Liberty was ranked No. 19 in both the AP and Coaches Top 25 polls this past week following the team’s win at Arkansas on Saturday to improve to 8-1 on the season.
The Flames were hopeful to make their way into the College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings for the first time in school history when they were announced on Tuesday evening, but that did not happen as Liberty was left outside of this week’s CFP top 25.
“There was a good deal of discussion around Liberty and the win over Arkansas this past week,” said CFP chair Boo Coorigan following the announcement of this week’s top 25 rankings release. “Strength of schedule does play into it. A close loss to Wake Forest, a win over BYU, but again as we’re looking and evaluating everything that goes into it, we want to make sure we get the right 25 teams, and believe it or not, we spent a lot of time on each group as you kind of go from 1 to 25. Liberty certainly was talked about in ia lot of respect for what they’ve done and what Coach Freeze has done this year.”
Coming off the program’s first ever win over an SEC program, the Flames will head to the northeast to take on the UConn Huskies this coming Saturday. UConn is currently 5-5 on the season and need just one more win for bowl eligibility. Their losses have come against Syracuse, Michigan, NC State, Utah State, and Ball State. UConn defeated UMass, 27-10, this past Friday night. Saturday’s game is scheduled to kick off at Noon and will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
Liberty has won 8 games in a season for the fourth straight year, doing so in all four seasons under head coach Hugh Freeze. The Flames have won six straight overall and three straight on the road. Liberty’s 4-1 road record this season is its best as an FBS program. With a win Saturday at UConn, Liberty would tie the 2020 team for the best start through 10 games in program history at 9-1.
“I think our non-Power Five resume is better than any of the Group of Five,” said Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze on Monday. “I don’t know all the rules and stuff on that, but we’ve played three Power Five teams, lost one at their place by one point and have won the other two. I don’t know, again, what we will do the rest of the season, but for this given week how we’re not talked about as being one of those Group of Five, non-Power Five teams that’s at least in the discussion of whatever that means.
