There are still just over two months until the start of the 2021 college football season, and the way too early bowl projections continue to be published. The Liberty Flames are viewed as one of the top non Power Five teams in the country, so anything less than a bowl appearance and flirting with the top 25 all season feels like a letdown.
Sporting News has released their preseason bowl projections and they have the Flames back in Florida for a third straight season but in a new bowl and against a new and intriguing opponent. They are projecting that Liberty will face the Central Florida Knights in the Boca Raton Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 18.
Gus Malzahn is in his first year as head coach at UCF, where he was hired in February after an eight year run as Auburn’s head coach. Malzahn and Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze are very close friends.
First played in December 2014, the Boca Raton Bowl, is held at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida. The bowl is owned and operated by ESPN Events and is televised by ESPN. It is one of several bowls Liberty has a secondary bowl agreement with ESPN for the upcoming season. In 2020, No. 13 BYU defeated UCF, 49-23, in the Boca Raton Bowl.
A previous way too early bowl projection by Athlon Sports had the Flames paired with Wyoming in the New Mexico Bowl. Both the Boca Raton Bowl and the New Mexico Bowl are included in Liberty’s agreement with ESPN. Other bowl games Liberty and ESPN have secondary bowl agreements with include the Camellia Bowl, Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl, and Myrtle Beach Bowl.
Liberty is coming off a record campaign in 2020 when the Flames finished 10-1 following the team’s dramatic bowl win over Coastal Carolina in the Cure Bowl. The Flames also picked up the program’s first ever wins over an ACC opponent when Liberty defeated Syracuse and Virginia Tech. Those two wins made Liberty the first non-Power Five team to post a pair of wins over ACC schools in the same season since Houston did so in 2015. Liberty finished the 2020 season ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and No. 18 in the Amway Coaches Poll, the highest ever ranking for the Flames as an FBS program.
Liberty will open the 2021 season at home on Sept. 4 against Campbell. The Flames will host five more home games throughout the season: Old Dominion (Sept. 18), Middle Tennessee (Oct. 9), UMass (Oct. 30), Louisiana (Nov. 20), and Army (Nov. 27).
