is therefore the most likely bowl destination if Liberty gets one more win this season to become bowl eligible.
The Cure Bowl is played on December 21st at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida. It’s primary agreement is with a team from the American Athletic Conference and the Sun Belt Conference. There’s no true pecking order for either league, as bowl matchups are based on the best possible games and geography.
The AAC has 7 bowl tie ins while the Sun Belt has 5. The AAC already has 7 teams that have reached bowl eligibility and 5 who have been eliminated. South Florida is 4-6 and must win both of their final two games to reach bowl eligibility. while South Florida and Houston are still eligible but unlikely to reach the needed 6 wins. They play Memphis and Central Florida and will be underdogs in both.
The AAC also has a very good chance to get its league champion into a New Year’s Six Bowl as the highest ranked champion from a Group of 5 conference will get an automatic bid into a New Year’s Six Bowl. The AAC’s Cincinnati and Memphis both entered the week ranked in the College Football Playoff Top 25 at #17 and #18, respectively, while Boise State (#21) from the Mountain West and Appalachian State (#25) from the Sun Belt are the only other G5 teams ranked in the top 25 entering the week. Movement this week won’t be dramatic for these teams as they all won while #13 Baylor, #23 Navy, and #24 Kansas State all lost which should allow Appalachian State to move up a couple spots.
The Sun Belt has 5 teams who have reached eligibility while Arkansas State and Georgia Southern need just one more win, to get the league to 5. Troy needs one win in its final two games (@ Louisiana, App St) to reach eligibility. Louisiana Monroe and Coastal Carolina meet this week in an elimination game.
If one of the AAC’s teams or Appalachian State reaches a New Year’s Six Bowl, it would greatly increase Liberty’s chances of making the Cure Bowl. If they don’t, then the Cure Bowl will more than likely be filled by their primary agreement with the AAC and Sun Belt.
Of course, all of this assumes Liberty becomes bowl eligible. The Flames must win one of its final two games against Virginia and New Mexico State.
If the Flames are bowl eligible and the Cure Bowl does not end up the destination, Liberty could still end up at a number of destinations, as we’ve seen in recent bowl projections. In addition to the Cure Bowl, we’ve seen analysts project the Flames into the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl, Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl, Quick Lane Bowl, Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl, Belk Bowl, AutoZone Liberty Bowl, and Birmingham Bowl.
There are 39 bowl games this year, equating to 78 bowl slots. There are currently 63 teams that have already become bowl eligible, up 9 from last week. ESPN’s FPI currently projects 72 teams to win at least 6 games and reach bowl eligibility, including Liberty. This number has decreased from a projection of 76 bowl eligible teams a week ago. If there aren’t enough bowl eligible teams to fill all the slots and the Flames are eligible, Liberty will find its way into a bowl game.
