Liberty defeated Georgia Southern, 23-16, to win the 2019 FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl. Here are our quick hit notes following the win:
- This has to go down as the greatest single day in Liberty Athletics history. Not only do the Flames appear in its first ever bowl game, they win on a national TV audience and the men’s basketball defeated Akron to move to 14-0.
- For the past 3-4 years, the Liberty football team has been built around its offense. On Saturday, it was the defense that stood tall. The Flames, behind defensive coordinator Scott Symons, held Georgia Southern to one touchdown and 269 yards of total offense. The Eagles were held to 194 yards rushing and were just 4-of-17 on 3rd downs.
- Liberty went over 400 yards of offense with 270 through the air as Buckshot completed 16-of-35 passing for 270 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions in his last ever game in a Liberty uniform.
- Frankie Hickson led the rushing attack with 120 rushing yards. Doing so, he surpassed 1,000 rushing yards for the season, his second consecutive year reaching the mark. Hickson is the first Liberty running back to rush for over 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons since Rashad Jennings.
- Antonio Gandy-Golden set another school record as his 63 receiving yards were enough to break the school record for single season receiving yards.
- Liberty improves to 4-1 against Sun Belt Conference teams, the same conference who spurned the Flames in its pursuit to reach the FBS level before Liberty went the Independent route. It is rumored that Georgia Southern was one of the teams that voted to block Liberty’s entrance to the conference.
- Jessie Lemonier was named MVP of the FBC Mortage Cure Bowl as he finished the game with 8 tackles and 2 sacks.
- The Flames finish the season 8-5, the first time Liberty has won more than 6 games since 2014.
- This is Liberty’s second ever football postseason victory, as the Flames also defeated JMU in the FCS Playoffs in 2014. In both games, Liberty wore the same uniform combo – red helmets, white jerseys, blue pants.
- The Flames join Georgia Southern and Appalachian State as the only three programs to win a bowl game in its first season as a full FBS member.
- Georgia Southern was an FCS power, winning 6 national championships at that level, before making the jump to the FBS. Many criticized Liberty for making the move to the FBS without first having sustained success at the FCS. Guess those people are wrong.
