For the first time in program history, Liberty football received votes in the AP Top 25 poll this week, picking up eight points thanks to two voters who had the Flames in their respective ranking.
Liberty also received eight votes in the Coaches Top 25 Poll, the second straight week the Flames have been ranked in that poll.
This got us thinking, when will Liberty crack the top 25? Or, perhaps the better question is, will Liberty crack the top 25?
With 8 points in each of the two polls, the Flames have quite a ways to rise to the top 25. In the AP poll, Liberty checks in at No. 40 and in the Coaches poll LU is No. 45. The 25th ranked team (USC and Minnesota) this week got 124 and 146 points in the AP and Coaches polls, respectively.
Last year’s Appalachian State team is a good indication of what could happen to Liberty. The Mountaineers cracked the top 25 in the Coaches Poll in week 12 when they were 8-1. They reached the top 25 of the AP poll the following week.
Appalachian State was 7-0 with a win over North Carolina early in the season, but were still just on the outside of each top 25 before losing to Georgia Southern. They rebounded with a win over South Carolina the following week that vaulted the Mountaineers into the Coaches Poll and then a win over Georgia State to improve to 9-1 got them in the AP Poll.
Looking at Liberty’s schedule, a win against Syracuse this week will vault them into several voters top 25 ballots at 5-0, but there’s just too much ground to make up in one week’s time to jump 15-20 spots. A win over the Orange likely puts the Flames somewhere in the 30-35 range in next week’s polls.
Following Syracuse, Liberty returns home for one game against 1-3 Southern Miss. There’s a chance a 6-0 Liberty can sneak into the top 25. The Flames will then have an open date before travelling to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech.
If, and it’s certainly a big if, Liberty gets to 7-0 with wins over Syracuse and Virginia Tech, the Flames will definitely be in both top 25 polls. There’s a possibility to get there heading into that meeting in Blacksburg, and the chances increase significantly with each passing week Liberty is unbeaten.
