Over the past couple of months, your ASOR staff has submitted Freedom Of Information Act requests to nearly 80 FBS institutions seeking to find out who will make up Liberty’s football schedule during the Flames’ first couple of seasons as an FBS Independent member. Through this process, we were able to uncover numerous discussions Liberty has had with various schools across the country regarding football scheduling.

Since we now know the 2018 schedule, much of the 2019 schedule, and several other future dates, here’s a look at who has at least had some level of conversation with Liberty about future scheduling in 2019 or later based upon the documentation received through these FOIA requests. Obviously this is not an exhaustive list, but it can help give insight at who may show up on a future Liberty schedule.

  • Liberty and NC State initially discussed a guarantee game in Raleigh in either 2020, 21, or 23. The Flames responded asking if the Wolfpack would consider a 2-for-1 saying, “We have done this with a couple of other ACC schools and are in the process of doing another one.” The initial discussion centered around the 2-for-1 happening in 2020, 21, and 23. It’s unclear if there was any interest on NC State’s side with the 2-for-1, but after the idea was presented, both sides were discussing the possibility of a game in Week 1 (9/5) or Week 4 (9/26) in 2020. Liberty is currently scheduled to play at Virginia Tech on 9/5/20.
  • Purdue initially reached out to Liberty asking about a guarantee game at Purdue in 19, 20 or 21. Liberty asked about a 2-for-1 deal, but the Boilermakers were not interested. Several dates were discussed for each of those years as well as additional dates in 2022 and 2023. It’s interesting to note that on March 31, 2017, Liberty officials reached out to both Purdue and NC State asking what dates they had available in 2020.
  • Liberty and Georgia State have had extensive communications with the the possibility of a home and home or even a 2-for-1 deal with Georgia State making two trips to Lynchburg and the Flames making just one trip to Atlanta. Each of the Panthers’ trips to Lynchburg would be accompanied by a financial guarantee from Liberty in the 2-for-1 situation.

  • Liberty defeated Georgia State, 41-33, in 2015

    Liberty reached out to Charlotte about a future football series who declined stating they were booked until 2024, but they did state to give them a couple years and they would be happy to discuss scheduling opportunities.

  • There were limited discussions with Texas State, but it does appear there is interest in scheduling a series on both sides.
  • Wyoming initially reached out to Liberty about a series that would begin at Wyoming in 2020 with a return trip to Lynchburg in either 2022 or 2024. It seems that this discussion is dead based on the fact that the Cowboys recently scheduled a game with Utah for 2020, thus filling their schedule for that season.
  • The Flames and Boise State were discussing a home and home with Liberty potentially making the trip to Boise in 2019 or 2020 with the return game to Lynchburg coming in 2020 or 2021.
  • Hawaii and Liberty have discussed the possibility of a home and home series with Liberty possibly making the trip for a game on 8/25/18 with a return game potentially happening in 2020. Obviously, the game in 2018 did not happen, but talks progressed to discussing a game at Hawaii in 2019 with a return date to Liberty in 2020.

All of these discussions are just that, discussions. They could progress into scheduled games or they could fizzle out. As Liberty AD Ian McCaw told us Monday, he expects the 2019 schedule to be completed by mid-summer if not sooner.