On Friday, the complete 2020-21 college football bowl schedule, which includes 37 games, was announced. All games will be televised on an ESPN channel, with the exception of the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl and the Arizona Bowl which will be carried on a CBS channel.
There were originally 42 bowl games scheduled for this season, but due to the pandemic several of these bowl games have elected to postpone their annual games to the 2021 season. Those bowls include the Bahamas Bowl, the Celebration Bowl, the Fenway Bowl, the Hawai’i Bowl, the Holiday Bowl, the Quick Lane Bowl, and the Redbox Bowl. The Montgomery Bowl will be played as a substitute of the Fenway Bowl for this season only.
Based on the 37 currently scheduled bowl games, there are 74 slots for bowl teams among the 127 FBS teams playing football this season. Previously, the NCAA waived all bowl eligibility requirements for this season only, so technically all 127 teams playing football this fall are eligible for a bowl game. Last week, Army formally accepted an invitation to the Independence Bowl.
“It’s kind of unfortunate in some ways because Liberty is already a deserving team and we would already be bowl eligible under normal circumstances,” Liberty Athletic Director Ian McCaw said of the bowl eligibility requirements being waived. “We remain very hopeful that we’ll have a chance to advance to a postseason bowl game for the second straight year.”
The Flames advanced to the program’s first ever bowl game last season when Liberty defeated Georgia Southern in the 2019 Cure Bowl. For the 2018 and 2019 bowl cycles, the Flames had a secondary bowl agreement with the Cure Bowl. Beginning this season, Liberty has bowl agreements with ESPN for six bowls including the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl, the Myrtle Beach Bowl, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the Boca Raton Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl, and the Camellia Bowl.
Expect bowl season to look much different. Some bowl games might not have any fans in attendance, while others will likely have restricted attendance. It’s also expected that the typical week long stay at bowl sites with numerous activities leading up to the game will be reduced or even canceled.
Currently at 6-0, the Flames are hopeful to make a bowl game again this season, whether its at one of the six bowls mentioned Liberty has tie-ins with or another one. The more the team keeps winning, obviously, the greater its chances for a bowl game and a higher rated bowl game. Unlike Army, it’s not expected that Liberty will accept a bowl invite anytime soon.
“We’re getting very encouraging response from our bowl partner, ESPN, “McCaw stated. “I have had some conversations with a couple of specific bowl games, but we likely are going to wait and get some direction from ESPN as to what they are going to do and a lot of that will be dictated by how the rest of the season unfolds. We are encouraged by what we’re hearing at this point in time, and, obviously, the success of the team makes us very deserving for a bowl opportunity.”
The full 2020-21 bowl schedule is below:
